Corinne's Posts

Who am I? The networked generation.

How BIG is social networking?

This Blog examines the way in which social networking has become an undeniably important aspect of young people’s lives. This is not a new idea; it is merely made easier by the application of digital and mobile technologies. Young people typically work to form an identity as to how they wish to be seen by their peers and others within society. Social networking provides a forum in which they can do this. Not only does social networking provide an opportunity to create identity, but also allows young people to identify with like minded people. This creates a juxtaposition of young people wanting to control their identity through media, but somehow become controlled through the ways that social networking sites are structured so that young people must continue to ‘follow the crowd’. Social networking then allows young people to experiment with social structures to work out how to behave in given societies given the choices they make in creating their identities (Hile, 2011). This then poses the question of how formal education could or should interact with young people using social media

Social networking is a part of young people’s identity formation as individuals and as a collective. Their desire to connect with others is enabled by the contribution of the Internet as a tool with which they can connect with others in all areas of their lives. Young people’s priority is to form their identity and this is contributed to by the social constructs that they operate within; therefore, their participation in an online environment contributes to their identity and allows them to connect to like minded people. Stald (2008) states that “adolescent identity is mobile, changing and developing moment by moment and over time” and argues that mobile technology is imperative to the formation of this identity.” So then consider that Boyd comments; “A MySpace profile can be seen as a form of digital body where individuals must write themselves into being”, which articulates to adults that social networks are an opportunity to create and control the identity that they are putting to the world. Chris Poole discusses the ability to create identity online in the following video:

This connection to like minded people is described by Boyd (2008) by the way that social networking came to be formed in its early stages. She describes that a shift in popularity from Friendster to MySpace occurred by younger users out of a desire to connect with bands and other fans of those bands. She states that “Music is the cultural glue among youth” (Boyd, 2008, p. 122), possibly because music is seen by young people as an expression of identity. Social networking became an important opportunity in this respect.

Since this shift in 2005, social networking had seen a number of changes in respect of popular sites and platforms. For example, the development of Facebook has followed a similar downward shift in demographics, having originally been a college social networking site to become a widely used site by all demographics so that there are now more than 800 million users (Facebook Statistics, 2011). A social network site is made of its members and its networks participating in three aspects; profiles, friends and comments and the popular site is selected by the user both by choice and also conformity. Young people have the option of their social networking choice, however in many instances, they are limited in that choice depending on the networks to which their personal friend belong, that is, their friend beyond cyber space. They are also limited by the networks that people with their shared interests belong to, that is people they may not know personally but want to connect with based on a shared interest. There are a number of interest specific social networks that exist that young people may also be members of. It is not uncommon for young people to maintain more than one profile in more that one social network as demonstrated in the video below.

Young people love social networks because they are a place that they can have a public identity that can be controlled by themselves. They can contribute by posting comments, share links, videos and images as well as create videos to share with their friends or other users. In Facebook for example they can micro blog by updating their status and have friends comment of their ideas, thoughts or actions. These can then be shared with others and their ability to reach more people compounds. This idea of public can create problems for young people. Firstly, their lack of understanding in how the parameters of limiting access mean that they are unable to completely control links between their online persona and their physical one. It is important for most teens to control the access that their parents and other adults have to their online identities (Boyd, 2008). Young people feel that their parents do not understand their need to be connected to their peers via social networking. They feel that by allowing access to their online identities, they become constrained in their interactions. Young people fear that the consequence of adults discovering a misuse would result in the limitation or termination of their participation in this network (Boyd, 2008 and Stald, 2008).

This public space is also a space in which young people explore social norms and interactions to test the idea of ‘socially acceptable’ and this exploration is essential in the identity formation of young people. Stald (2008) argues that “Exchange between friends is an important part of the development of identity, because it supports the testing of cultural, social, and individual codes and makes ongoing, mutual reciprocity possible. In this context, being movable, agile and ready to march means

being ready to move as a person, too” (p. 146) this occurs in social networking in respect of a user choosing who to friend, what groups to join and what image they will seek to portray through their inclusion of image, video and comments. Boyd (2008) discusses the issues of ‘friending’ and not ‘friending’ someone and the social ramifications of this for the young person that is greater than the online environment. This experimentation should be free to happen to some extents outside the pressures of adult monitoring.

When social networking is used as a education device for young people, educators need to consider the integral role that social networking does in creating identity. It provided the students an opportunity to create connectivity to their real world and their peers, however, we need to be aware that, as previously argued, some social networking should be free from adult intervention, just as most physical social interactions occur away from adult intervention. This separation of social identity and educational identity is supported by Montana Miller who argues that "Facebook is too much of an intrusion into students' personal and social lives for educators to be using it as an educational method, I'm not against collaborative, online education with students, but I am against merging   heir personal, private family world with something required for a class activity” (Davis, 2011, p. 18). What she is saying here is that while educators should be using social networking principles to connect their students, they need to be mindful of the way in which these personal networks contribute to identity and should create spaces for educational identity separately. If a student wishes, they can cross the two ideas however they feel suitable to their identity formation.

