WEB 2.0
The big buz is Web 2.0 and social networking. I think that we need to redefine social networking to focus on student learning. “Social” does not necessarily imply academic learning. “Networking” does not necessarily imply academic learning. Students social network now when they IM, Skype, use social bookmarking, etc. The question is what academic learning they are doing. I know that almost none of my sons’ IMing was about education!
How will we have our students use these tools to improve their academic learning? It is up to us to structure their learning so that they can use social networking networks to grow academically. Let’s encourage their collaboration in higher-level thinking projects!
What Web 2.0 social networking do you have your students do to grow in their subject area learning?
© Harry Grover Tuttle, 2007
Part of a university education is socializing and growing outside of the classroom. Social networking can be great for things like clubs and student organizations which complement an academic education. Facebook can allow students to see each other and organize themselves. A great Student Life Portal is CollegeMailer, which gives club officers lots of functions such as targeted emailing, event creation with RSVP, web page creation, and more. Evite and Eventbrite also allow event creation. I think socializing, even if not directly academic, is integral to university life and there are many web 2.0 apps out there for that purpose.