Sarah R's report.

October 20, 2010

Emerging Media Research Report

The author of this current research paper is making the assumption that the reader knows and understands what Facebook is and does as a social networking site.  If the reader does not have this basis of knowledge the author would like to direct you to Neil Selwyn’s introduction in the article below.  Selwyn gives background information on the use, history, and development of the Facebook social networking site.  In the article entitled, “ ‘Screw Blackboard… do it on Facebook!’: and investigation of students’ educational use of Facebook,” Selwyn discusses the academic use of Facebook at the University of London in the United Kingdom. 

Facebook offers perhaps the most appropriate contemporary online setting within which to explore how social software applications ‘fit’ with higher educational settings and communities of educational users and, therefore, investigate the current assumptions surrounding social software and education. (Selwyn)

Facebook is the opportunity that Selwyn had been looking for to see how social networking sites are used in the educational system, more specifically the educational system within universities.  The debate among educators seems to boil down to whether or not these social networking sites actually help the students in their studies or if they really just impede the student’s pursuit for an education.  Selwyn proceeds to do a study to try and make some conclusions in either direction on the matter at hand. 

The group studied was undergraduate students attending Coalsville University in the school of Social Science. With 909 students in the Social Science School only 694 had active Facebook accounts, over the course of a four month period of data collection, and 68,169 wall postings over a five month period of analysis this study appears to have been supported with evidence. 

The evidence directed toward educational-related postings on the 694 profiles within the study brought forth five main themes including:  recounting and reflecting on the university experience, exchange of practical information, exchange of academic information, displays of supplication and/or disengagement, and exchanges of humor and nonsense.  As a college student the author of this paper certainly can agree that these are the most common themes in her own experience with Facebook and the educational posts she herself has made.  If a Facebook user were to log on right now they would very likely find all of these types of postings among their networks. 

Selwyn comes to the conclusion that, “…in terms of education-related interaction, Facebook was used primarily for maintaining strong links between people already in relatively tight-knit, emotionally close offline relationships, rather than creating new points of contact with a ‘glocalised’ community of students from other courses or even other institutions.”

In Marshall McLuhan’s book, “The Medium is the Massage,” he makes the following statement:

At the high speeds of electric communication, purely visual means of apprehending the world are no longer possible; they are just too slow to be relevant or effective. … Information pours upon us, instantaneously and continuously.  As soon as information is acquired, it is very rapidly replaced by still newer information. …We can no longer build serially, block-by-block, step-by-step, because instant communication insures that all factors of the environment and of the experience coexist in a state of active interplay.

Technology, specifically social networking, has given us the ability to be a part of individual’s lives without necessarily investing in their lives.  The Facebook postings that Selwyn observed kept a few strong bonds between close friends.  Visual means of apprehending the world are just too slow; so instead of meeting face to face students are becoming more dependent upon social networking sites.  This transfer to technology based communication could be seen as a good or a bad thing depending upon the circle of critics involved.      

And yet Selwyn states that the data shows that students are doing the exact same thing they have always done only now it is instantly spread to more than just the small group in the back of the lecture hall. Students are still investing in their close friendships only in a new medium. In a sense the data listed shows,

How Facebook has become an important site for the informal, cultural learning of ‘being’ a student, with online interactions and experiences allowing roles to be learnt, values understood and identities shaped. … Facebook should therefore be seen as an increasingly important element of students’ meaning-making activities, especially where they reconstruct past events and thereby confer meaning onto the overarching university experience.

As an avid Facebook user the author of this piece would have to agree with much of what Selwyn states in his article, but cannot say that Facebook has not wasted hours of her time.  As one of the opening remarks to Selwyn’s article states, “We're all going to fail university. It's not because we're stupid, or because we don't do any work. It's because of an uncontrollable addiction to Facebook and msn. When we're not drinking, or being hungover, or thinking about drinking while being hungover, we're talking about drinking and debauchery on msn or Facebook. This has got to stop. It won't, we all know that, but it should,”

Introductory statement from the ‘Facebook is Sucking Out My Soul and MSN is Feeding on the

Remains’.  Although there may be benefits to Facebook such as networking, keeping in contact with classmates, and all the other reasons it is helpful, it seems that the average student is not using Facebook as a medium to pursue those benefits.  Rather Facebook is used as a distraction from the work at hand.  The author of this piece has in the time it has taken her to write this 1,000 word paper has gone on Facebook at least thirty times. 

