Social Networking

(Posted by Steve Davis on behalf of Gabrielle Smith.)

As someone who tries to not on social networking sites I find it
annoying/irritating that my education, and even my grade, is affected
in some way by my having to post articles or give my thoughts online.
I think I can attribute this to a few reasons. One, I, in my youth,
prefer the old school method of reading from a book or magazine and
then writing about it. The second is the fact that I am a recovering
procrastinator and I try to avoid anything that might keep me from
what has to get done. To prove this point is that I no longer read
novels and have decided that the Iliad, which I am reading for a
class, will be my "fun" book. The last reason would probably still
be credited to my "old school" thinking. I don't see social networks
as educational so, in my opinion, they shouldn't be. However I'm not
so rigid in my thinking that I cannot see the benefits these site can
and do bring to the educational system.

These networks are a great way to know as much as you can about
almost everything. There is so much valuable information placed on
sites like Delicious that it would a downright shame to not get a
hold of it. Furthermore sites like these can help students learn how
to research and pick good, creditable sites. Also if we are to be as
active as possible in saving and protecting the environment, this
paperless route is a great place to start. Honestly, what can be
more fun than saving a tree or two while using a brain cell or two?
Another plus is that this change in technology, which isn't
necessarily a bad one, means that we ought to change with it if we
are ever going to relate to the rest of the world and possibly know
what it knows.

Social Media - Too Much?

Social media in the classroom serves as a virtual extension - a component through which students can access the peer-to-peer interaction available in a normal classroom. There is no doubt there are practical uses of this technology. However, my biggest problem with a complete and successful transition to a social media oriented focus is the unwanted merging of school and personal time.

I will admit, my grades have been saved due to social media countless of times. Casual conversations on AIM generally lead to the mention of due dates and tests, which prompts me to study. However, imagine every course you took as an undergraduate included a mandatory online aspect. I am taking six courses this semester. The amount of time spent in class alone takes up most of my daylight hours. With studying included, any time I get to just nap or relax is a very precious commodity. If each of those classes required my contribution to a online classroom (regardless how little), I would very quickly learn to hate all of my classes. On the whole, the present avenues of online communication that are implemented such as D2L and e-mail are practical and efficient. Anything more than that, unless it completely replaces the physical classroom time, I would consider extraneous. Perhaps my experience with this class will change my opinion.

Social Media and/or Education

This week has been a week of technological frustration. It seems that more and more teachers are embracing the incidious call of technology and requiring their students to sign up for and join countless websights (each with their own slightly different name and password that one must track). Students bring their laptops to class to click out "notes", visit three different sights to view grades, or frantically write out a blog that their classmates could, but probably won't read. Sometimes I feel like being forced to keep track of all these things makes my life harder not easier. Especially because I tend to be a strong kinesthetic learner and typing notes doesn't work for me. (Writing notes on a blackboard is ideal, but I'll settle for a skinny red notebook.)

My brother is enthusiastic about change--particularly the technological kind. He says that all change is hard because people are afraid of it. I think he could be right. But, really, is it so wrong to want a library of actual thick, heavy books instead of light, white 'Kindle'? (On the other hand, I would like to carry three books on the plane for the weight of one.) But what would I do without e-mail as a means of communicating with my professors? What would I do without Word and a printer to make neat-looking papers instead of writing my 5 pg essay by hand? And how would the stay-at-home-mother-of-three get a degree in paralegal without internet-based classrooms?

Just because this is a new way of doing school doesn't make it a poor way of doing school. But like all technology (and nearly everything else I can think of), the tools are only as good as the one using them. If the professor is capable and "savvy", then I predict the students will learn a lot from the technological tools, but if the professor does not use the tools to their full capabilities, then the students will suffer. (Illistration: I once had a little old Chemistry teacher who finally got a brand new 'SmartBoard' in her classroom. It could do a lot, but she treated it as projectable whiteboard/powerpoint display. It was a very bad whiteboard and we all wished she would switch back.)