A study just came out, published in eSchool News, that reports nearly all students ages 9-17 are making connections online using social networking technologies.
Only one in 20 teens and “tweens” surveyed said they have not used social-networking technologies such as chatting, text-messaging, blogging, or visiting
online communities such as Facebook, MySpace, and Webkinz.
Surprising? Not really.
Another major finding is that a lot of this teenage online chatter is about education:
What’s more, students report that one of the most common topics of conversation on the social-networking scene is education–suggesting that schools have a huge, but largely untapped, opportunity to harness these technologies in support of student learning.
That’s not really surprising either, because what else would kids talk about? Most of their time is taken up in school, so it’s natural they would talk about their classes, homework, and learning. What IS surprising is how schools are still slow to capitalize on this advantage, as the article suggests. It seems that anytime we have students talking on their own motivation about education, it would be nice to tap that potential.
Another interesting point made in the article is that students report being highly creative in their online interactions.
Students report they are engaging in highly creative activities on social-networking web sites, including writing, art, and contributing to collaborative online projects–whether these activities are related to schoolwork, or not. Nearly half of students surveyed say they have uploaded pictures they have made or photos they have taken, and 22 percent say they have uploaded video they have created.
I think this is very important to capitalize on because I worry that too much of our teaching is of routine facts and information, when it is creativity and innovation that will help students to be successful in what Banahan and Playfoot (2004) call the “creative economy.” We need to foster this creativity more in our students, and it seems like they are willing to do it–if we’ll let them use the technologies they feel comfortable using.
The last thing that struck me was the following:
Students also say they are spending nearly as much time using social-networking services and web sites as they spend watching television. Among teens who use social-networking sites, that amounts to about nine hours a week online, compared with 10 hours a week watching TV.
In other words, we worry so much about all the media and “screen time” that kids have and we worry this will make them antisocial. I think a balance is in order, and that good face-to-face interaction is important. However, it’s nice to know that students don’t just spend all their time sitting on the couch in front of the tv. Rather, their media time is often used interacting with others online.
This study was titled “Creating & Connecting: Research and Guidelines on Online Social and Educational Networking,” and was based on three surveys: “an online survey of nearly 1,300 9- to 17-year-olds, an online survey of more than 1,000 parents, and telephone interviews with 250 school district leaders who make decisions on internet policy.” It’s important to note the possible conflicts of interest: “The study was carried out with support from Microsoft, News Corp. (which owns MySpace), and Verizon.”
References
Banahan, E., & Playfoot, J. (2004). Socio-organisational challenges in the creative economy. In L. M. Camarinha-Matos & H. Afsarmanesh (Eds.), Collaborative networked organizations: A research agenda for emerging business models. Boston: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
Blogged with Flock
Tags: social, online learning, K-12, interaction, social networking
