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 Online Social Networking in the Classroom byBrent Bergstrom November, 2009
 
Online Social Networking in the ClassroomIn the highly competitive business world today, many businesses rely upon employeeswho can work collectively together in groups and can access information quickly and easily frommultiple sources. Online social networks provide the abilities for collaboration and connectionsand are one of the ways that many businesses empower their employees to succeed. The director of IT for Ramapo Central School District in Hillburn, NY, states, “Almost every business I canthink of is using some sort of social networking tool, whether it be a chat tool within their  business or using wikis to develop their manuals and their support” (Demski, 2009, p. 24). Withthe business world looking for and relying upon employees with social networking skills, it isimportant that today’s students be educated with the skills needed to work effectively andresponsibly within the online social networking environment.To accomplish this task, educators must be made aware of the benefits that an onlinesocial network can add to the classroom, as well as the importance of teaching good digitalcitizenship to protect students. James Yap, an IT director for a large New York school districtstresses his approach:“Our goal is to catch kids when they’re young so they’ll have a reallystrong grasp of the etiquette surrounding online social networking…before theygo into the Wild Wild West of Facebook, or MySpace, or any other sites that areout there right now!” (cited in Demski, 2009, p. 28)It is critically important to provide students with the skills needed to navigate not only theweb, but also social networking sites that require a greater measure of self-discipline andmonitoring.
 
What is an Online Social Network?An online social network is a website that collects data from it users through the form of  profiles in which a user can post textual information, pictures, videos and other types of information to be viewed by other users. Many online social networks allow users to join groupsor form discussions on topics. Some sites allow users to control access to information whileothers do not. Web pages and blogs are also common tools in the social network environment(Barrett, 2006). Many educators view these tools as great for personal use but do not see the benefit for the classroom, and others rule out their use altogether because of the security issuesthey portray.As the levels of access to user information vary from site to site, security becomes a largeissue in allowing access within the classroom. To address this issue, many schools have deniedaccess to large social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace. Yet, there are alternatives tothe large public networking sites. Klein (2008) uses an open source solution for his schooldistrict. Open source software can be obtained freely and edited or adapted by a programmer tomeet the specific needs of the user. Klein has developed a social networking site for his district,which incorporates blogs, wikis, podcasts and other features. Because the application is opensource, he is able to customize it to meet the needs of the district and to provide a high level of security for all who access the site.Other alternatives to the public networking sites can be found in companies that are producing software designed specifically for K-12 classroom. Imbee.com is a site made for kidsages eight to fourteen in which parents must enter credit card information to vouch for their childand then only the parents can select whom their child can contact by creating a preapproved list(Borja, 2006). Another alternative is the Saywire.com site which is designed with the look and
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