Blogs v. Social Networks

 versus

There have have been some interesting conversations on Google+ about the future of blogging. The basic question is will social networks such as Google+ replace traditional blogging as we know it? It seems some in the mainstream tech world claim Google+ and any other similar social networks can replace blogging. Their logic is this, most bloggers used social networks to share links to their blogs to their followers and possibly an extended audience as followers shared those links with their friends. This would hopefully drive traffic to the blogger's website. The reason social networks such as Facebook or Twitter did not function as blogs was because of limits on the number of characters used to write a message or tweet. Go over the limits and things get tricky. URL shorteners such as Bit.ly helped in promoting blog posts on social networks. Now we have Google+, which is still in private beta and new users need an invitation to get in, and the character limitation is now gone. Google also makes it easy to insert links and embed media. Add the fact that a Google+ post can go to select groups or the public, then it can serve all the functions of a blog. Or can it?

One of the curriculum changes I have been wrestling with this summer is should sixth graders setup and write using a traditional blog such as Blogger or Word Press. I have used Blogger, Edublogs, and Kidblog in the past with some but not overwhelming success to suit me. Also, with between 210-240 per semester, it becomes an issue of do I want to have some kind of life outside of school? My wife and son would like to see me once in a while if only for me to give them money or pickup something at the store. Our school network really drags sometimes when attempting to access the sites, causing frustration for me and the students when we go to the site. Finally, whenever I hear about how all students take to technology like ducks to water I roll my eyes. Most students may be tech-savvy but definitely not all. This was a lesson I learned the hard way last year. To make writing online a much easier and more enjoyable experience, I am thinking of using the learning social network for blogging or online writing.

In the past, most teachers would post a question or writing topic in a blog post then let the students write their responses. This is usually done on schools' websites but I found our district's current system is rather had and buggy. I tried it last year and students' replies went all over the place. For example, I would find a response written during second period over in third period. The site also uses a code name system for the purpose of protecting identities. Unless I had the roster of student names and code names, students would be protected from getting a grade because I could not tell who was who. I could change the settings to show the names but why should I do that when I am logged in as the teacher? Fortunately learning social networks, such as Edmodo and Schoology, can allow responses to a teacher's post or let the student post independently. Both have the capability to allow the teacher to have selected students' writings made public that gives students the feeling of sharing with the outside world. Finally, students can insert links and/or embed media easier than on traditional blogs.

An argument can be made about using sites such as Blogger, Edublogs, and Kidblog for online writing and I am not proposing traditional blogging is going away. If I did, you would be reading this in Google+ instead of my website. Actually, my seventh grade students will probably be creating Edublog pages this year. This will give them them some experience with managing blog on the most popular blog engine in the world today. Blogger is out because our district blocks it because of the Next Blog button on each site. However, I have come to believe it is easier for students to write on the learning social network site then move them along as they get more experience. Finally, it will be social networks such as Facebook or possibly Google+ where students will do most of their online writing in their future. Would it not be a good idea to teach them how to share on these sites properly? Then again, laws like the one recently passed in Missouri might put an end to student writing online. Please give me your thoughts about using blogs or social networks for students to write online.

History Can Wait

Recently, I heard a case for allowing students to use social networks such as Twitter and Facebook in the classroom. The claim is history can be shown being made in real time by those involved. While the argument is a good one, I am not convinced it justifies allowing students to use popular social networks in school. 

A better solution is to allow teachers to use  Facebook or Twitter, which I believe is a better solution, to search for the information then show it to the students. This gives teachers time to prepare for discussions and filter out anything that should not be seen or heard. For those who still believe students should see the information on their own, post a link or RSS feed into a learning social network such as Edmodo or Schoology.  Again, this the teacher better control over what the student sees. 

The recent wave of anti-government protests that have swept across northern Africa are a great opportunity for students to see events unfold in real time though social network postings. However,  teachers should be cautious in how these postings should be used. There are still many administrators and parents who would not be wild about the idea of students being allowed to Tweet or Facebook at school. In my own experience, I would spend lots of time discipling students instead of teaching if they were allowed to go on Facebook by their own admission. Great teachable moments still need some measure of planning and control. With this planning and control the educational experience will be better for everyone involved. 

Social Chaos

The first five days of class have come and gone and I am already behind the schedule I created for myself. Thankfully, I was able to give the students their network accounts so I would not have to log 30 computers in everyday. The next task was to setup the students with their Edmodo accounts. Once this was accomplished chaos ensued. All kinds of personal messages started flying all over the site. One student complained he could not send his friend a message after being told students could not send messages to other individual students. When one student did the 21st Century version of dipping a girl's pigtails into an inkwell by calling her names on the site I knew something had to be done.

I quickly imposed a no personal message rule. Edmodo is to only be used for class business only. The reason I gave was I wanted students to learn to think about what they were about to post and whether it would get them into trouble. Some students thought I was joking and kept posting. This started the rounds of parent phone calls that went out after school for a couple of days. The way students acted online got me to thinking about how those who are allowed to have a Facebook or other social network account have been behaving online until now. For some students this was their introduction to social networking. I have concluded teachers need to engage students in a social network such as Edmodo to help teach students to look at whether to post what is on the screen. 

While this idea of students and teachers networking might frighten some and run counter to what I have said in the past. However, students need to learn how to act in a closed environment that sites like Edmodo or Schoology can provide. The good news is almost all of my students love using Edmodo. What are your thoughts? Have I gone overboard about the messages or should I continue to keep the messages out of our site? Should it be up to schools to train students how to act on social networks? I would be interested to hear what you have to say.

There is an app for that too!

