From the “Building the Compelling Case Department” comes this piece in the Harvard Graduate School of Education magazine Ed. titled “Thanks for the Add. Now Help Me with my Homework.” This is another one of those pieces you’ll want to print out, xerox, and put in your administrators’ mailboxes. (Yes, my cynicism gene is in full gear.) They will like it because a) it’s from Harvard (ooooohhh) b) it’s based on research (more ooooohhhs) and c) it’s from Harvard.
Seriously, there has been a run of these of late, articles by traditionally reputable institutions that advocate (gulp) the use of social networks by teachers. And lord knows we need them. I sat in on a recent presentation by a union representative who told teachers not to e-mail students individually. (Group e-mails were ok, however.) And, as I recounted earlier, I’ve been in a couple of conversations of late with teachers whose state associations are basically telling them not to even create a Facebook profile for fear of litigation. We could spend hours discussing the challenges here; I’d rather focus on the slight breeze beginning to blow at our backs, especially in this article. Here are some of the compelling points to highlight.
First, kids are already using these spaces to learn, though there are huge opportunities for us to teach them how to to do it well:
Greenhow has found a virtual creative writing boom among students spending long hours writing stories and poetry to paste on their blogs for feedback from friends, or creating videos on social issues to bring awareness to a cause. Far from media stories about cyber bullying, meanwhile, she found that most students use the medium to reach out to their peers for emotional support and as a way to develop self-esteem. One student created a video of his intramural soccer team to entice his friends to come to his games. Another created an online radio show to express his opinions, then used Facebook to promote a URL where friends could stream it live, and then used one of Facebook’s add-in applications to create a fan site for the show.
They are learning skills that will serve them well in the future:
The kind of skills students are developing on social networking sites, says Greenhow, are the very same 21st century skills that educators have identified as important for the next generation of knowledge workers — empathy, appreciation for diversity of viewpoints, and an ability to multitask and collaborate with peers on complex projects. In fact, despite cautionary tales of employers trolling social networking sites to find inappropriate Halloween pictures or drug slang laced in discussion forums, many employers are increasingly using these sites as a way to find talent. A survey by the National Association of Colleges and Employers cited this spring in The New York Times found that more than half of employers now use SNSs to network with job candidates. The website CareerBuilder.com even added an application to allow employers to search Facebook for candidates. “Savvy users say the sites can be effective tools for promoting one’s job skills and all-around business networking,” says the Times.
No one, however, is teaching them how to use these tools well:
What was more surprising to her, however, is how few teachers were using the Internet at all — and even fewer were aware of, much less using, social networking sites, despite their heavy usage by students. “It is the kids who are leading the way on this,” she says. “They are forming networks with people they meet every day as well as people they have barely met. If we can’t understand what kids are doing and integrate these tools into a classroom, what kind of message are we sending them? I think we’ll see an even bigger disconnect than already exists.”
As such, the kids are asea:
Even so, with the exceptions like Theresa Sommers, few students were actually using these sites for the purpose they were ostensibly created for — namely, networking with strangers in their intended college or career field. “The networking aspects weren’t even on their radars,” says Greenhow, who argues for a role in educators and guidance counselors in nudging students to take advantage of these opportunities. “Kids are conceiving of reaching out to others outside of school, they are getting there. What teachers can bring from their mindset is the added value of networking.”
The solution? We have to suck it up and get our brains around this for ourselves:
If that is going to be possible, however, first teachers must learn from the students’ mindsets — that is, rolling up their sleeves and creating Facebook profile themselves.
Look, I know it’s starting to sound like a broken blog-ord around here, but this really is the only way to put it: The world is changing because of social web technologies. Our kids are using them. No one is teaching them how to use them to their full learning potential, and ultimately, as teachers and learners, that’s our responsibility. To do that, we need to be able to learn in these contexts for ourselves.
(Photo “Creating Networks” by carf.)
I’m on board with the potential that social networking has to change my instruction. No convincing needed.
My question, though, is a simple one: As a classroom teacher, what steps should I take to drive change?
In places where teachers have been successful at integrating social networking applications into their instruction, what was the lever behind the change?
Is this about building relationships with decision-makers? Is it about informing and organizing parents? Is it about going out on a limb to create some successful examples of what social networking can do for a classroom and/or for instruction?
I know that success is probably dependent on all of these actions, but I need one area of focus that’s in my sphere of influence in which to invest my energies.
What would/could that look like?
