I had the privilege of moderating a panel discussion at our recent HP Innovations in Education Worldwide Summit (for details on the summit, read my colleague Jim Vanides’ blog entry called “Student Perspectives: How Social Media & Collaboration Technologies are Changing the Student Experience”. I had four students, a teacher, the instructional vice principal and the principal of a high school in California join me for the discussion and I was truly blown away at what they had to say. I was surprised to hear how well social media was already integrated in their daily school routine and how it affected the learning and teaching at the school. See and hear their feedback by watching the replay of the webcast.
After the session two of the students spoke to Christopher Dawson, an education technology blogger for ZD Net and technology director at a school district in Massachusetts, and here’s what he had to say.
I’d love to hear your opinion about the use of social media in education – it is certainly not as black and white a topic! Please leave your comment below.
In addition, does anyone have any up-to-date studies of the subject? I found a really interesting study about the use of social media in US schools by the National School Boards Association. One interesting insight for me was the study found that 59 percent of the students with online access say they talk about education related topics on social networks and 50 percent of online students said they specifically discuss school work on social networks. However, the study dates back to 2007 and covers the US only. I’d be grateful if you could share some more tips on recent studies!
Ulrike
