In the news! Social Networking in U.S. Schools

NSBA ENCOURAGES EXPLORATION OF SOCIAL NETWORKING IN SCHOOLS

As recently reported on several blogs, the U.S.National School Board Association has issued a study, which encourages schools to explore social networking in the classroom.

Noted eduBlogger, Will Richardson, rejoiced along ith many of his readers. Quoting Tech.Blorge.com's coverage of the NSBA study, Richardson called attention to two exciting findings.

1) The study suggested that it's not just students who are using social networking sites outside the classroom--a large percentage of educators are involved as well.

"Social networking may be advantageous to students - and there could already be a double standard at work. 37% of districts say at least 90% of their staff are participating in online communities of their own - related to education - and 59% of districts said that at least half were participating. 'These findings indicate that educators find value in social networking,' the study notes, 'and suggest that many already are comfortable and knowledgeable enough to use social networking for educational purposes with their students.'

2) The study showed that most parents recognize the educational value of their children's use of Web 2.0 sites and expect schools to integrate Web 2.0 into the classroom.

"In fact, 76% of parents expect social networking will improve their children's reading and writing skills, or help them express themselves more clearly, according to the study, and parents and communities 'expect schools to take advantage of potentially powerful educational tools, including new technology.'"

You can read Will Richardon's blog at:

http://weblogg-ed.com/2007/social-networking-in-schools-gets-a-boost-from-nsba


AND HOW DOES IT RELATE TO ECTO?


Multiple participants in the blog discussion commented that they love the idea of integrating social networking in the classroom and challenged the group to think more about how best to accomplish that integration.

In addition, some voiced concern over the danger of using sites like MySpace or Facebook in the classroom and others wondered exactly how the use of these sites could be adapted for educational aims.

Apparently they had not yet heard of Ecto!


1) ECTO HARNESSES THE POWER OF SOCIAL NETWORKING FOR OPTIMAL CLASSROOM USE

* Social networking is a key component of Ecto

* The Ecto interface is familiar to students because it looks and operates just much like MySpace or Facebook-for instance, teachers and students all have personal profile pages

* Ecto is safer social networking environment because it has multiple control features built in for teachers and administrators. There is no need for classroom use of "after school sites" such as MySpace or Facebook



2) ECTO TAKES SOCIAL NETWORKING TO A NEW LEVEL BY INTEGRATING IT WITH TOOLS TEACHERS NEED AND WITH AN OPEN LIBRARY

* Unlike MySpace or Facebook, social networking/connecting in Ecto is not an end in itself but a means of enabling collaboration in the wired classroom andallowing teachers to administer their online in an efficient, engaging manner. Teachers form groups for each of their courses and subgroups for project-based lessons

* Ecto merges social networking with a full-featured online LMS toolset (attendance tracker, gradebook)

* Ecto enables users to upload their own learning content and create auto-graded learning items. The community then shares this content in a vast open,library where everything can be rated and commented upon by the global Ecto network--much like YouTube's library of videos or Amazon's inventory of product reviews


Any educator who wishes to bring social networking into the classroom in a way that harnesses its power in service of collaboration and learning needs to find out about Ecto. If someone you know is interested in Ecto, a good way to spread the word is to direct them to the new Ecto video "What is Ecto?" at:

http://www.ectolearning.com/Ecto2/Page.aspx?p=yqknbdluyk