Social Networking Sites are going to be a prevalent part of the Web experience of our students. Are we compelled to bring SNS to the classroom? Or, like cell phones, are SN Sites destined to be a service that wasn't meant to be shoehorned into schools?
Steve Hargadon is optimistic about the use of SN Sites in a school setting. He explains that the technology can deliver a great tool for teachers and students, but that concerns with FaceBook and MySpace have discouraged us from exploring the possibilities.
Hargadon is responsible for setting up Classroom 2.0, a website for teachers interested in using Web 2.0 services in the classroom. He points out that the benefit of SN Sites need not be restricted to teachers.
The twist here, of course, is that Classroom 2.0 is a network for teachers (yes, adults, those sometimes called "digital immigrants!) who are interested in the use of Web 2.0 in the classroom and who are using the site for personal professional development. The ability to have productive, engaging dialog with others in a community is a natural fit for all ages in education.
The article then includes a long list of Social Networking examples in education. My sense is that the quality of the examples is mixed. It is difficult to gauge the amount of activity and relevance of the sites because many of them are closed. Many of the sites are built around technology from Ning , which allows users to design their own closed SN Site.
Across Generations is a site which offers homework help and project advice (helping you succeed in school) within a social networking environment. The site states that an email to parents will be used to confirm student identity.
Big Dog Science is set up to provide a "network for Big Dog students to share class notes, project ideas, absentee work, quiz and test study material, peer tutoring and general classroom information".
Second Grade asked me to log in with a Ning ID. I am blocked from further access as my membership is pending review. This is a wise idea.
Christopher Dawson is also excited about social networking sites used in schools. He proposes that students are so accustomed to using SN Sites, that we can't pass up the use of the tool as teachers. Dawson explains that a custom designed, closed Ning site may be the best way to go.
Robin Good touches on the incredible popularity of social networking site with young people. He points out that we may be underestimating the value of SN Sites. Students engage in creative activities and express themselves in sophisticated ways. Many of the students most involved are non-conformists who have a significant influence on their peers. Good also explains that one of the most common topics in the social networking context is school, so that schools using SN services is a natural fit.
Quite a different take on SN Sites can be found here. The author, Nancy Willard, spells out three concerns with SN Sites. Young people are not making good choices about how much information they post about themselves. Their parents are not aware of this. Complete strangers (predators) may be attracted to these sites to initiate inappropriate relationships. Willard concludes that educators need to be aware of the pitfalls, and that school use of computers must be directed toward well planned instructional activities, whether they include the use of SN Sites or not.
It has been very hard for me to measure the success of SN Sites as an educational tool. The examples that I have seen did not seem to be thriving, but the best thought out sites are probably completely closed. If a school was to try and harness the potential of social networking, the best approach seems to be using a closed site of their own, created with a service like Ning.
When I heard the term "Social Network Site", I immediately thought of FaceBook as the beginning, middle and end of the discussion. Yet, as I have gotten a bit more background in SN Sites, I have noticed several different faces of them that can be explored.
Functional
The Knowledge Tree has a useful article that explains three core features of a Social Networking Site. They are:
The ability to post a profile (text, images, video, audio, links) of yourself. This profile may have varying degrees of access, depending on your host site and your choices. FaceBook for example, restricts your full profile from being public
Some mechanism to acquire friends. This may involve checking which of your email contacts are members of the site. It may involve searching for friends by name, school or job. Often, it is by trolling through lists of your friends friends. A desired friend may accept or ignore a request for friendship
A way to post comments
The article goes on to discuss the social dynamics that play out through SN Sites. The concept of a "mediated public" is explained, an environment where people can express themselves, make sense of social norms and learn to express themselves. SN Sites have some interesting effects when used as a mediating technology.
