When I started this endeavor back in early April, I was working to decide between three social networking sites: Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace. After a short exploration, I decided that I was undecided and make the choice to keep all three and try them out. How hard could that be, right? With Twitter, I started following classmates and my professor. He, of course, was the most interesting person to follow. I felt limited by the number of characters that I was allowed per message. I would just put up what I was doing at that moment, but I didn’t feel like I was contributing much. So I eventually let my postings fade on that account. About the same time as my original Twitter membership, I spread the word among my students that I was putting up a SNS site. It took about two days before the first student found me. She was a very active MySpace member, with over 400 friends, her own blog posts, music in the background, the works. She had tons of photos on her page, and she made it really interesting to visit her page. She was the inspiration for me dressing up my site. Her name was Rachel. When the bad news happened in our community with the two young men drowning, Rachel was were I found out first. Rachel is still one of my top friends.

I also set up a Facebook account because I had heard that high school students liked Myspace and college students liked Facebook, and I wanted to build a big network of people I knew. One of my seniors was my first Facebook friend, and having her on my account led to others who had graduated already to come and find me. I have been able to keep up with students near and far. So which site has had the most significant impact on me? For numbers, Myspace friends outnumber Facebook friends 2 to 1. For interactive applications that are quirky, fun, and sometimes eye opening entertainment (the Testimonials), it is definitely Facebook. Also with Facebook, I like the Wall, the pokes and hugs and roses, and the notification updates on when friends are added.

So how has having a social networking account changed my life? It has really given me a good feeling about myself being on these sites.  Even though I only have a total of 90 friends to date, it has been a good experience for me to come home and get messages from my students about their days.  They are not allowed to show me pictures at school, so they post them on their sites (like prom pictures or family pictures) and I can see them there.  Sometimes they ask me questions that they are afraid to ask in class, and I can answer them in privacy.  I feel more effective because I am a better communicator with them.  I still have many kids who do not use SNS, but I get a new group of students next year, and I will encourage them to communicate with me and with each other.

So when I asked my students why they have social networking sites, they overwhelming response was that they use it to keep in touch with friends and family that they don’t get to see socially very often.  One student keeps in touch with members from an out-of-state church camp he attends every summer in Arkansas.  When I surveyed the students who do not have social networking sites, their reasons for not having one were it took too much time and that instant messaging was easier, several people did not like interacting with someone that they could not see, and some found the sites boring. 

This interesting article posted on OLDaily discusses important skills that students need to learn to be successful in the adult world.  It does not describe content knowledge, but rather qualities which help make a good human being, such as reasoning, taking care of yourself, having good communication skills, how to live a meaningful life, and valuing yourself.  I feel that teaching skills like these in addition to content is what we are supposed to do as educators.  Enjoy the read!

I finished reading Stoll’s realistic perspective on computing technology, and I wanted to offer him a Pulitzer prize for his work! Even though the book was written in 1999, many of the observations he makes still hold true, although there are some changes in computing technology for the greater good. We have become a society of convenience, snapping up technology to make our lives easier, when in fact, many of the technological advances make our lives more complicated. For example, we buy cars because of the added bells and whistles, yet the purchase cost is greater and so is the repair bill. We subscribe to cell phone plans that include the newest and greatest features, like texting, sending pictures, PDA capability, but at an added cost. And if we lose them or they stop working, we are the ones at an inconvenience.

The strongest point that Stoll makes is the amount of money which has been wasted by putting computers in the schools. I agree that the wrong approach has been taken in the past, just getting a computer in the school for the sake of inventory does not help with educating the masses. Using schools as a dumping ground for old equipment just creates more frustrations for those who have to take care of the problems. Now that computers have become cheaper to manufacture, purchasing new equipment for a school is not as significant of a financial burden. A better use of computers in schools is for vocational purposes. Let’s teach students how to repair computers, how to maintain a network, how to use CAD programs to design housing, and how to use Microsoft Office for business applications, not just for pretty flyers and artsy PowerPoints. Give students real tasks to do, and we improve their thinking skills.

Stoll also mentions the socialization that is being lost in our technological society. While that is true in most cases, there are ways that schools can bring this back. For classes where PowerPoints are required, also teach students speech skills as part of the curriculum. Take more field trips, involve students in more community-based projects. Administrators love this kind of stuff because it makes the school look good, and the students gain a sense of pride by being part of a group that does something worthwhile (community cleanup, visiting nursing homes, volunteering at day care centers, letting high school students read books to young children). These things involve very little cost, but it does need an investment in time.

I agree with his perspective, I am not against technology.  I find many great benefits from having technology access because I love knowing information, so the Internet is like a big encyclopedia for me.  I do use it to communicate, but I don’t live on the net.  I appreciate the benefit of having distance learning classes as I could not have completed this master’s degree so quickly had I needed to attend three classes per week with a driving time one way of 45 minutes.  I find interesting projects and lessons for my classes thanks to Edutopia, Marcopolo, and Techlearning, among others.