Journal #8: Tapping the Wealth of Social Networks for Professional Development - NETS-T 3,4,5

Reflect on educational journal using ISTE publication and Citation Machine

Greenhow, CG. (2009). Tapping the wealth of social networks for professional development. 36(8), Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/Publications/LL/LLIssues/Volume3620082009/JuneJulyNo8/L_L_June_July_2009.htm

Christine Greenhow points out some of the advantageous of the collaborating applications used throughout the world. For instance, Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, blogs can put people one step away from public figures. These applications can also assist in everyday job situations, like the example with the grant program, where it was discovered via Twitter that the grant up for review had already been tried. The article goes on to build case that social networking could reshape the democratic culture, where everyone’s opinion can be viewed instantaneously, along with up to date information. These powerful tools are being researched and analyzed to see the affects they can have on education. I thought it was interesting that social networking triggered more peer validation, thus making students more creative, clever and articulate in their online presentation. This indicates two things: one that students are capable of doing great work when they are motivated, and that peer pressure is a strong motivator. Social networking has also been credited with providing students with a support team that can help students transition into the college life, or facilitate students helping each other with clarity of homework assignments.

Are high school teachers being encouraged to apply social networking technologies to research projects?

I would think the advantageous to allowing student to use social networking technologies to complete research projects outweigh the disadvantageous. I know some schools use to not allow the use of the internet for research projects because teachers did not want students to simple cut and paste the research project together; consequently not really learning much. But now that the education department has embraced technology, I would think that teachers are now very much encouraged to have students use social networking tools. Research projects can be designed where students would actually learn more and would not be able to simple cut and paste. For example, if the research project required five or more references on a topic, the student would have to integrate the information from the five sources, which would make cutting and pasting very difficult. The traditional encyclopedia route for research is gone.

The article points out that broadcasting anecdotal evidence gathered can help teachers troubleshoot and gain recognition. Could broadcasting also be used to evaluate teachers?

I would think teachers need to consider that anything they broadcast publicly can be used for them and against them. That said; I would imagine that when a teacher tries to facilitate a free flow of ideas, there would be some safeguards so that gathered evidence could be better filtered. Information shared should be honest and accurate, but with Twitter anyone can say anything.