Things I've Learned About Social Nework Creation

In his piece Some Things I’ve Learned About Social Networks Steve Hargadon made several great points about social network creation and uses. I particularly appreciated this comment (point #2) "Our job is not as much to define what is talked about, but to help conversation to take place." because it is so true of most students today that they have a great desire to be heard regarding even one facet of their life. Even if I don't have a passion for playing the guitar I do enjoy listening to guitar music. So giving voice to someone, allowing him or her to interact and feel connected is much more important than the subject he or she or I choose to discuss. I am not sure if I would necessarily encourage this type of open discourse in a technology class per say. Obviously I have the equipment I the room to allow this to happen but I think this might be better in a Language Arts class. On the proverbial other hand, I would enjoy creating an open forum setting where students who might not otherwise speak out will be comfortable enough to express themselves. The concern might be what do I tell the Language Arts teacher who has been trying to get this student to respond to writing prompts to no avail, that they are creating writing on their own within the framework of my class. I understand that teachers should be happy with any writing that a student does regardless of the room location. But, the reality is that right now the students do not get to pick the writing prompt on the AIMS/Terra Nova. So allowing free and open discourse is wonderful if it somehow translated into the student being able to perform on the writing portion of the AIMS. I agree that that is an unfortunate reality but, I am paid by the state to abide by their guidelines and state mandated testing.

My second point, I would like to comment on is the notion that a network needs to fulfill a compelling need. The students who are interacting with the site need to feel that what they are contributing is not just “monkey work” that is work without a point work that is merely filling in time for the teacher and student. I believe that students will respond to items that they find important. As the author pointed out so eloquently you never know what that you create will take off. So when I create a social network site in my room I will be doing it with massive input from the students. I am pretty sure I am not going to do a great job sometimes, but there is the potential for getting it right eventually which will allow me to open up another part of the web 2.0 experience for my students.