Davis (2011) recounts the times in which social networking has created educational opportunities in classrooms using Skype across the world and creating Back channels. Back channelling involves an online chat that occurs simultaneously to another educational experience where students can ask questions, share ideas/stories etc. Back channelling provides educational opportunities but can also be detrimental to the educational process at the same time. Consider that students are aware of the inital interaction, be it between class and teacher or class and class, but they are also required to be chatting, typing and information seeking at the same time. This can become overwhelming for students and would require students to revisit the lesson in order to see all of the activity. However, by being so actively involved in the process, students are gaining deeper understanding within a more authentic learning experience.

 List of references

Boyd, Danah. “Why Youth Social Network Sites: The Role of Networked Publics in Teenage Social Life." Youth, Identity, and Digital Media. Edited by David Buckingham. The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Series on Digital Media and Learning. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2008. 119–142. doi: 10.1162/dmal.9780262524834.119

Davis, M. R. (2010). Social Networking Goes to School. Education Digest, 76(3), 14-19. Retrieved from EBSCOhost

Facebook (2011). Statistics. Retreived from http://www.facebook.com/press/info.php?statistics on 21/10/2011

Hile, Lori. (2011). Social Networks and Blogs. London: Raintree Publishing

JEMproductions321 (19 June 2011 ). Social Networking: Affecting today’s teens? [Video File]. Retreived from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCmz1nbJR70&feature=related

Stald, Gitte. “Mobile Identity: Youth, Identity, and Mobile Communication Media." Youth, Identity, and Digital Media. Edited by David Buckingham. The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Series on Digital Media and Learning. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2008. 143–164. doi: 10.1162/dmal.9780262524834.143

TechWebTV (17 October 2011). Web 2.0 Summit: Self Expression through Social Media- Chris Poole [Video File]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbPASJiAfu4

 

Kids sidestep Facebook bans

"A false online identity can be used for nastiness, to anonymously bully, but generally it's about secrecy."

This article reinforces the desire for young people to have an environment in which they can interact without the constraints of parents or authority figures watching their interactions. By creating a pseudonym/s, young people can control the image they present to selected audiences. For example, they may have one profile that their parents can access and participate in with their young person.

Their other pages may then present variations of their identity ranging from the names and ages they choose to use, to the groups they are members of, the language they use and the images or media they upload and connect with. Friend lists are also likely to vary depending on which groups they want to present their modified identity to. It would not be surprising that young people manipulate the variety of platforms also to present their images to different audiences. Their YouTube, Friendster and Facebook accounts may all be representative of their various pseudonyms.

The article also indicates the need for young people to be connected, and to be connected all of the time. As a teacher, it is easy to observe that the primary motivation of young people is to create social connections. This is why teacher a constantly asking for quiet and attention, because young people use every opportunity to connect and socialise (I would even argue that for most, we are social creatures and desire social interactions). In the article, Harriet, Age 14 says that she relies on her mobile device an iPhone because "… you can use it late at night in bed. You can't not be on it, or you just don't have friends.". This is necessary for her because she avoids using the home computer for social networking, meaning that she relies of the Lite version of Facebook for mobiles (with limited image/media capabilities) and relies on her time in school with access to computers to access the full version. This shows how secretive young people have become in order to achieve and maintain this privacy.

The article again places responsibility of schools to monitor students online interactions in respect of bullying. Perhaps the most realistic situation here is that prevention is better than cure is respect of teaching young people how to interact with each other. The lines are blurred as to who is responsible for cyber bullying, be it parents, schools or the police, but really, is this any different to pre-internet social interactions? Probably not – but now it permeates audience and time boundaries. For more on cyber bullying, see “Tania’s Posts”.

Corinne Muller

References

Kids Sidestep Facebook Bans (3 October 2011). Retreived from http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10756082 

Powerful Pedagogies: Social Media in the classroom

Social networking sites have educational benefits

MEDIA FILE 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxrlrbP4UNo&feature=related

Finally! Here is a video that advocates the use of social media in the classroom. Where I tend to agree with Montana Miller, that educators should not intrude upon student’s personal space because of the idea of identity creation and protection, I do feel that social networking holds a very valuable potential in the classroom and the future of education. Through her research, she has discovered what many educators have known for a long time, that students want social media in their formal learning.

The findings suggest that students feel they would receive benefits from social networking in classrooms. These include: greater motivation to learn and engage, help with communication, sharing work and ideas, giving and receiving peer feedback (which deepens learning), and creating learning networks to locate information about places and ideas they can not readily access. Social media allows students to explore their creativity and initiate projects because of the authenticity of the inquiry and the audience.

Greenhow is correct in stating that social media engages students to build on the basics learned in class to further their media skills because they have to potential for a greater audience through participatory culture. It also helps that the skills learned to present their formal learning helps them to build their online identity through manipulation of media.

