Week Two Essential Question

Week Two Essential Question: Is there more to social networks than what meets the eye?

Social networks have become very prominent in today's culture.  I think if social networks such as Twitter were utilized in a positive way it could create a tool for educational purposes.  For instance, I am following certain educational sites on Twitter such as Discovery and it is nice to see what they are tweeting and what people are saying about it.   As a second grade teacher with younger children that may or may not have access to the internet I would not use it with my students.  It cannot be censored and I wouldn't want to expose my students to certain things.  I may look at particular sites to see what they are tweeting about to get an idea or concept that I can utilize in my classroom or research that is pertinent and interesting to teaching and education.

Facebook could also be harnessed in a way that it could be used for educational purposes.  For instance, creating a classroom page where parents and students could go to discuss certain topics with or have the teacher post important events or keep parents updated on what is occurring within the classroom as far as academics, homework, schedule, etc.  Showing children pages of concepts that they are studying in the classroom such as presidential elections might be interesting to look at if there was a child page and the content on the page was checked for appropriateness. I just fear because it is on the world wide web and anyone can have access to it and post what they please unless you create a page with membership required.

In conclusion, I do believe that there is more to social networking.  Like everything else though it is how you use it, what you want to use it for, and ensuring that it is appropriate for school.  There are certain precautions that have to be made and as long as you are aware and informed it definitely could be utilized for educational purposes.