Social software in distance education

In this unit we explore social networking and a variety of tools available to help us partake in social networking. 

The Landing

Terry Anderson helped kick off the week with an introduction to Athabasca's the Landing.  Immediately following our discussion of course I set up an account to see what all the buzz was about.   I created a profile, joined the MDDE 610 group, found some individuals to follow and even created a blog.  The Landing seems like it would be a great place to connect with fellow students, it is very similar to facebook except the Landing is a closed environment and only available to Athabasca students.  I like the fact that it is closed, and if I were attending more then one Athabasca class I really do think I would use the site on a personal basis to create or maintain relationships with fellow classmates.

Facebook

We had some very thought provoking discussions this week around a variety of facebook issues.  Would you use facebook in the classroom with your students?  What about privacy issues?  Is it fair that teachers are judged in their professional life about personal content that may be available on their facebook page?  All of the discussion were very in depth and thought provoking.  I personally do use facebook, however I do not accept any friend requests from students.  I have never used facebook in my classrooms, although my students are on it all the time.

My upcoming experiment

Since my students are on facebook all the time, maybe I should be using it as a interactive tool.  My students have a field trip coming up to the movie, Money Ball.  Apparently the movie has a lot to with statistics, and my students have to take a statistics class in their program.  After the movie, the students will be asked to contribute their thoughts and views on an SIIT facebook forum page.  The students who are going to the movie are across different disciplines, so they do not all know each other.  Having a discussion on facebook will allow the students to interact with other students that are not in their classes. 

I will base the success of this experiment on the amount of activity on the forum as well as the quality of the discussions created.