Social Media in Education

I got a chance to read some articles for my KIN 710 class at FPU. All three of the articles talked about social media in education, three of the aricles stood out for me. An editorial by Richard Ferdig, "Examining Social Software in Teacher Education," was interesting in that the use of technology is very useful, but if students are not engaged in some kind of social interaction while using technology, they tend to get off task and resort to some kind of social interaction like text messaging. I have witnessed this first hand in many classrooms. Students feel the need to interact with each other constantly whether it is through technology or talking face to face.

Another article I read was "Web, Library, and Teen Services 2.0" by Kimberly Bolan, Meg Canada, and Rob Cullin. The most interesting item I read was that libraries are being designed to cater to teenagers. Libraries are asking teens about their experiences in libraries and how it can be improved to get more teens to come to a library. Many of the examples the article shared were Web sites that I a currently using for this class. I think it is amazing how far technology has come that it could encourage teenagers to go to a library.

The last article I read called "Social Networking" by Alfred C. Weaver and Benjamin B. Morrison, was really an insightful article on how far social interaction has come. More and more people are able to share their lives with each other because of the many social networking sites that are available. For instance this blog is a way for me to interact with fellow peers, frineds and family. Never would I have thought that I can share my thoughts with the click of a button.