Social Networks: To Use or Not to Use?

For the past decade or so, the idea of "social networking" has been a hot topic, buzzword, and source of much revenue on the Internet. To be sure, this idea has been around a bit longer than that... in fact, I was "social networking" on a local BBS (bulletin-board system) using a modem when I was a middle-school student in the late 1980s... before the World Wide Web was invented and any websites existed.

We all know of ubiquitous sites now like MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter. A few years ago the buzzwords were Friendster and Xanga. Now there are also new systems like Ning and Edmodo, which allow for smaller network groups or collaborative spaces online. This could be useful for education... but does that mean we should use them?

Some advocates, like José Picardo (posting on his "Box of Tricks" blog), give a resounding "YES!" But I'm not so sure. The idea is that, currently, many (if not most) schools use a "walled garden" approach to learning with technology, in which students are provided with a well-defined "sandbox" within limits of ways they can explore, browse, use, and communicate via the Internet. The argument is that we should break down the wall and avoid sheltering these kids, for the following reasons:

• Students are growing up in a global economy requiring global citizenship. They "face a future where boundaries are abstract and global learning is critical. Tomorrow’s citizens must be global communicators, must be able to participate successfully in project-based activities, and must have collaborative skills." (Reed, 2010.)
• The Web 2.0 is how students like to communicate outside of the classroom. "Many will argue that most students are just wasting their time and gossiping online but, whatever anyone’s opinion on the benefits or dangers of social networking is, it cannot be denied that they are all sharing, collaborating and networking and they are doing so in a way which they enjoy and find engaging, otherwise they simply would not do it." (Picardo, 2010.)
• Communication, teamwork, and collaboration are valuable skills both in and out of school.
  

Okay, these all may be very real and valid statements... but these ideas alone do not constitute a reason to jump on-board the social-networking bandwagon. One thing I find particularly disturbing is the lack of references to scientific studies or empirical evidence that shows results of using social network technologies for learning. All of the reasons I have seen on various blogs and propaganda on the web are mere opinions or conjecture -- and the only studies I have seen have been qualitative ones, in which students indicate that they do enjoy using the technologies. So, clearly, social networking can be a benefit for motivation -- but does it help learning? And at what costs? Breaking down the walls of the garden may reveal some unfortunate apples in this newly-discovered Eden. Let's do a cost-benefit analysis:

Benefits

• Improved motivation / enjoyment.
• Simulates or represents what the "real world" will be like after school.
• Allows for collaboration. (but can't this be done without the technology? Not for online education or home-schooling, but for the vast majority of students who are in traditional schools and classrooms, the school itself is a "social network" where the kids can communicate, interact, and work on projects together. )

Costs

• Distraction. Recent studies have shown that students do not multitask well and actually learn less when multitasking. Social networking does not necessarily cause students to attempt multitasking, but it certainly encourages it and makes it easy to try to do.
• Online privacy / safety -- and lack of parental guidance. Multiple studies at Netsmartz.org reveal the dangers of using online communication with students: (1) 45% of teens have been asked for personal information from someone they don't know online; (2) 42% of parents do not review or monitor what their children do online, and 30% allow them to use the computer in a private room. Some of these problems can be solved by using private networks/groups such as Edmodo and Ning allow. However, if we as educators encourage or provide requirements for online networking, we cannot monitor what these students are doing at home, such as...
• Cyberbullying. Tomorrow, my elementary school is holding a special session for parents to teach them about the issue of cyberbullying. It has started to occur in students as young as 4th grade. They are posting disparaging or slanderous remarks, hijacking MySpace accounts, etc. Most social networking sites are not moderated -- this opens up a huge potential for cyberbullying in a forum that you the teacher created and endorsed. Unless the service you are using allows moderation and approval of posts and comments, students can post inappropriate or damaging materials and do serious psychological damage to their peers in your classroom before the offending content is caught and removed.
• Laws prevent children from using many online services. The Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) of 1998 stipulates that any website that collects personal information (including name, address, phone number, or email) of a child under 13 years old requires special notifications to, and verified approval from, a parent. Because of the difficulties in doing this -- and the fact that the web service can be fined $10,000 if it is discovered that they did not adequately comply -- many sites and services simply refuse to allow children under 13 to use their service. Some of the sites which explicitly state that children under 13 cannot use their services include some of the most common and popular email and social networking sites: Google, Yahoo, MySpace, Facebook. So... how is cyberbullying and Facebook-jacking being done by 4th graders? Due to the lack of parental guidance as mentioned above, students can simply do what they like at home... and they know all they need to do to create an account is lie about their age.
  But if kids can't get an email account... how can they use a service like Ning which requires an email address to sign up? (note: Edmodo does not require an email account or personal information, so it is a viable option)
• Increasing the Digital Divide. Finally, something to seriously consider is the fact that many students are disadvantaged and simply do not have computers, Internet, or smartphones outside of school. Mr. Picardo argues that microblogging is what kids do at home... but this is not the case when the kids don't have the tools. Let's assume that there are benefits to online social networking for education. If you are a teacher at a school (like mine) with a large disparity in socio-economic status, then moving your collaboration and communication tools online for homework activities and projects (instead of in the classroom) means you are providing those educational opportunities only for those students privileged enough to have the tools to participate and engage themselves in the discussions and learning outside of the classroom. The only solution, then, is to use computers and social-networking tools while in the classroom... but if you are doing this, doesn't it defeat the purpose? The students are there -- together, in the same place, as a group -- so they can collaborate and "social network" just by using their mouths and hands and brains, without even needing any technology.

Conclusion
Social networking tools are certainly a hot topic right now, and I think they have their place. I'm not going to say they would not be useful for education; Vygotskian theory (among others) really highlights the value of communication for constructing knowledge. For this reason, I think online social networking would be a crucial component of home-schooling or online education environments. For adults -- such as college students -- they may prove to be a useful extension of the classroom.

However, there are serious costs and problems with trying to use them in a traditional school classroom and especially for students in elementary school. I believe there will be a time when they are well-designed in a way that is feasible for use (in fact, I am in the process of developing a new website for my school district using a web-hosting service called SchoolFusion which includes online teacher-created -- private and moderated -- blogs, discussions, forums and activities. ) However, we will not see the true success of social networking for education until these three conditions are met:

1. the digital divide would have to be closed and all students would need to have access to technology and the Internet at home.
   
2. any system that is used for kids in school must be: private, moderated, and not collect private information (name, address, or email) in order for student sign-in.
3. we need more scientific studies and evidence of the values and efficacy of online social networking (ie. what is the benefit over traditional classroom collaboration?)

References

Federal Trade Commission. (1998). Children's Online Privacy Protection Act. Retrieved from COPPA.org: http://coppa.org/

National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and Boys & Girls Clubs of America. (2010). Statistics. Retrieved from NetSmartz website: http://www.netsmartz.org/safety/statistics.htm

Picardo, J. (2008, November 15). Social networking in education: why is it taking so long? [Weblog message]. Retrieved from http://www.boxoftricks.net/?p=549

Picardo, J. (2010, February 16). Microblogging: making the case for social networking in education [Weblog message]. Retrieved from http://www.boxoftricks.net/?p=1727

Rede, J. (2010). Global collaboration and learning. Retrieved March 8, 2010 from EdTechMag.com website: http://www.edtechmag.com/k12/events/updates/global-collaboration-and-learning.html