Social Networking Technologies for for Learning

Social Networking Technologies for LearningJune 14, 2010Reading RevolutionSocial Networking & LiteracyNew technologies are bringing revolutionary transformations in reading, writing, communicating, and knowledge production. It represents a fourth revolution following language, writing, and print.Warschauer, 2008Social Networking: Changing Literacy PracticesWork62% of adults cell phones and text message at their jobs.

MMORPGs Business LeadershipResources are distributed Highly-competitiveHighly-collaborative

Civic EngagementObama FacebookYouTube DebatesRecord number of registered voters under 30 turn out to vote in the primaries. Power to the Millennial!

Social Networking & Youth96% of 9-17 year olds report using social networking technologies.

70% use at least 9 hours a week.

Changes the way young people:CommunicateSocializeand how they approach learning

Social Networking & Schools80 90 % of schools against any type of social networking technology like email, posting to discussion boards, blogging, & text messaging.

Purpose of EducationTo ensure that all students benefit from learning in ways that allow them to participate fully in public, community and economic life (New London Group, 1996).In an Out of School Literacy PracticesSchool based literacy practicesDecoding and encoding page bound printComprehension of page bound print.A solitary cognitive act.Standardized measures of achievement.

Out of school literacy practicesUsing texts and technologies to get things done.Read and write multimodal textsCollaborativeKnowing the unwritten rules, values, attitudes, and beliefsFriendingEffective communication in a specific context.Just so you know Im your b.f.f. not your b.f.f.lNew LiteraciesDesign web pages people want to visit.Know rules for participation in electronic communities.Effectively and appropriately insert oneself into an electronic community.The ability to follow the flow of stories and information across multiple modalities.The ability to travel across diverse communities, discerning and respecting multiple perspectives and grasping and following alternative norms.Why youth Social Network StiesThey allow them to work out identity and achieve status differently than in face-to-face environments.

They get to subvert ascribed identities and achieve an identity.

A strong connections exists between identity construction and motivation to engage in literacy learning.

Motivation is key in raising literacy achievement!!Profile Pages: KamryConcrete representations of who we are or who we want to be.

Use digital ways of reading and writing that differ from print-based ways of writing

Multimodal, Non linear, and NetworkedConnected to other texts, contexts, events and websites.QuestionCan using SNS in school promote both in and out of school literacy learning?

A CommentReading & Writing Across Contexts: Audience and PurposeA Discussion ThreadA Bog Post

Videos: Multicultural LearningWhere I am FromMultimodal expressionLearning about different cultures

Remembering Martin Luther KingPromoting Multicultural educationBest Practices in Adolescent Literacy Instruction for the 21st CenturyProvide a clear purpose for writing.

Provide an authentic audience for writing.

Provide opportunities for self-expression.

Provide opportunities to draw on funds of knowledge.

Provide opportunities for collaborative writing.

Provide opportunities for multimodal expression.

BenefitsStudents become closer and more inclusive as a group.

Provide students with opportunities to build digital literacies who lack access at home.

Improve motivation to engage in literacy building activities.

Bridge out of school literacy practices with academic literacy practices in ways that improve both skill sets.

My beliefsNot the equivalent of unproductive classroom talk.

These web pages count as legitimate text for learning.

Students are learning how to texts and technologies to communicate effectively.

The are learning to read and write in ways that schools claim to value.

They are learning skills valued that will help them become productive citizens and achievement personal fulfillment in their lives outside of school.