Historical
Social Network Sites: Definition, History, and Scholarship includes a look at SN Sites from a (recent) historical perspective. During the late 1990s and early 2000s, several attempts were made to combine social networking with Web services. Sites like Six Degrees, CyWorld and Ryze ultimately sputtered out. Then Friendster came along in 2002 and gained enough of a user base to provide a compelling service. Ironically, Friendster was unable to cope with its own growth. The culture of site members was disturbed by an influx of new users, and the servers became unreliable under the heavy traffic. Friendster still exists, but member alienation and technical problems caused its importance to fade. MySpace was launched in 2003. It was perceived as a site which listened to users, allowing customized html to personalize pages. Indie bands were actively invited to create profiles. The site allowed minors to join, although some concern arose over fears of sexual predators using the site. FaceBook began as a Harvard only service in 2004. By 2005, FaceBook had become open to anyone in the general public. It has created a programming interface which allows applications to be run in conjunction with it. These applications give a user increased functionality, such as creating virtual cards or joining a fantasy football league.
Cultural
Examining SN sites from a cultural perspective can be enlightening. Wikipedia contains a list of social networking websites with some brief comments about each one. The list includes Cloob - popular in Iran with 1,000,000 members, Hyves - frequented by Dutch students, Cyworld - a favorite in Korea, Bebo - UK Based and Nettby - popular in Norway.
Future Trends
Fred Stutzman wrote an informative article which touches on five SN Sites that are having an impact. Stutzman sees trends such as more game-like features, the ability to micropay for virtual objects and the ability to purchase advanced features (such as site statistics) showing up more and more. He anticipates increasingly content driven SN sites (cars, music, etc.) and more social networking features creeping into other sites. As he closes the article, Stutzman states:
Social networking is absolutely here to stay - this is not simply a "phenomenon". The young users of these tools are situating their entire formative internet experience around them - and the affects of this social learning will inform use patterns throughout their life.
Creating a Voice Thread can be a fun experience. Once you have your initial idea sorted out, you need to decide on what media to use. The sequencing really does need to fit with the commenting that you want to make available. I wanted to try the video upload tool and so I went with a short video clip (Quicktime movie) followed by a photograph. The upload process went smoothly. Voice Thread seems to handle several video formats and does its own conversions. Video quality takes quite a hit when you upload it, and so I chose to include a higher quality picture as a second clip. It is possible to zoom into photos to see detail.
I made the video public, tagged it and left it open to unmoderated comments. The results are below.
The Voice Thread site has very strong possibilities as a media sharing site. The site creators have certainly worked hard to make the technology work well and fall to the background. Users are freed to focus on ideas and thinking creatively.
Beyond ease of use, Voice Thread has thought a lot about educators. The launch of Ed.VoiceThread takes care of some of the biggest concerns with student privacy and safety. It has given teachers an area to try ideas with students without concerns about inappropriate content. Somehow, the tone of the site is constructive, child friendly and thriving with real ideas.
Of course, the unique feature of Voice Thread is the somewhat non-linear structure of a presentation. The ability of several narrators to post to an image or video in a cluster around it is wonderful. Skipping to a particular voice clip or to a different slide is very liberating when you're used to wading through entire video clips.
Strong examples of the different ways to use Voice Thread can easily be found. The TeachWeb2 site has a nice list of examples. Possibilities include digital storytelling, showing a dissection, reflecting on a historical photo, summarizing field trip facts, using a writing prompt and explaining art techniques.
The TechKnow Blog has more thoughts and suggestions here including narrating a lab report or math solution, reading poetry to pictures and adding multiple language comments.
One straightforward, but successful presentation, Tall Tales, can be seen here. The students are well prepared and their voice clips show an enthusiasm for the subject. The avatars that they use are great.
A more student driven example, Owl Pellets, is linked here. It is a good example of how creating narration can cause a student to think more deeply about a project. It is also an activity that some students may not have an opportunity to try.
What Makes a Hero? explores the themes of heroism, fame and the ordinary. A lot of the comments are text, but stand out for their thoughtfulness.