Intel to launch app store for netbooks

The creator of the Atom chip, which powers most netbooks, announced the beta of an app store for the small computers. Hopefully, there will be free or inexpensive apps that could be of use to students and teachers. I wonder if I should open an app store? What would I put them on? A Teacherbytes device? Right! Source: Engadget

Pixel Perfect

Apple is working on making each LCD pixel a touch sensor for future displays. This is further evidence that my prediction of multi-touch displays will be on the walls of classrooms of the future. It will make a certain math teacher I know very happy because she believes the Promethean Board is not exact enough. ARS Technica

 Arc of the keyboard

Microsoft announced a new keyboard called the Arc. This form factor is to compliment Microsoft's thin Arc Mouse. The $59.95 peripheral will be exclusively sold at Best Buy stores starting February 21st. This could help free up some teacher desk space for more papers to grade. Source: Engadget

Now that is Socially Networked H2O

Vitamin Water has a new flavor called Connect complete with a Facebook logo and a label with all kinds of Facebook references. What is next? Google Water? Source: TechCrunch

Is Child Predator a character on WoW?

 A 42-year old women was arrested at her home in Texas after meeting with a 16-year boy she met on the popular online game World of Warcraft. The boy left his Barrie, Ontario home to meet the woman with whom he had been communicating on the game. Ironically, no Canadian laws were broken but since the age of consent is 17 in Texas the woman is thrown in jail. This might not go anywhere since the boy said he was 20. Anyway, the mother of four will have a lot of explaining to do with her soon to be former husband. Source: CNET

Social Agents of Change

Mashable has a post with lists how Social Media has changed society. The first of two points that interested me is writing blogs and other Web2.0 apps has raised child literacy rates. The second point is how social media allows a greater exchange of knowledge. 

Intel Reader

Intel is showing a device that scans text and reads it back. This could be a good adaptive technology device but the $1500 price tag could slow deployment to classrooms in these tough budget times. Below is a video demonstrating the reader. Source: Engadget

They can see what!?

A few years ago I belonged to a local health club that had a unique way to keep members coming in to workout. The manager would have contests for members to sign up to do x number of workouts or go y number of miles on a treadmill. Those who complete the contest usually would receive a t-shirt. It was a great marketing ploy because it kept members coming into the club and paying their monthly dues.

Facebook has a similar approach to keep it’s members coming back to the site so they can see the adds on the site. This is how Facebook makes money. Advertising companies go through great pains to research potential customers of their clients so ads created are most effective at getting people to purchase products. This research requires as much information about the target market as you can get. Facebook has one of the greatest market research schemes going in the history of market research, they have people freely hand over their personal information without giving it a second thought. Information surrendered that would get a pollster slapped if they asked the same questions on the street or hung-up on the telephone. How does Facebook do this? Games and quizzes millions of users play for sometimes hours. It is truly  amazing what information is gathered about you as you play these games. Then the information is sold in a nice neat package to advertisers.

People who are my friends know I am always trying to throw a wet blanket on their fun by warning them of the risks they are taking with their personal information. Up to now I thought it was their own information they were knocking themselves out to hand over as they do that hit in Mafia Wars, beat their friends’ score in Bejeweled, or get help planting crops in Farmville. When I was listening to This Week in Tech (TWIT) #225, Leo Laporte and his guests were discussing Facebook’s new privacy policy. One thing Leo said that made my jaw drop was these games not only gathered information on the player but, depending on privacy settings, their friends as well. A game created by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) was mentioned and I played it as soon as possible. The idea was to pry as much information out of you and your friends by asking a few questions. Either Facebook changed the conditions of the game or I have fairly good privacy settings. Not much information came out but the questions made me think and hence this blog post.

Should people stop using Facebook? No, I still use it myself and sometimes play the games. I just try to stop when they start asking for too much information. Other games I stay away from. Friends don’t take it personally if I don’t take up your causes, join you in your games, or play along with the many activities offered on Facebook. I am just thinking about my privacy and now yours when I don’t participate. For me, Facebook is a place to relay some stories about me and my family with my family and friends I choose to share with. That is all the information anyone needs to know. One more thing, did you know the default privacy setting for Facebook is all your information can be seen by anybody?

Teens Prefer Social Networks Instead of E-Mail

I found this posting on Crunch Gear about an article by Stefanie Olsen of CNET about how teens prefer to communicate with each other by using social network sites such as MySpace and Facebook or text messaging instead of e-mail. In fact according to the teens interviewed for the article they claim that e-mailed is old-fashioned, out-of-date, so last whatever means of communicating with adults who don't get it.

These are not just any teens either. The panel discussion at Mashup 2007 was made up of teen entrepreneurs who are probably making more money than all of us put together. Most of the panelists said they only use e-mail to communicate with adults about business dealings which adults in the business world prefer. A few of the teens don't even use e-mail at all.

Interesting, social networks such as MySpace and Facebook are becoming the preferred method of communication. These sites and others like it have been used by kids for the last few years as a means of expressing themselves to friends and others. Apparently these sites that make many adults, especially educators, nervous have made a transition to cell phones.

Another method of communication teens use is text messaging on cell phones. Text messaging has been the way European and Asian kids communicate for years because of higher talk time costs. Text messaging is so widespread that Scottish schools allowed texting short hand to be used on year-end national exams. Now text messaging has made it to American kids as providers have lowered text messaging costs.

The interesting thing here is this could be a signal of a shift in the way people will communicate with each other in the business world in the coming future. Recent graduates entering the business world took their passion for instant messaging with them to work. What does this have to do with education? We should encourage young people to be responsible when using Internet communications by reminding them anything and I mean anything posted on the Internet can be found at some later date. The recent attempt of blackmailing Miss New Jersey should drive home this lessons since the "incriminating" photos where published somewhere on the Internet and found. Assignments using social networking methods also teach a more practical use of this communication and that you are watching.

Kids say e-mail is, like, soooo dead