Been on FaceBook lately? Of course, probably in the past six minutes if you're like most people using a computer or smart phone. But what can social media do for adult learners? Let's examine this topic, in all its confusion.
Using technology as a means of enhancing the adult learning process isn't a new concept, in fact it's pretty old! When it comes to social media things are a little less developed and still in "flux" as to what the benefits of social media can offer, and if they are necessary. I am not going to lie, I haven't found many things FaceBook can offer an adult learning group that can't be accomplished with other tools that have less of a stigma around funny pictures, and political rants as FaceBook. FaceBook is an amazing tool for socializing with friends and family, but how does it play in the educational arena?
In researching different practical uses for FaceBook, I couldn't help but smile at the opening paragraph of the "FaceBook" chapter of Will Richardson's (2010) book titled Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms. He states what is my number one concern; "Make it clear to your classes that your use of FaceBook is "interest-based" not "friendship-based". This goes directly against all that FaceBook was built on, it is FRIENDSHIP based! So to take that away, seems weird and unnecessary, which is why I lean to other web tools rather than this traditional social media site. But I digress. If you're determined to be trendy and cool, and need FaceBook in your classroom let's find some uses for it!
Creating a totally private FaceBook group for your students may not be a bad idea. It is, after all, in their faces nonstop, so you know your class will be up to date on the class happenings. If you are looking for a good means of constant communication around dead lines, assignments, meetings, and collaboration, a FaceBook group might be a good idea. However, you still have each student looking at every other student's profile page, pictures, "about section" and there is potential for distraction.
So, maybe FaceBook is for you, maybe it isn't. What else can social media offer our classroom? Well, lots of things! Take for example www.academia.edu. Don't get to confused, the .edu is not actually what it appears. This site is not an educational institution, they just got lucky enough to nab a .edu address before there were regulations around who could use that URL address. Academia.edu is a social media site for sharing, and discussing research papers with the masses. From what I can tell, it's the fastest way to publish research papers on the face of the planet. With nearly six million users, and almost two million published papers on the site, there is a lot to look at it. I would recommend adding this site to your daily surf habits, as you might find it to be your new favorite research site. It's like Google Scholar, but with the ability to ask questions and discuss what you're reading.
So with that, I have laid a couple ideas on you. There are hundreds more of social media sites out there, and those are the public ones. Companies are now rolling our their own in-house social media sites, which sounds like a fun way to keep up with other employees without having them seeing your weekend antics on FaceBook.
Resources
Richardson, W. (2010). Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
www.Academia.edu
www.FaceBook.com
This is a great blog. I use facebook all the time and I am a member in many group and never thought about a classroom group for deadlines. I really think that this is a smart idea a point students are always on this site like you said. It is important to make socialnetworking site like Facebook postive as it has so much potenial to be negative. I would consider puting important classroom information in a group on Facebook after reading this blog. Nice!!!!!!
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