I know many teachers I talk to struggle to understand what the social networking world of MySpace etc is really all about. Even if our teachers see students accessing MySpace or similar sites, what this social networking software augers for the future is beyond their ken.
So Facebook – the complete Biography from Mashuble is a very useful document – the sort of thing that you can hand out or email to teachers to read. Teachers understand biographies!
What is worth noting is the shift in communication patterns. Teachers and parents will tell you that kids live on msn or other instant messaging. Yes…and more…..
I am just waiting for an aussie to post a message about social networking behaviours, like this one from Bokardo
I recently talked with a father of a MySpace user who said that he tried to email his daughter using regular email and she never responded. He asked her why and she said, “I use MySpace for email. Send me mail there”. So he created an account and now he messages her there. Wow.
I would like to find out more about school email accounts and what kids think about them. Are we applying a digital version of “desks in rows in the classroom” approach to our school communications? How do we expand out thinking in this?
Judy, I am meeting more Teachers that are embracing new technologies to enhance their own learning and that of their students. The number of teachers taking elearning courses in post grad programs is on the increase. I am meeting teachers in DET and the Non Gov sector that are incorporating technology into their pedagogy. I don’t think we are quiet at the tipping point yet but there are many teachers quietly learning and doing.
Judy, very observant. That’s the problem with “static” technologies. Myspace allows the integration that dynamic communication needs to be rich and powerful. Maybe there’s a lesson in there for curriculum.
Social technologies frighten most teachers, but the irony is conceptually it is where most good teachers operate well in their pedagogy.