Journal #3

Kessler.  (2010, September).  The Case For Social Media in Schools.  Retrieved from http://mashable.com/2010/09/29/social-media-in-school/

I was initially against any support of incorporating social media in education, but after reading through the evidence from Sarah Kessler's article, I find that there are many benefits of combining social media and young students. Some of the points made were from a direct study of Ms. Delmatoff's middle school class, but the fact that her social experiments proved success only further pushes the idea that if applied correctly, social media could now be considered another learning resource.  Those in support of incorporating social media in education have expressed that if, the professional (the teacher) can get ahead of the curve and understand where social media is beneficial to young students then the fear of the risks involved when surfing the internet can be limited. 

Q1: Considering there is no escape from the growth of both the Web and social media interaction, how much longer before other schools and teachers (nationwide) will begin to implement changes like those similar to Delmatoff's experiments?
A1: Just like we are not going to get adults and even adult learners to stop in the progress of social media, the same goes for the youth of our society.  The youth have dominated over social media.   And if proving including social media in educational curriculum has positive results, then it can only mean we should further encourage a collaboration of social media and learning sooner.  The more social expertise we gain in the years to come, and the technological advancements that are destined to accompany it, the more it should be available to students and not a thing of resistance.  This change is going to happen faster than expected.

Q2:  It's a new wave of excitement for young students to be able to incorporate what they know about social interaction with their everyday learning.  Will this change how they interact on Facebook vs. Kidsblog.org?
A: Hopefully with the right direction, students will learn how to conduct themselves in particular spaces within social media and the Web.  Just like their are social ques that we learn from culture, a new Web culture will develop and it should show students how to behave in cyber life and in real life.  How to be friendly on Facebook and how to be academically professional on Kidsblog.org, and alternatively how to be appropriate outside cyberspace as well.