Bill
Thanks for connecting the dots, Will…again. Didn’t Yogi Berra say something about this? It may feel like we’re going around the merry-go-round again, but with each turn, consciousness raises and the centrifugal forces increase. Although…I’ve never heard of a merry-go-round turning fast enough to blow away clouds of fear.
Christine Greenhow, while a Harvard alum, is at the University of Minnesota and has been researching social media and learning for quite a while. The Harvard GSE article links to her website (http://www.cgreenhow.org/)for a peek at the actual study. Unless I missed it, the Harvard article never actually mentions the title of her study. Keener eyes than mine might spot it. Based on her site, an educated guess is that the study is summarized or referenced in this not-yet-published article:
*Greenhow, C. & Robelia, E. (in revision) Old communication, new literacies: Social network sites as social learning resources. Journal of Computer-mediated Communication.
Also worth passing along from a commenter on the Harvard article: danah boyd’s work has resulted in similar findings: http://www.danah.org/papers/WhyYouthHeart.pdf .
So she has a Twitter account @chrisgreenhow. I Tweeted her about where her research is…let’s see if I get a reply.
I’m wondering if we should fear not teaching kids more than teaching them…
Teaching kids could cause problems now, not teaching them causes problems later. We’ve never been a society of long-term investors.
I sent the same request via email, and sweetened the deal by asking her to participate in an upcoming panel discussion on social learning, ed policy, School 2.0, and the future of schools. Heck, she’s right in the neighborhood. Bill’s comment wondering how to drive change as a classroom teacher was the perfect nudge, making it a no-brainer to make the request to Christine. We’re working with a group of MN teachers on an E2T2-funded project to develop their tech integration expertise and their capacity to foster change in their schools as teacher-leaders. They’re exactly the right group to pose, by proxy, Bill’s question to Christine and see if we can’t flip one tiny corner of the conversation from theory to practice. Get the K-12 and higher ed folks in the traces, pulling together in the same direction.
Fear can paralyze, and it can trigger precipitous fight/flight reactions. Off the cuff, I’d say that the consequences of not teaching kids about/with/through social media are more fearful for schools and their continued relevance than for the kids. Back to the Digital Youth Project for a sec, specifically the section about implications for education institutions of digital media-induced change: “What would it mean to reach beyond traditional education and civic institutions and enlist the help of others in young people’s learning?” If traditional schools can’t get over the hurdles of restrictive policies and reluctant practice, the currently available “informal, mentor-guided learning” niche in kids’ lives will be filled by someone or something other than schools-as-we-know-them. The kids will be fine, but will schools be left out in the cold?
I agree with what you are saying and I think that most of the people that run the school in which I teach would agree and would support much of this 1.) If someone else does it and 2.) someone else pays for it. Largely budget problems lead those running schools to put things like this on the back burner. But done well they bring, I think, very real rewards. Part of the problem is teaching teachers to do this well and then giving teachers the tools. I think this is very frustrating because in spite of all the talk about the importance of education, education is still one of the first things cut when times get tough. Look at what happened to education in the stimulus package proposed by our tech savvy president who ought to know better. Well I am getting negative and I agree with what you say and will leave it at that.
Cordially,
J. D.
I agree with you, but the largest school district in the country blocks them all…..
Will – Have you seen this? http://netgened.grownupdigital.com/video/no-future-left-behind-1 It is not form Harvard, but makes the case in five minutes! I am sending it to all administrators I know!
I would have appreciated this video if the kids were actually speaking their own words. This feels so very scripted to me. It’s probably just me… but it felt more like a “class project” video where the students didn’t have a great deal of buy-in for the mission.
Kids wouldn’t use every single edtech or 21st Century buzzword the way they are trotted out here. Kids this age would just speak differently.
It’s certainly not a bad message at all. It just feels like it is trying to do something that feels a bit fake to me.
Hi,
Your post is great! I’m currently working to get my Masters online in Integrating Technology into the Classroom. We are discussing and reading about issues such as what you have brought up. It’s a fact that almost all students are using social networking outside of school. Dr. David Thornburg (2004) said, “While classroom practice changes at one speed, the world outside the classroom changes at yet another.” Social networking can be a wonderful tool in learning, if used properly. I believe there are some social networking programs that can be used in schools in which teachers can set restrictions. Have you heard of wiki spaces? (http://www.wikispaces.com/site/for/teachers) I was first introduced to it not too long ago by one of my college professors. We shouldn’t take away the opportunity for students to share knowledge with others beyond the classroom. The idea is co-constructing knowledge!