 But is method of distraction really any different than what students did in the past?  Is this generation ignoring the professor and causing distractions for themselves any different than the students in the ‘90s that didn’t have laptops in their classrooms.  Those students surely made diversions for themselves, procrastinated, doodled, or spaced out in a classroom or lecture hall. The conclusion to the Facebook dilemma is this:  there is no conclusion.  As McLuhan put it on his opening pages,

The major advances in civilization are processes that all but wreck the societies in which they occur.

Facebook is by no means an exception to this statement.  Academic conversations that happened in the back of the classroom before now happen online and to a much wider audience.  Society will continue to be wrecked by social networking and technology.  Technology will increase, and there will be a time when Facebook will be accepted just like the printing press was accepted. 

I could not figure out how to attach my report. So I am just copying and pasting it. Enjoy.

Does Education Care About Twitter?

            Education is currently battling with the issue of technology in the classroom. Recent studies have discussed how technology is used in the classroom, how prepared teachers are to use it, and how accessible it is in schools throughout the country. In Joanna Dunlap and Patrick Lowenthal’s article, Horton Hears A Tweet, several of these concerns are expounded upon along with how educational technology can make good use of Twitter in online and regular education courses.

            To begin the article, Dunlap and Lowenthal proclaim that, “social networking tools, have great potential for enhancing the social context in support of learning, especially in online education” (Dunlap and Lowenthal 1). It important to recognize that technology does bring about better ways for students to learn in the future; therefore, we need to make sure we are paying attention to these new technological items as we progress in the twenty first century. Dunlap and Lowenthal go on and argue that education can better itself through the use of social networking sites such as Twitter, even though there are drawbacks. Such potential problems with Twitter involve people becoming obsessed with it, it taking too much time, and the content, which is sometimes questionable (Dunlap and Lowenthal 1). However, they feel Twitter can be a great tool, which can “add value to online and face-to-face university courses (Dunlap and Lowenthal 1).

This notion of technology possibly harming us today has been brought up before. In his article Does the Internet Make You Smarter, Clay Shirky notes that new technologies have always caused people to question whether or not new ideas harm or help people. Shirky writes of the printing press coming about, which caused people to worry about the effects it would have on citizens. It did actually change how Europe ran because people could read their own literature and religious texts, which eventually did away with the reliance on Catholic Church because people could finally interpret their own texts. Essentially, Shirky says that new technologies such as the Internet actually restore reading and writing as central activities in our culture. He also feels that new media is not harmful because it brings about new institutions that allows our society to develop. This links to Dunlap and Lowenthal who see the concerns with Twitter and using it in education, but also sees the potential it brings to better our society as we move forward.

            Dunlap and Lowenthal also focus on how Twitter can help students to be engaged and aide in the educational process. For starters, Using Twitter or other online forms of communicating can “encourage cooperation among students, encourage effective learning, and enrich educational experiences (Dunlap and Lowenthal 1-2). Again, it is vital to see how these new technologies can help bring about new forms of learning and thinking. Dunlap and Lowenthal go on and discuss the importance of making sure that students feel the “social presence” when using these methods of teaching because it allows students to feel that their peers and teachers are real. Without the social presence, students could feel “isolated and disengaged” (Dunlap and Lowenthal 2). Basically, Dunlap and Lowenthal feel that we must make sure students do not just simply post questions and wait while others talk and debate issues. This would not really benefit the students because they are not activity engaged in the discussion. Before Dunlap and Lowenthal discuss Twitter’s characteristics, they argue that Twitter, “allows us to establish natural, free-flowing, just in time contact with students,” which helps students to bring about the social presence that is needed in classes.  

            These concerns again link to the concerns that Clay Shirky and Nicholas Carr made concerning new technologies possibly coming to distract us and possibly dumb society down. However, it is important to note Marshall McLuhan’s book, The Medium is the Massage. McLuhan wrote that we need to be flexible and adapt to the new environment or we will be pushed aside. He also feels that people need to accept the new ideas because they are the way of the future and we need to be prepared to use them.  In the end, we need to be flexible and attempt to use Twitter and other forms of technology in the classroom or we are limiting our ability to move forward and become educated.