The interesting thing about all of the negatives of social networking is that students tend to be very aware of these. Greenhow talks about students acknowledging that social media can result in time wasting. This means that the awareness is there, but they need to taught how to manage the multimedia world that they function in. This supports the argument that as educators we can no longer ignore or protect our students from social networking, but instead we should be proactive in modelling how to use it to their benefit.

Another video that supports the idea of harnessing the power of social media in the classroom is below. It promotes use of social networking and the Internet in the classroom and discusses the idea of participatory culture.

Top 10 reasons to use Blogs in the classroom.

Corinne Muller

References
supershona (31 January 2008), Top 10 Reason's to Use a Blog in the Classroom [Video File]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfJETK3am1M&feature=related

 tarheelsk8tr247 (14 October 2009). Social Networking In The Classroom [Video File]. Retrieved from  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOZiwOrZsbk&feature=related

UniversityofMinn (2 October 2009). Social networking sites have educational benefits [Video FIle]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxrlrbP4UNo&feature=related

 
What to do...? Teaching The networked generation.

Transformations/Innovative pedagogical response to ideas

Being an educator is a reflective profession and it is necessary to apply new knowledge and technologies to our professional practices so that we can facilitate productive learning. In the new media culture, it is impossible to deny the need to engage with these technologies, simply because teaching is also a relational profession, and the understanding the Internet helps us to understand our learners. Therefore, based on the sharing of knowledge in this Blog, I reflect on how I can improve my practice to improve the teaching and learning for my students.

Copyright and ownership of intellectual property

Media ‘mashing’ is a term that I am working with in my professional practice, and as such, need to incorporate the ideas of Copyright and intellectual property more carefully. As part of the English and literature program at our College, I work with the Year 9 and 10 English classes to create book trailers for the books they have studied. In doing this, I explicitly teach the concepts behind intellectual property and ownership. I use this opportunity to highlight why it is important to protect their identities and Creative Commons attribution and the importance of protecting their own created material. Students experimented with locating images and media in Creative Commons when they began collecting media for their trailer. They quickly became frustrated with this process despite understanding the importance of attribution. This highlights for me that I must teach students how to better search, define and use attribution codes crated by CreativeCommons.org. This can be done through role modelling (ensuring all of my own productions are fully attributed) and modelling strategies of using Creative Commons, translating the icons and promoting awareness of sharing media with others.

One student, whose trailer is shown below contacted the creator of YouTube content to gain permission to use their video in his project. While this is not a complete example of full attribution, this is an example of how the student has become aware of rights and responsibilities in media use and publishing. Lewis is an active creator of media in the realms of YouTube and expressed concern about teacher’s accessing his personal content as discussed in my previous posts concerning identity formation and protection.

Below is another example of students mashing their own media.

The next stage in this project is to determine an appropriate platform on which we can upload the students’ trailers so that they can not only be curated but also catalogued and used as a resource in our library for future literature programs.

Blogging & Technicaleducaphobia

I love the potential of Blogging as an educational platform. While teachers are required to reflect for professional practice, young people are now required by national curriculum's as well as educational models (such as inquiry based learning and inquiry models (ACARA, 2011)). With this requirement, students need to learn reflective skills and the Internet, and Blogs in particular are offering a place that this reflection can occur.

In respect of my professional practice, Year 9 and 10 students have a space on the school public portal on which they can enter into discussions and Blogs to record their processes in undertaking a close reading of a text. Below is a snip of the discussion board. I have not seen any classes since setting these up.

There are two advantages of using this platform. First, it is secure. Therefore, all students can participate safely without a concern for privacy as only users can log into the Portal. Secondly, this is the primary Launchpad for students while on campus, which means that they do not require separate password or log on. There are some major drawbacks to this platform. The discussion board system does not support multi media. This is suitable at this stage while students are learning how to have academic discussions in this environment. I may need to review the options for students to create Wikis or Blogs within the platform which will allow them to do these things.

Teaching students to genre of a Blog is important. Students must be able to interact in a meaningful way to get the most out of the process. This requires practice, modelling and instruction.

I am also very excited about having students document their research processes using Blogs and Wikis. I also anticipate that teachers will develop the confidence to allow for Wikis to be used for the collation and presentation of assignments and inquiry.

Social Networking

Professionally, I am uncertain on the best way to action the use of social networking. I am keenly aware of the role of social networking in identity formation, and I do feel that formal education impacts on this identity formation. The perceived separation of identity and education has resulted in many people having an unbalanced ‘digital footprint’.  For secondary students, I want to work with teachers and the school to create opportunities for social networking using the platforms provided for use such as the school Portal. The ruling institution of our school does not allow social networking to be accessed from the school network, therefore limiting our potential to optimise this learning tool.  What I will explore further is how the potential of the school portal can encourage connected learning with other systemic schools and within our school.