Of course, using a great tool does not ensure that students automatically benefit. It doesn't ensure that the final product reached its potential. Wesley Fryer's Moving at the speed of Creativity site offers an exemplary Voice Thread presentation and some advice. Besides basic safety and privacy issues, he touches on the idea that a Voice Thread will be most effective when multiple voices are included. This avoids the "narrated PowerPoint" effect. Fryer strongly recommends allowing open commenting to provide all of the interaction possible.
When browsing through Voice Threads, it becomes clear that there are a few other things to watch for. I would suggest that teachers avoid having a student post some work and simply collect comment after comment stating how nice their picture is. This really doesn't take the student anywhere new. In fact, it seems that students need to be primed in giving quality comments, and the teacher can make a big difference by modeling this for students.
Voice Thread is partly about using our voice. It may be useful to have students listen to themselves on a tape recorder or an audio program to gain confidence and find "their voice". Once they gain some awareness of how they can control their volume and intonation, their spoken comments will be much stronger.
Finally, 25 Tools has gathered a set of instructions for most of the technical things that teachers might need to do while using Voice Thread.
Earlier in the term, we had the opportunity to explore video sharing sites. It was impressive to note how easy it has become to upload and share video, as well as to tag and comment on the content. This week, when we were directed to explore "Media Sharing Sites", I was curious to see how far the features of a Web site could be taken. As a side effect of this exploring, I was very struck by how any particular Web 2.0 site takes on a character that is driven by its users.
Media sharing seems to mean different things to different people. The following sites fit the description to varying degrees:
The Slide site allows the user to create a photo/video show from other sites, such as FaceBook, MySpace or Flickr. It turns out that the site is tailored for users with a strong presence on one of the popular social networking sites. There are limited educational possibilities here.
Splash Cast Media offers a high quality media sharing tool that is flexible and has a lot of potential. Unfortunately, the functionality is targeted at commercial users who want a presence on sites such as FaceBook. Prepared media can be embedded by social network users in their own pages. The service allows for some interactivity and social features. There is a lot of potential here but for now, educators don't seem to be in the radar.
Scrap Blog qualifies as a media sharing site, allowing you to use photos, video, audio and text. The major drawback is that the site really is targeting scrapbookers. The themes are very ornate. The user community is narrow. There are plenty of pages devoted to new babies and dogs that died. Still, the site is very user friendly and the technology makes everything work smoothly. Is there a service like this targeted at students and schools?
Tumblr qualifies as a media sharing site. It is able to handle video, audio, photos and text. It is surprisingly easy to use and is easy on the eyes. The style lends itself to strong visual content and light text.
Jump Cut has a lot of potential. They have given the user the ability to mix (grab) shared content (including video) with other content, creating the effect of a mashup. If there were some compelling content that was available and legal, I think that students could have powerful explorations with it. Sadly, there is no great video content to mix. What's worse, the tone of the site is very much like YouTube, with users pushing the boundaries just to try and get viewers. Will there ever be a TeacherJumpCut site?
Voice Thread is a site with a very unique structure. A user may post visual content (photos or videos) in a sequence. Audio or text comments may be added to a frame by other users. Besides the rich possibilities of adding multiple comments, there are advantages to having a less linear structure to the content than a site like Tumblr. The tone of the site is very appropriate for a school setting. The site designers are very sensitive to the needs of teachers, and have a separate (and by default private) content area just for educators.
These sites show the very boundaries of what can be done on a network. Some of them are not quite usable in a school setting because of cost or issues with content. Still, there is more than enough to stretch our imaginations as teachers in finding ways to bring some new ideas to the classroom.
While the flexibility of the wiki structure has captured my imagination as a teacher, I can also imagine that there will be stress in maintaining wiki content with students. We can work toward students being passionate about their content and lay down clear expectations about a project, but in a crunch, we may need to exercise some control.
I spent some time exploring the access control of PBWiki. There, the most straightforward way to protect the content of your wiki is to make it private. The site can only be viewed with a password, a magic URL or an invitation to PBWiki members. As a bonus, no ads will be placed on private wikis.
