Why social networking should find its way into the classroom?

Perhaps the best experience of college is interacting with people.  Talking with fellow students and faculty provide viewpoints to which one previously hasn’t been exposed, as well as lifelong professional networking opportunities.  Even in the short-term, social interaction benefits learning:  As the MDRC report about Kingsborough’s Learning Communities notes, the sense of community built among the students taking several classes together allows them to form study groups and perform better in their remedial subjects.  Yet, Kingsborough’s greatest downfall is its isolated location and commuter nature – this greatly hampers the building of social connections.

Call it Generation Y, the Internet- or Digital-Generation, or just the Millennials, but by any name they crave connectivity, surround themselves in media and information, and embrace technology.  The term refers to the group of young Americans born between roughly 1981 and 19931.  A byproduct of the embracement of technology is the widespread adoption of non-textual media for communication.  It can be as simple as the emoticon attached to text-based messages to convey the feelings the text cannot.  It’s also in the photos that end up on MySpace, the videos that end up on YouTube, PodCasts (audio blogs), and VodCasts (video blogs).

Social interaction and public sharing are desirable to Millennials.  Social Networking websites – allowing for people to showcase their lives through multimedia and public writing, as well as connect to peers around the world – are ubiquitous.  So valuable are these sites that MySpace.com was purchased in 2005 for $580 million by News Corporation media-mogul Rupert Murdoch – MySpace allows sharing of blogs and bulletins about one’s life.  YouTube was purchased by Google in 2006 for $1.65 billion – YouTube allows users to create and share video content, often homemade, some even filmed with cellular telephones2.   And, Facebook values itself at $10 billion in 2007, with Microsoft seeking to purchase a 5% stake – Facebook forms social networks based on common colleges and jobs.  (MySpace, Facebook and YouTube’s founders are all Millennials in their twenties)  Cellular telephones now allow picture and video messages, stream television shows (Verizon VCast), and through services such as Helio, even let users check their MySpace pages on the go.

While education is adjusting to the opportunities and challenges presented by technology, these changes are occurring at a slower rate than the expectations of learners. Students’ use of PDAs, iPods, the Internet, email, or social networking sites is increasing every day. However, these applications are only gradually — if at all — being incorporated in their daily classroom experience.  

A report published by Educause Center for Applied Research, showed that although most students believe that technology positively influences their learning, they have not made the connections between school and personal use of technology: “students are using social networking sites like crazy, but they don’t necessarily think those have a place in the classroom.”

Many educators are uncomfortable with online social networking and don't believe that in its present form it has a place in education and student/educator interaction. The electronic educator is as uncomfortable giving up control and facilitating communication as the traditional classroom educator. The solution to this problem can only be by making social networking "respectable" in an educational setting. To accomplish this goal, KCC's Edgar Troudt and Christoph Winkler are using the techniques of social networking to develop a common space where these techniques could enrich educational experience with applied and peer learning in a manner that both educators and students could benefit from. These networks ( e.g. www.cunyive.ning.com) are closed and not open to the public. If you are interested send an email to cwinkler@kbcc.cuny.edu.

Existing social networks for your classroom instruction:

• www.linkedin.com: professional networking site that students can use to create their professional profiles, share their best work, get recommendations and - most importantly - get a job through their contacts in their network. Highliy recommended for academic purposes.
• www.facebook.com: most students already have a facebook account and this social networking site is already widely used by college clubs and organizations to communicate their activities with a larger audience.
• www.myspace.com: not recommended for academic purposes.

Create your own social network for your classroom instruction:

• www.ning.com: free social networking site. You can create an open or closed social network within a matter of seconds. The basic package is free and can be upgraded for a small fee. Highly recommended for academic purposes.