Digital Networking

Jennifer Neely

Pima Community College

EDC 257 CRN 13581

4 December 2016

I had never actually used my Google+ account before this assignment, even though I knew it

was there. I have a bit of an aversion to social media, but found throughout this week that I

actually like the way Google+ functions and found it minimally intrusive, unlike sites like

Facebook that want to weave their way into every aspect of your life. I’ve slowly built up my

account over the last week and have begun a few different collections and even a community for

Pima Teaching Certification students.

Figure 1. Creation of profile page. Taken from: Neely, J. (November 26, 2016) [Screenshot].

Figure 2. Adding friends. Taken from: Neely, J. (2016, November 27) [Screenshot].

Figure 3. Creating my first community. Taken from: Neely, J. (2016, November 29) [Screenshot].

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Figure 4. Home view after my first round of posts. Taken from: Neely, J. (2016, November 29) [Screenshot].

Figure 5. Final friends list for assignment. Taken from: Neely, J. (2016, December 4) [Screenshot].

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Figure 6. Final profile view for assignment. Taken from: Neely, J. (2016, December 4) [Screenshot].

This semester I have started to use more online tools to help connect with my students,

including Remind and sharing files through Google Docs. As I mentioned in my reflection on the

use of Pinterest, I think that online networking and curating tools can be very useful, but in my

current situation I only use them as supplements because my students face access issues outside

of class (I have many students that don’t have computers or internet access at home and/or have

limited data use on their phones). However, I have used tools like Facebook and Blogger in the

past with my classes and am figuring out ways to incorporate online sites and tools with my

current classes beyond the tools I am currently using.

According to Katie Lepi (2012) and her infographic on social media use in the classroom,

the four main ways teachers use social media are to connect, notify, teach, and curate (“How to

Use Social Media in Class”). Examples of this can be creating a Facebook group to share class

information, updates, relevant content, and using educational apps available through the site. I

have used Facebook groups in the past (long before the current generation that is so consumer

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driven and app focused) to share updates and relevant articles and websites for my classes. As

mentioned earlier, I use the Remind app to send reminders to my students for homework, papers,

and upcoming assignments and activities in class. I have also used Blogger in the past in

connection with crafting public arguments and creating a digital space to connect with

classmates, sharing resources and information they’ve discovered in their own internet research.

Along with Remind, I am currently using Turnitin as both a gradebook and online collection

system for major essay assignments. In the past I’ve used this site for all of my course work

(discussion posts, short writing assignments, and all submitted student work); however, this

semester I have had to adjust my collection methods to only use Turnitin for major essays and

their drafts and collect hard copies of homework assignments because of my students’ lack of

access.

This lack of access leads me into my reflections on how digital networking may engage

or disengage students. Obviously, if you structure your course around the use of many online and

social media tools and your students have access challenges, you are already isolating students,

possibly making them feel out of place and uncertain as to their ability to do well in the course,

which in turn would lead to a lack of engagement. I also feel that if a teacher relies too much on

digital and online tools they lose opportunities to create positive and constructive learning

environments through meaningful personal connections. As stated in Michael Rosenwald’s

(2015) article, students these days tend to feel they pay more attention and retain more

information when reading information in print. I can sympathize as I have a very hard time

reading anything through my computer (whether online or in a PDF). I have even taken the time

and spent the money to print the chapter readings for this course—I have to be able to highlight

and physically mark my reading for study in order to retain information.

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Even addressing all those possible drawbacks, there are still benefits to using digital

networking and ways to engage students. An example I can use from this semester involves my

high school students. Most of them had never used Google Docs or file sharing before, and after

introducing this tool and using it for some course documents in computer lab, I saw them begin

to use it on their own as they were drafting their first major essays—sharing the files with each

other without my suggesting it so they could review each other’s work before submitting it to

Turnitin. They also used Google Slides to prepare their presentations just a few weeks ago,

sharing the document between all the group members so they could edit it together. In terms of

social media and networking, I can see how a class Twitter account or Pinterest board could be

very useful with students who don’t have access issues, but at this time I feel it would cause

more problems rather than promote engagement, at least for my students.

Even with my drawback of access issues, I think it is important to engage my students as

much as possible in digital networking within the academic sphere. I think it is important that

students understand that social media and networking is not just something to be utilized in the

personal and social areas of their life, and to make sure they understand the implications of

irresponsible social media use. Even ten years ago, what a person posted on Facebook could

seriously impact their chances of getting a job or being seriously considered for promotions. In

2006 when Facebook became available to users outside of academia (previously only available

to users with school-based email addresses), the site also became available to public searches.

Students these days don’t realize that everything that is sent online—from Facebook posts to

Tweets to Instagram posts could be available to anyone looking for them. I think that many of

the standards (CCSS, ITSE, P21) take this into account in addition to the responsible approach to

online research when they incorporate technology-based standards into their frameworks.

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As educators, it is our responsibility to incorporate digital tools in our instruction and

teach our students how to use them responsibly while also being aware of possible access issues

that may isolate or disengage certain populations. As our schools try to catch up with the ever-

growing world of technology (some doing better than others), we as teachers also need to make

sure that we are adequately preparing our students to engage responsibly once they move on,

whether that is to college or the workforce.

References

Lepi, K. (2012, July 28). 25 ways teachers can integrate social media into education. Retrieved

from http://www.edudemic.com/a-teachers-guide-to-social-media/.

Rosenwald, M.S. (2015, February 22). Why digital natives prefer reading in print. Yes, you read

that right. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/why-digital-natives-

prefer-reading-in-print-yes-you-read-that-right/2015/02/22/8596ca86-b871-11e4-9423-

f3d0a1ec335c_story.html.

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