There are times when a wiki needs to be public, but have some content protected. There are also times when a wiki needs to be private, but when the invited members might not need (be able to handle) administrative control. PBWiki’s solution to both of these situations is to upgrade the account (pay) to gain finer access control.
Users are then given one of four levels of control:
An administrator can do anything, including deleting pages and files permanently. They can also change passwords, change settings, lock pages and issue invitations.
Moderators are trusted helpers. They can do things which can’t be undone, such as delete pages and files.
Contributors can add content to pages and revert pages to a previous version. They can add new pages, but can’t do anything which can’t be undone.
Readers can read content and see revision histories. For public wikis, readers don’t need passwords.
These levels of control lend themselves naturally to a class project. The lead teacher would act as the administrator and any other staff involved might be moderators. Students who author the content would be contributors. Other students and possibly parents would be given reader status.
I made up four users (admin. privileges needed) with unique passwords and tried doing some drastic things to an upcoming wiki. As an admin. or moderator, I could delete files (Image 1) and pages (Image 2). Both of these actions cannot be undone and result in a loss of data. When I tried this as a contributor or reader, I was politely denied (Image 3). Finally, I made the wiki private. I was unable to read it by simply knowing the URL (Image 4).
I hope to use access controls to help in taking small steps toward allowing students to take charge of their learning collaboratively.
Collaborative Storytelling – The Salute to Seuss site has been very carefully planned. It needed to be since it was open to students worldwide and ran for 5 months. Good background information, standards and a booklist were described at the outset. Students were able to contribute book reviews, activities and links to their own Seuss sites.
Constructing Resources – On a very different note, the Math 12V Outcomes Portfolio is a wiki where students construct a page which explains a math outcome and connects that outcome to a sample problem. The students really embraced the challenge. There are some high quality lessons given, complete with graphics of very tricky mathematical notation.
A more modest collaborative writing project was set up to allow students to contribute to the story of Terry the Tennis Ball. The site is definitely allowing young students to do their own thing and has a lot of charm. Some differentiation is happening, as at least one student included a link to a different site.
A Grade 5 class is using the Grade 5M Wikispace to create a chain story about 4 underwater explorers. Their story, Adventure in the Trench, is part of a larger Marine Studies integrated topic. They have made great use of the wiki format. Links to some other resources are included.
The Library Zone is quite a deep wiki site. It spans a whole spectrum of uses, including collaborative research (Exploring Space, Dinosaurs, Weather and Ladybugs), sharing links and student discussion. It even fulfills the role of a virtual library.
As I looked at example wikis, a few other sites came to my attention. Each of them was helpful in addressing the potential downsides of using a wiki with students.
Assessment - It is critical to make expectations clear to students before a wiki project is started. Because of the open-ended nature and accessibility of a wiki, students need more guidance than usual as to teacher expectations. A great example of an assessment rubric can be seen at the Flat Classroom Project.
Appearance – You may have asked yourself the question Why Are Wikis So Ugly? as Brian Lamb did. This may be the cost of having a structure that is so easy to edit. The quality of the content may far outreach the visual appeal. Lamb suggests that a wiki author might use some tasteful style sheets. I was disappointed to learn that PBWiki charges more that $50 to allow the user to even have access to css. Students who are focused more on the visual than the content can be encouraged to use images and font choices as effectively as possible.
Control – This post describes a mixed experience with using a wiki in a visual arts class. Among the many things learned was the idea that if a wiki is going to reach its potential as a tool, the teacher needs to be willing to give up some control:
This particular challenge bears resemblance to the one posed by constructivist teaching philosophy. To truly empower students within collaborative or co-constructed activities requires the teacher to relinquish some degree of control over those activities. The instructor’s role shifts to that of establishing contexts or setting up problems to engage students. In a wiki, the instructor may set the stage or initiate interactions, but the medium works most effectively when students can assert meaningful autonomy over the process.
