It depends on the use of the website. Web 2.0 resources are proving to be remarkably useful in educational settings. It's stll a teacher-student or student-student relationship. Several teachers can bring classes together to share idea. The difficult part is making sure all the interactions are relevant to the class. I tested a social tool this past semester with some self-motivated students for a very brief period and I was impressed. The photographs/films linked/discussion postings/chat sessions were all professional and on point. One aspect I liked was the more reflective nature of responses to questions that happened. Typically in class, there are quick responses to questions without time to reflect, develop, or even research a good response. Further, this is a case of using a social media tool in a fashion quite similar to online tools such as Blackboard, Angel, etc. On a cautionary note, for teachers is that this can be a very time consuming activity to monitor. I wouldn't try this with a large class. I wouldn't dive into this too quickly, but I've seen some very interesting outcomes of using social media in the classroom. In the classroom or out, the teacher/student line prevails. It need not be obscured in a social media environment.
It depends on the use of the website. Web 2.0 resources are proving to be remarkably useful in educational settings. It's stll a teacher-student or student-student relationship. Several teachers can bring classes together to share idea. The difficult part is making sure all the interactions are relevant to the class. I tested a social tool this past semester with some self-motivated students for a very brief period and I was impressed. The photographs/films linked/discussion postings/chat sessions were all professional and on point. One aspect I liked was the more reflective nature of responses to questions that happened. Typically in class, there are quick responses to questions without time to reflect, develop, or even research a good response. Further, this is a case of using a social media tool in a fashion quite similar to online tools such as Blackboard, Angel, etc. On a cautionary note, for teachers is that this can be a very time consuming activity to monitor. I wouldn't try this with a large class. I wouldn't dive into this too quickly, but I've seen some very interesting outcomes of using social media in the classroom. In the classroom or out, the teacher/student line prevails. It need not be obscured in a social media environment.