Social Software in Education

Meredith FarkasNorwich University

Our students have changed radically. Today’s students are

no longer the people our educational system was

designed to teach.

-Mark Prensky, “Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants.”

At the same time…

The Web has also changed

Web 1.0 Democratized Access to Information

Web 2.0: Democratized Participation

Social Software

•To be defined as social software, a tool must meet at least two of the following conditions:

•it allows people to communicate, collaborate and build community online.

•it can be syndicated, shared, reused or remixed, or it facilitates syndication.

•it allows people to easily learn from and capitalize on the behavior or knowledge of others.

Characteristics of Social Software

Easy content creation and sharing

Online Collaboration

Conversations

Conversations

Capitalizing on the wisdom

of crowds

Transparency

Transparency

Personalization

Portability

Social Software Applications in

Education

Blogs

•How do you define a medium used by teenagers, Nobel Prize-winners, car companies, rock bands and educators?

Blogs

•Frequently updated website where postings are displayed in reverse chronological order.

•Uses•Course management system

• Faculty communication with students/parents

• Reflective learning

• Discussion

• Language or writing practice

• Share ideas/get feedback

Course Management System

Faculty Communication with Students/Parents

Faculty Communication with Students/Parents

Reflective Learning

Reflective Learning

Reflective Learning

Reflective Learning

Discussion

Discussion

Discussion

Language or Writing Practice

Language or Writing Practice

Share Ideas/Get Feedback

Wikis

Allow a group of people to develop a website without any web design skills

Uses:•Courseware•Group Projects•Collaboratively-developed resource guides

Courseware

Courseware

Courseware

Group Projects

Collaborative Resource Guides

Social Networking Software

Online community with the goal of building identity and publicly articulating one’s social network.

Uses:•Courseware•Feedback mechanism•Portal to library/school content

Courseware

Feedback Mechanism

Feedback Mechanism

Portal to Library/School Content

Portal to Library/School Content

Portal to Library/School Content

Podcast

Audio broadcast in MP3 format syndicated through RSS.

Uses:•Lectures and guest speakers•Student projects•News and marketing•Language classes

Lectures and Guest Speakers

Student Projects

Student Projects

News and Marketing

Language Classes

Screencasting

Movie taken of one’s desktop.

Uses:•Recording lectures•Commenting on student papers•Tutorials

Recording Lectures

Comments on Student Papers

Tutorials

Things to Consider

Avoid

technolust

Don’t Don’t assume assume

all of all of your your

studentstudents are s are tech-tech-savvysavvy

Play with Play with technology!technology!

Kick the Kick the tires!tires!

Don’t be afraid to try things out with your

students

Don’t Don’t be be

afraid afraid to let to let your your

studentstudents s

“drive”“drive”

Consider Consider the the

maintenanmaintenance burden ce burden

and and sustainabilisustainability of any ty of any

technologytechnology

These are just tools!These are just tools!

Thanks!