It is rather timely that we are examining wikis this week, as we are in the midst of depending on their functionality to host our discussions.
To get oriented, I went to the most obvious source, Wikipedia itself. The site contains a very engaging introduction to the wiki.
Ward Cunningham developed the first wiki and implemented it in 1995. In some ways, the wiki has maintained its simplicity over the years. It typically runs as a server application that allows multiple users to create, edit and link pages together. Many companies run wikis behind their firewall as a collaborative tool.
Personal wiki software also exists. One example is VooDoo Pad, which makes a set of linked pages incredibly easy to create.
The Wikipedia article really captures the spirit of wiki openness. A wiki is designed to make it easy to correct mistakes. It is not concerned with making it impossible to make mistakes. As a teacher, I find this approach rather intriguing.
One of the biggest issues of a wiki is the checking the validity of edits to a page. Several features can assist with this. A recent changes page lists recent edits and may be set to ignore minor edits. A revision history can reconstruct previous page content and allow an editor to restore a page to some previous version. Many wikis have a difference function, which highlights only the differences in page versions.
Another aspect of managing page content is user security. This security is often surprisingly soft. A wiki may allow unregistered users to make edits. If registering is required, it may be a simple and quick process. I became a Wikipedia registrant in a few minutes. A wiki may place a waiting period on a user before editing is allowed or require them to prove their trustworthiness as their edits are monitored.
As a contrast in open verses closed wiki systems, the article directs the reader to compare Wikipedia’s (open) approach to that of Citizendium (more restrictive and closed). The Citizendium site promotes itself on placing credibility and quality over quantity. The site is searchable and also offers the structure of a directory.
Well, as a new member of Wikipedia, I am off to their sandbox to experiment with some editing. It has been set up as a safe place to learn how things work and avoid doing any real damage.
There are scores of great virtual school libraries that our class has looked at and shared. The primary purpose of most of these sites seems to be to share information resources (role 1).
As I think about the development of our school’s virtual library, I am intrigued by the idea of giving roles 2 and 3 an equally high priority. Joyce Valenza’s advice of letting your VSL be in perpetual beta has given me a bit more courage to test the boundaries of what staff and students might try.
Our physical library serves role 2 reasonably well. We give access to meaningful artifacts and ideas that arise within the curriculum and the life of the school. Perhaps it’s time to train our library leadership team the skills to help bring virtual access as well. I can see barriers such as time, digital rights and student permissions that would need to be worked through.
Bringing people and ideas together (role 3) is something that I think gets most TLs out of bed in the morning. Again, I have a sense that our VSL should attempt to host this very rich type of interaction. The Gunn article points out that a digital library is not just a storehouse of information. It needs to be an aid in question asking and information analyzing. Is it possible to allow for students to encounter ideas in unique ways and to interact with each other at the VSL? How much moderating would need to happen? Is this going to achieve something fresh?
The article touches on the idea of “just in time” learning. A virtual library allows students to learn what they need to do a particular task, independent of time or place. A well constructed site also allows for “just enough” learning. Resources can be selected carefully to support curriculum without distracting or overwhelming students with a mountain of information.
The design of a virtual school library is a serious task requiring the participation and buy-in from students and staff. There are many facets to consider in helping it work well. I believe that Web 2.0 services can bring students inside and help it live. Carefully chosen content ensures that it is a solid resource. Good visual design and a sense of fun can push the site toward excellence.
Joyce Valenza has some very helpful material related to virtual libraries. I downloaded her Virtual Libraries PowerPoint presentation (all 98 Megs) and had a look. Speaking from a real depth of experience, she made the following points:
There is no standard model for school virtual library. In the relatively small community of a school, content ought to be customized. We alone have a sense of our student’s needs and teacher’s styles.
The school’s virtual library may be the first place that students use to embark on a project. Thus, it becomes a quality filter for content that they use.
Usability is key. Mouse-over explanations and kid friendly descriptions are two ways to help students navigate.