            Finally, Dunlap and Lowenthal discuss why Twitter is so special. They assert that Twitter is perfect because it is, “part social networking and part microblogging” (Dunlap and Lowenthal 3). Another reason why Twitter is great for online education courses is that it allows students “to share ideas and resources, ask and answer questions, and collaborate on the problems of practice,” in a quick, efficient manner (Dunlap and Lowenthal 3). Twitter is also an interesting social site because professionals are on it. These professionals can bring about their own knowledge, which in turn enhances learning because these students get real life experiences and information.

However, Dunlap and Lowenthal note that certain guidelines must be put into place for students to understand and use Twitter effectively.  Students first need to be motivated to use it, and then need to be shown people that they can follow. This allows them to get a good start on other scholars who they can follow and learn more about Twitter. Then, students need to be shown “appropriate ways to use and engage in the Twitter community,” versus the basic way in which most users Tweet basic information about their lives (Dunlap and Lowenthal 5). Last, students need to be encouraged to post their own work, knowledge, questions, or concerns. This allows a community of learners to come together to help one another out and update ideas.

            Another interesting aspect of using Twitter for learning is that it promotes “a lifelong learning skill,” because these new sites will become the way of the future. (Dunlap and Lowenthal 6). The use of Twitter also brings about a sense of community where students can “share and get feedback on their ideas, work, and products” (Dunlap and Lowenthal 7). This relates to other authors who feel that technology can help us in the technological world that we live in today. Cynthia Selfe writes of the problems that are occurring today in schools when it comes to technology, such as inequities in schools concerning computers and the Internet, the use of technology in the classroom, and the lack of teacher training when it comes to using that technology. Overall, Selfe argues that we need to focus on new technology and new ways of learning because they will become the way of the future and we need to train our citizens to become technologically literate. Being able to use Twitter and new technology in schools benefits students because they are learning the ways in which new ideas and developments will shape the world.

            Dunlap and Lowenthal do not simply focus on using Twitter is distance courses, but in face-to-face classes as well. They note that Twitter can be used in the classroom because it is “an effective way to create a black-channel forum during a lecture or presentation,” where students can post comments and feedback without interrupting the speaker or presentation (Dunlap and Lowenthal 8). It is important to make sure that these black-channel comments are not harmful and negative, but positive and uplifting. Twitter can also “be used the way clickers are used for polling the classroom,” which can bring about student participation or engagement during a class because they can vote or send messages to the instructor (Dunlap and Lowenthal 9). This way, students can reflect their opinions and post answers to topics together in the class. These polling exercises also help the teacher because they can see what the students are thinking, what they might need help on, or what they would like to learn more about. 

            It is interesting to see how Twitter can be used in face-to-face classes and online courses. Overall, new ways of learning are coming about through the development of technology. This relates to Clay Spinuzzi when he writes about knowledge work and new forms of being educated. Usually, students learn vertically and specialize in one area. However, with new forms of technology, we need to be able to learn horizontally by crossing fields, trades, and disciplines so we can become well rounded as technology influences us daily. By using Twitter and other forms of technology, students can learn to embrace new ways of becoming educated and can also become technologically literate.

            To end the article, Dunlap and Lowenthal say that there must be more research performed by professionals concerning technology and education. They encourage researchers to examine the relationship between faculty and students and the learning strategies employed, rather than just the impact of the technology in isolation. In conclusion, they feel that Twitter, “allows us all to make noises in greater amounts and recognize that every voice counts,” but more inspection can help professionals to see what we need to do to make technology fit well into education so students can succeed in today’s world  (Dunlap and Lowenthal 11).

            Overall, Twitter and other social networking sites can enhance the learning experience for many. It allows people to come together and post questions, concerns, or problems. Once posted, fellow students, or professionals can come together and work to help one another learn new ideas. Finally, students could learn a vast amount of information from using these networking sites. With all of the new technologies that are out there, students would undoubtedly enjoy using these methods to work with their peers and discover new ideas and opinions. In conclusion, it is important to focus on new sites such as Twitter, as they can be a platform for new ways of learning and thinking about the issues of today.

Jordan