Michelle,
I am also currently working on my Masters online. My specialization is Adolescent Literacy and Technology. I must admit that in the past, social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook have had so much bad press, I haven’t even given them a second thought as being useful in the classroom or for education. As with any new technology, we have to be familiar with it as educators in order to make a positive difference with our students. Let’s not throw the baby out with the bathwater. I think that too many teachers including myself are guilty of this. I hear too much talk in the faculty work room about the students lacking motivation – I think there’s a motivation issue here, but I’m not sure it’s with the students…
Hi Lisa,
Thanks for your response. I agree with you that programs, such as Facebook have had a lot of bad press. I think it would be a better idea to set up a classroom blog using a different site. I also agree that teachers may be lacking motivation to try new technologies. How can we change this?
It’s a slow process, but is there any better way to establish the benefits of social networking than by leading by example? I agree with Bill’s comments earlier; relationship building with decision-makers is no doubt very important, as is parental communication, but I don’t think there’s any substitute for being able to provide evidence and examples of how social networking benefits our own lives. As far as the lever behind the change, the true “forward thinking” individuals may see the connection regardless of our focus, but those with less “vision” would likely require “seeing it to believe it.”
This will be a difficult topic until the filters on our school districts’ internet get smarter. The fear of a lawsuit will always out weigh the potential educational benefit in a school board’s eyes. But, if the filters on content get more advanced, I believe that the fear of legal action will go down and policy towards the networking sites will turn around.
I don’t know if I would ever take the chance of starting a site for a class without having full backing and cooperation from an administrator. The risks are too high. But I believe that teachers, if they truly want to advance the educational applications of networking sites, should put together different proposals and ideas until you get your administrators to bite! Persistence is the key. Keep trying everyone!
Valuable post. This comment stream will be huge. Honestly, posts like this one make me want to trot out all of the experiences I have gained in both using social media and creating and fostering such networks.
You (not you) really cannot begin to grasp the power of such connectedness unless you immerse yourself. That really is the sticking point with folks who fear it. There are already enough things to fear in life.
If you don’t engage, you can’t really understand the phenomenon enough to debate it. The next level are the folks who decide to jump in. To the vast majority, who are immigrating in at this point in time, it feels much like a revolution in technology. Even the effort in my school is referred to as a “technology” effort. http://virtualsouthside.ning.com
However, in my opinion, it is far easier to characterize as a social revolution. Then again, “social-integration” project just doesn’t sell.
This really was the focus of the first year of our push to integrate current technologies more effectively. I banked on the fact that immersing my group of 20 teachers in social media, creating deep threads between us all in a professional social network of our own, linking out to experts as we are deliberate about creating smart PLN’s… that all of those things would serve as a framework to facilitate all of our future learning. The immediate future consists of the remaining fifty faculty members coming online with us starting this summer.
I now have a team of 20 of the “sure… I’ll learn something new, make me a part of the first group” -folks to assist in bringing the bulk of our staff into the fold.
In terms of social networking, the Ning platform became so comfy for our teachers far sooner than I had expected, and our little tech group runs about fifteen student (course-level) networks. Example: http://mwsu-bio101.ning.com All of the clicking, writing, linking, tagging, etc., in using our network has served to make other web entities less scary.
Finally- working in these networks with students is FAR safer than face to face conversation with a student when you get right down to it. Think of it- every single word exchanged on these networks is digitally preserved. As opposed to being scary, that fact gives me comfort that my conduct will only be seen for what it objectively is. That’s a bit of a different way to think about it than most folks will do… but it works. Transparency is good.
Finally- your image here instantly reminded me of this short post: http://nashworld.edublogs.org/2008/10/31/how-do-you-bookmark-a-pumpkin/
“I really have reservations about my daughter having a laptop in school all day. It would be one big distraction and I don’t see the benefit.” A parent told me that last night. We are a high school transitioning to a 1 to 1 laptop environment. I was at a loss for words when he said that–I wish I would have read this blog yesterday and wowed the parent with research from Harvard. I tried to explain some of your thoughts on education, Will, but I was caught a bit off guard and I don’t know if I was very convincing. I think I need to carry around a cheat sheet with reasons why technology and Web 2.0 will help not harm a student’s education. You got one of those?
It seems important to me that we put a few ideas that are floating around right now together to help create some perspective on the importance of getting teachers into the digital lives of students.
First of all, yes, school districts worry about the liability of having teachers on-line in “social” spaces, and many – probably most – schools block such sites from their servers. And ironically this hobbles the teachers more than it slows down cell-phone-equipped students.