Sites may feature a library mission statement, policies and schedule. They should allow for user feedback. They must provide a solid selection of information access and delivery.
A virtual library needs to take advantage of available Web 2.0 tools. It is fine to be in a state of perpetual beta. It is essential (not optional) to be available 24/7.
Use a template to be sure that your pages have a consistent layout and style. There is nothing more jarring than clicking on a link and getting a completely different look within the same site.
Set up the text to come in short paragraphs. A bit of space gives the eyes a chance to rest. Also, have the most important information visible as soon as a visitor reads the home page.
Try not to use generic clip art and animated images. They are distracting and don’t give a real sense of what your library is about. As an alternative, use small digital photographs and graphics that tie in with your school’s identity.
Follow the 'cat box' rule. To keep people coming back to your VL, change it periodically. This doesn’t mean a complete redesign, but rather interesting updates and newer images.
The article Helping Students Use Virtual Libraries Effectively (Fitzgerald and Galloway) explains how staff and student interaction can help to ensure that a VL gets traffic. It is important to collaborate with teachers as you design you virtual library. To be effective, a VL needs to be integrated into classroom use. The use of the VL must be modeled to the students by the teacher librarian and by other staff. Giving students a brief orientation to the important areas of the site will help them to feel more confident using it. TLs are encouraged to use the system themselves regularly.
When we began the EDES course, I remember looking at Joyce Valenza’s library site. I was struck by its usefulness to students and have since wondered how our school library could have a virtual presence that students would tap into. In visiting some virtual library sites, there are a few things that have struck me.
First of all, I checked out the sites listed in our Web Links area.
Prince of Wales Secondary School - The site had some very useful links. Their library catalogue is online (something we can’t do with our current software). I noticed subject specific links, a reference desk, library info, reading lists and more. I imagine that students and teachers use this virtual library regularly. The site feels a bit static and unattractive, kind of an old school look. This may not matter to their users at all.
M.E. LaZerte High School - Lazerte’s opening page is clean and simple, but links to many well thought out pages. Again, teachers have included subject specific links. Data bases can be easily accessed. There are guidelines to citing, studying and searching. Again, this site is a great resource for students. The content is solid. The look is consistent and clear. Thinking like a student, I’m not sure how much traffic the Study Strategies area gets. Still, it’s worth a try.
Singapore American School - The Primary School has a comprehensive set of links in the Webpath Express area. Each link is dexribed in detail and assigned a grade level. Very helpful. The links provided are cycled each month. Presumably this follows themes and projects which are going on in classrooms. The site is somewhat slow to load.
Springfield Township High School - Things start with a very visual opening page. A great variety of topics are provided. I liked it that the library mission statement was linked. The citation area was one of the most useful I’ve seen. Some of the pages (such as catalogues and databases) are very packed and grid-like. It is kind of like looking into Joyce Valenza’s mind. You’d better have had your coffee.
I then set off to look at some elementary virtual libraries. Browsing around was very helpful. It is fun to see resources that other teachers have found useful for younger people.
One of the most interesting examples I saw was from the Calgary Board of Education. There is a Flash based opening page with just enough links to be thorough, without overwhelming a Div. 1 student. A set of curricular links are included. This site is very usable. It would have been helpful to have a clearer explanation of who the site serves and why it exists. Visually, the site suffers a bit by having drastic changes in style when moving from one area to another. Many of the virtual library sites I have looked at have the same issue.
Marlton Elementary School has a fun way to organize their links. Everything is sequenced according to the Dewey Decimal System. The content is fine. Visually, the site is table based and a bit hard on the eyes.
The Bonnie Grimes Elementary Virtual Library has a fun feel to it. There is some student involvement with book reviews. The pictorial links are repeated as text in a sidebar.
Looking at examples of virtual libraries has given me a lot to ponder while thinking of our own school. Besides identifying my student’s needs more clearly with our staff, I must step back and look at some authoritative guidelines on virtual library planning.
