Main Features;
Facebook is the most popular social networking sight in the world and it took the place at the top from Myspace. Social networking is a place online where people go to socialize. The most popular use of Facebook is to share things like;
- What you are doing "about to hit the gym"
- Inspirational phrases "Its not about how many times you get knocked down but how many times you get back up"
- What you are thinking "Starving right now"
- Things that are frustrating you "why do some people drive like such jerks"
- Places you are currently visiting "checking into atlantic city casino"
- Places you are going "on my way to florida"
These things can be shared on a very secure level. Meaning you can share these tidbits of your life with one or two people, a small group of close friends, a small group of family, everyone in your network, or the whole Facebook community.
And speaking of network you have to invite people who use Facebook to become your friend on Facebook. If they accept they are a part of your network. If they do not accept or accept and later cancel that friendship you are not part of that persons network any more and you cannot see the hings they share like comments or pictures, because most users today keep their information private.
Another popular use of this tool is to find people and reconnect with them. For example many people are using Facebook to find old high school, college, and old work friends they have not seen in ages. I have reconnected with people from most of the part time jobs I had from high school until I graduated College.
You can also share picture, and organize pictures into photo albums.
Level of Difficulty;
It might take a little while to learn this tool. It is hard for me to answer this as I have worked with computers for some time. But there is a larger and larger group of adults participating in this site. I think it would be much easier to hop on start finding and adding friends to your network and post comments to all of them or individually, than say start uploading and organizing photo's into albums.
Potential classroom application;
The two main uses in the classroom are 1) connecting with experts of a certain field 2)collaborating with your classmates.
1)If you are somebody in your field and wish to share tidbits of your knowledge, papers or research you are doing, or writing, talk about events you believe in, speaking engagements you will participate in, or wish to post clips of your lectures, Facebook is THE place to post this information.
So for example I am interested in web 2.0 technologies so I do some research to find ten prominent figures in that community. I will friend them on Facebook or follow their fan page ( a page designed to have a larger number of friends) so that I can stay up to date with what they are doing, read the newest articles they write, learn about events they will speak at, and learn about other prominent figures in the industry that they speak highly of. By following these figures on Facebook I am now a part of their social network and can learn more about the group they travel in. Some call the accumulations of these prominent figures, 'building a network of experts".
2)Facebook has a private group feature that can be used by a class as a private space, where everyone in the class can post and communicate in an open way with each other but it is closed off from everyone not invited into that group. This can be a place to share ideas, collaborate, work on group projects, and form discussions.
For example the TV Club at my College has just created a private group like this so members of the club can collaborate with each other on ideas for tv shows they will create. The students do not have to wait until the club meets to talk to others in the club. Instead they can post ideas as soon as it hits them, online, for everyone in the class to see in a space that is private.
Conclusion;
While many see Facebook as a game to waste time with and share every silly tidbits about their personal life like "hey guys just visited 7-11 in manhattan, so many slurpee flavors to choose from", I think this tool has great potential in the classroom. It is a great way to follow experts in many fields as a home base where they keep the users/followers up to date on their work. You can also create a private classroom space online to work, create, write, collaborate, and discuss ideas in an asynchronous manor that is also very private. Lastly it is a tool 99% of college students know and love. They will have a very easy time assimilating this tool into their classroom activities.
Ian
Ian,
ReplyDeleteI really like the idea of using Facebook in the classroom because I believe it can be a good way to engage students in what they are learning by using a medium that is trendy and students can relate to. I didn’t even think about using it as a communication tool between other educators and that is a great point. As much as I like it, I can also see some potential drawbacks to using it with students. There are some parents that may object to their children using Facebook, be it for school or not, which may exclude some students from using it in the classroom. Another thing to take into account in regards to difficulty of use is the fact that Facebook is constantly changing things in order to constantly make improvements. This may pose the problem of a (re)learning curve during the school year that would need to be taken into account. I really do like the idea of a private classroom group that only students can access and definitely has potential!
Steve
Thanks, Ian, for sharing your insight on Facebook. The Private Group feature is one that I wasn't aware existed, and I use Facebook fairly frequently. I can definitely see how it could be a benefit for using in the classroom, if its use wasn't excluded.
ReplyDeleteD'Andrea
Thank you Ian for this post. I never thought of a Facebook other than a terrific time-waster and your suggestions on how it could be used in classroom is really a great idea. This could be an absolutely new way of using Facebook for many people indeed, however I would still prefer to use a dedicated tool for studies, as this will make sure I am not distracted by a message or new photo of my mom.
ReplyDeleteOlga Gamayunova