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Annotated Bibliography- Ronen Cohen
Social Networking Technologies and Their Place in Learning
Social networking technologies (SNTs) started as sharing tools
for web 2.0 users, yet it is only
recently that such tools have gained popularity in educational
settings. A few would argue thatSNTs do not have a place in
educational settings, but the real question is if they help
create
learning communities which engage and challenge learners, and as
a result they create better
work?
In order to answer this question, I will first look at different
learning theories. I will then discuss
learning communities and the importance of interaction. The next
thing would be outlining what
Social Networking Technologies are, and what does research say
about their effectiveness (or
lack thereof). I will then conclude with, what I currently
believe to be true, that social
networking on their own do not push students to perform better,
but that it is the planning,
directing, and resourcefulness of the director (or instructor)
which would determine the overall
effectiveness of the use of SNTs.
Ertmer, P. A., & Newby, T. J. (1993). Behaviorism,
Cognitivism, Constructivism: Comparing Critical Features from
an
Instructional Design Perspective. PIQ Performance Improvement
Quarterly, 6(4), 5072.
This article discusses and explains three major schools of
thought- Behaviorism, constructivism,
and constructivism. The authors use examples of illustrate the
approaches and relative advantage
of each theory. They emphasize the importance of understanding
what each theory is and what it
has to offer in order to better inform our decisions as
instructional designers. In order to identify
how social networking relates to educational theory, it is
important to first understand these
major schools of thought, and so most of the information from
this article will be used at the
beginning of my paper.
Hill, Janette R. (2012). Learning communities: Theoretical
foundations for making connections. In Jonassen, D., & Land, S.
(Eds.), Theoretical
foundations of learning environments(pp.268-285). New York, NY:
Routledge.
This chapter discusses Learning Communities- What they are, some
of the different types, and
the importance of making connections in, and to, learning. The
reason this chapter was written is
because of the importance of, and the instructors interest in,
the creation of a community to
facilitate and support learning. Needless to say, there is a
link between learning communities and
social networking. The interaction between the learning
communitys members allows for more
meaningful learning experiences. Social networking technologies
allow learners to interact in a
variety of ways, which establishes their importance.
Greenhow, C. (2009). Social Scholarship: Applying Social
Networking Technologies to Research Practices. Knowledge
Quest, 37(4), 4247.
In this article, the author uses several examples of how
participatory web-based technologies
have the potential to change the way we engage in scholarship.
Using concrete examples for
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appropriate use of social bibliography and social bookmarking
sites, the author emphasizes the
importance of both instructors and students reflective behavior
as well as know-how in order to
appropriately utilize such technologies to improve learners
research and resourcefulness
practices. In order to maximize the effectiveness of the use of
any new tool (such as SNTs) it is
important to know what tools are available, and to experiment
and share the ways in which we
use them.
Friesen, N., & Lowe, S. (2012). The questionable promise of
social media for education: connective learning and thecommercial
imperative.JCAL Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 28(3),
183194.
This article questions the use of Social Media platforms (such
as Facebook) in fostering a crucial
component of learning- namely in fostering in learners the
capacity for debate and disagreement.
The author argues that although social media tools have been
hailed by some as the next best
thing in education, there is no foundation to these arguments,
and in fact, by design, these tools
significantly detract from learner control and educational use.
This article presents a different
perspective on social media, namely the premises on which such
platforms are invented (i.e., for
commercial or advertising reasons), which is different than the
way educators view such tools.
Baker, L. R., & Oswald, D. L. (2010). Shyness and online
social networking services.Journal of Social and Personal
Relationships, 27(7), 873889.
This article discusses the correlation between shyness and the
use of Facebook. Through their
research, the authors found that online social networking may
provide a comfortable and
encouraging environment for shy individuals to interact with
others. Although not directly
related to constructivist theory, this article offers
information in regards to an important
prerequisite to learning communities, namely the ability to
freely and confidently interact with
peers.
Ractham, P., Kaewkitipong, L., & Firpo, D. (2012). The Use
of Facebook in an Introductory MIS Course: Social
Constructivist Learning Environment*.Decision Sciences Journal
of Innovative Education, 10(2), 165188.
In the face of educators inability to fully maximize the
potential of Social Networking
Technologies (SNT), this article discusses the successful use of
Facebook as a learning artifact
(together with the integration of different activities) to
foster a constructivist learning
environment. The authors are attempting to implement and
evaluate an existing SNT to help
educators to better implement such technology within their
educational settings. This article
demonstrates that using only SNTs is insufficient to create an
appropriate constructivist learningenvironment, but that instead,
instructors must diligently design and implement a variety of
appropriate social-constructivist learning activities and
carefully integrate SNTs into their
curriculum.
