I think there are many ways that a school district could use facebook. Much in the same way we use this blog to extend the class discussion outside of the classroom, facebook could be used for the same purpose. Classes, sports teams, or teachers (3rd grade teachers, or science teachers, etc.) could all form groups. Many of these groups already exist for the school district I am looking at.
So I guess after thinking about this further, the question may not be how to use facebook but how to not over-use facebook. With groups popping up for every student organization, the school district may want to limit it's role and be selective about what presence it has. Else the students could be subject to information overload and ignore attempts by teachers to extend classroom learning, sports teams to provide infomation, and teachers to form groups and gain access to and learn from each other.
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Your idea of overusing Facebook is interesting. From Facebook's perspective the more schools that begin using it in class the larger their network. But from the school's perspective they must have to wonder what will happen if Facebook becomes the next MySpace and soemthing replaces it. If schools become dependent upon facebook does that leave the vulnerable to changes in the technology. Also how do you ensure teachers use it appropriately - do you really want Ms. Krabappel as your friend?
ReplyDeleteCheck out this link for poor uses of facebook
http://news.cnet.com/8301-10784_3-9841291-7.html
Doug's comment is valid. Moreover, we can look at Facebook in the school district not as an open network but as a walled garden. Facebook may be able to provide such a functionality to these entities which may not have their own resources much as what Google is doing with GMail and other applications. Worth tracking and watching, Joel.
ReplyDeleteFacebook can be frustrating for students who want to quit. They can deactivate their accounts but would continue to receive friend requests from old friends. The temptation of connecting to old friends can force them to reactivate their accounts. All the profile information remains saved in facebook servers and profiles once reactivated have the exactly same information as before.
ReplyDeleteThis raises a question in my mind about how can someone quit facebook permanently.