People are social beings. Our students are social beings. Social networking brings this to a head. Our students want to be heard and this is the way the world can hear them, especially their friends.
I just recently joined Facebook (knowing I had to for the class). I wanted to get to know the site before I had to write about it. Boy is it addictive! You right what you think and people actually want to know and respond AND you want to know what others have to say. Facebook has SO MANY different things to it. You can play games, send gifts, do quizzes, find groups who have similar interests (like the cold side of the pillow), find family, put birthdates on a reminder calendar, upload pictures, chat, and that's just what I've found! The only thing that I dislike about the site is that some of the applications are repetitive, but hey, that's advertising!
Educational application? I am curious how much educational application this really has. I could see more potential for the discussion tab on a wiki and this is why. Students want to talk. As mentioned above, we are social creatures who want to be heard. Now if they are going to talk, I guess we could give them something to talk about. However, I don't see many students "poking" another student for help on their math homework. I think this would be better suited for the wiki.
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It is hard to imagine Facebook being used for educational purposes but when you think of it as a social network I see many applications for specific groups to have a need.
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