An introduction to the potential of social networking sites in education
This paper reviews Social Networking Sites (SNS) that have become available via the Internet in the light of usability for teaching and learning. Membership rules relating to entries for some popular sites, such as “Facebook” and “MySpace” are reviewed. Characteristics of these sites are reviewed and then compared to evaluate the trust and privacy issues of shared information available to any given social group. Trust and privacy plays a critical role when SNS are used for the purpose of teaching and learning. Thus, the negative and positive aspects of SNS are reviewed in detail. This knowledge will form the basis to assist with regulating SNS for teaching and learning. Publication Details This conference paper was originally published as Griffith, S and Liyanage, L, An introduction to the potential of social networking sites in education, Proceedings of the Emerging Technologies Conference, University of Wollongong, 18-21 June 2008. This conference paper is available at Research Online: http://ro.uow.edu.au/etc08/9
Italian Undergraduates Join Facebook, but Keep a Critical Distance: "It is Useless, but I'm Using It"
Facebook is the most popular social network site in Italy, and its usage is particularly spread among younger generations. This paper explores how undergraduate students use Facebook, and what meanings they attach to it. Research was performed in 2008 and in 2009 at a Italian university, with a triangulation of quantitative and qualitative methodology. The authorsâ€™ survey data show the quick adoption of Facebook. In 2008 half of the students were completely unfamiliar with Facebook, while in 2009 59% of them were using it on a regular basis. Evidence coming from semi-structured interviews with randomly selected university students show that the massive adoption of Facebook goes hand in hand with a general critical attitude. Concerns about privacy issues were common, and they can also lead to a kind of detachment from this site. Implications on the perspective use of Facebook as an educational tool are discussed in the paper.
Dramatic Behaviors of the Effective Teacher
This study provides strong evidence that certain dramatic style behaviors systematically covary with whether one is perceived as an effective teacher. Almost 500 students evaluated target teachers,...