Educational networking

The use of social networking tools for educational purposes faces obstacles with privacy and safety concerns. Can the use of "educational networking" sites address these concerns?

Holcomb et al (2010) studied the use of a Ning in Education SNS (Social Networking Site) for distance education courses at the University of North Carolina. The study wanted to see if the more restricted Ning would address privacy and safety concerns but retain the advantages of educational networking.

The results were positive: The Ning "provided numerous educational values and benefits for learning within a secure environment" (Holcomb et al 2010). As distance educational students, the participants were able to communicate and collaborative more easily with their peers.

The biggest problem was the time commitment required to use the Ning; "the time to keep current was a significant drawback".

I found these results to be consistent with my observations of using a Ning in PPLE. Due to the closed community, I was much more comfortable submitting work, knowing that the community was a small, trusted group. I benefited from reading other students' thoughts and also from thinking about my thoughts in order to write. However, the time taken to write and read the Ning has meant that my participation has dropped off during the semester due to other demands on my time.

As well as the Ning, the article suggests Elgg and Classroom 2.0 as other educational networking tools.

These tool appear to address the concerns about privacy and safety from the outside world. The tool do not directly address problems that could occur within the group. Moayeri (2010) states that the perceived need for teachers to police Nings used in a classroom setting was a major time burden for the teachers. Maybe education and the idea of a closed community will reduce the need for teachers to police such educational networking sites?

Holcomb L., Brady K. and Smith B. 2010 The Emergence of "Educational Networking": Can Non-commercial, Education-based Social Networking Sites Really Address the Privacy and Safety Concerns of Educators? MERLOT Journal of Online Learning and Teaching, Vol 6, No. 2, June 2010, pp 475-481.

Moayeri, M. 2010. Classroom Uses of Social Network Sites: Traditional Practices or New Literacies? Digital Culture & Education, 2:1, 25-43.