Social Networking and NSBA
Earlier this month, the National School Boards Association published a document called Creating & connecting: Research and guidelines on online social – and educational – networking. What makes this document notable is that is published by a mainstream education organization (as opposed to 3rd-party groups such as the Gates Foundation or the George Lucas Foundation who already typically favor such policy changes) and is generally pro-social networking in its conclusions.
If you’re not up to speed on social networking tools as the article defines them, you can get a flavoring for the issue as it ties into education if the words blog, podcast, file sharing, MySpace, and Facebook are added to the mix and blended with a helping of media hype. So, for the NSBA to come out in support of the educational value of tools that are almost completely blocked in schools is an interesting step.
I highlight this report not to make any sort of general statement about the overall safety of social network tools or what kind of oversight and education are required, but merely to say that there’s good discussion to be had on this topic.
For more insight from EduBloggers around the country, see these articles:
David Warlick at 2ยข Worth: “‘Reexamine Social Network Policies,’ says the NSBA”
Will Richard at Weblogg-ed: “Social Networking in School Gets a Boost from NSBA”
Andy Carvin at PBS Teachers’ learning.now: “New NSBA Report on Social Networking”
Steve Dembo at Teach42: “Social Networking: The Good, the Bad, and the NSBA“
Tuesday, August 21st, 2007