Nevertheless, we think students brains are plastic ( http://www.livescience.com/health/060907_teenage_feelings.html ) and subject to significant structural change through repeated activities. Moreover, growing evidence supports that internet use is actively changing the brains of habitual users – all of us – http://www.livescience.com/culture/090224-internet-brain.html
Finally add this to the idea that the real division in our culture is between the literate and the sub-literate,
(see http://www.alternet.org/mediaculture/106551/forget_red_vs._blue_–_it%27s_the_educated_vs._people_easily_fooled_by_propaganda/ ) and the need for positioning great educators firmly into the social spaces used by our students becomes critical. If childrens’ brains are being changed in unforeseeable ways by media with no grown-ups watching, that’s a lot scarier than the fear that someone might think my presence on facebook is creepy.
Hey Bill,
I think there will probably end up being a lot of levers, unfortunately. The key for us is to focus on the ones we can effect. Since I’m not in a school, my sense for myself is to look at constituencies like parents and business, etc. But teachers, admins, etc. all need a push, obviously.
Nicely put. Especially when most of the current problems are mostly in our minds, not in reality. (Or something like that.)
Yep. It apparently took a personal unblock request for this blog to be accessible by NYC teachers…Sigh.
Thanks for the comment, Lisa. I think the more important question first is are social networking sites good for your own personal learning? On balance, the answer, I think is yes. Even though Facebook may not necessarily be a learning environment on it’s face, (ugh), it does represent the potentials for the connections we can make with others.
Right, Tyler, which is why it’s important to delve into these tools and networks for ourselves first. I don’t know how we can put together a compelling case with being able to model our own learning around these technologies.
I agree wholeheartedly with this idea and have made a conscious effort to use networks effectively myself so that I can demonstrate how to do so with teachers.
Dave Truss at Pair-a-Dimes wrote a great post called Facing Facebook that speaks directly to this topic. It is worth a read.
I have a perfect example of why teachers should be more open to social networking and taking part in what young people are using as their tools for communication. I have been using Twitter and Plurk for about a year and learning so much from my PLN, but it wasn’t until I joined Facebook and became friends with some of my former students that are in middle school now and help me out when I am having trouble. Now, I am not that savvy with technology and I really hate it when I get blocked at school for using Teacher Tube or You Tube. One of my former students/friend of FB told me to use a proxy because that is how she is able to access sites that are blocked at her school. She had to give me an example of how to do this. But, the point is we can learn so much from digital savvy young people and they want to help us. Most teachers don’t want to give up their total control of the classroom and are the ones now afraid of being in front of the classroom not knowing all the answers for their students. I, personally, like how this table is turning. I get more from my students when I say “I am not sure how to do this can someone help me?” Thanks for the post!
The power of what kids can teach us is definately untapped. Sugata Mitra work into how kids learn in groups using a “hole in the wall” computer is revealing.
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/sugata_mitra_shows_how_kids_teach_themselves.html
or http://www.hole-in-the-wall.com/
Great post! I agree with a lot of what was written. I currently teach a Technology class at the high school level in Communications. My district is one of those that do not allow any social networking sites. I am currently showing my students about blogging but some are even showing me because of sites like face book and my space. I think it would be great for the students to use these networking sites to our benefit rather then having are students look at them as negative things. If we educate them on the ethics and right ways to use the sites like we do everything else the students will be fine. Any ideas on how to convince my district to unblock these sites and others with out having to sneak around using proxy’s?
Hi,
The whole idea of blogging and social networking in schools is a new idea and strategy to me. I have been a teacher for twelve years and feel that technology is moving so rapidly that I can’t keep up; however, I do feel the students and teachers need some kind of motivation to express ideas and learn. My question is what about the security issue with others somehow coming into the network and becoming a threat to our students. I feel this is one reason these sites are block at most of our schools across the country.
Thanks,
Tim
Our district too has struggled to adopt social networking technologies. We have made great progress with using the Oracle Educational Foundation’s ThinkQuest as a way to connect students to each other, but even then some principals have refused to sign on due to liability concerns. One option we are exploring is starting with an in-house social networking platform such as Elgg – we hope to build momentum with that so that we can carry forward to eventually opening up to the wider world.
It really is strange how much of a disconnect there is when in comes to socialization with technology. We don’t teach kids not to use the telephone because they might end up talking to strangers – we educate them on how to keep themselves safe. We don’t teach kids not to drive because they might be solicited by hitchhikers – we educate them on how to keep themselves safe. We don’t keep them locked inside the house at all times so that they won’t be exposed to dangerous people – we educate them on how to keep themselves safe. It’s sad that we haven’t translated those notions of good sense when it comes to technology tools.