By Susan Smith Nash, Ph.D.
Popular social networking sites and elearning do not seem, at first glance, to have much in common. One seems to be all about self-expression and building bonds with people with shared interests, while the other seems to be about self-discipline, self-improvement, and goal-attainment. However, the two can go hand-in-hand, with the result that students can feel the sense of belonging that comes with a community, and can also share and receive useful information about colleges, courses, professors, and even work.
At the same time, it's possible to spend all one's time on a social networking site that has little or nothing to do with one's stated educational objectives. So, when deciding when and where to connect social networking with academic endeavors, one should keep a short checklist in mind:
- 1. Keep it practical. What elearning problem to you hope to solve by connecting with other people? Identify the specific issue or question you have, and then make that the subject of your posts and your communications.
- 2. Focus your interests. Time wasting begins with distractions. While some distractions are productive, and intellectual exploration and development are important, it is also true that one can spend a lot of time on social networks without much of a reward. If you try to focus your browsing and social networking and keep your overall goals in mind, you may find that you will avoid the time-wasting activities and will focus more on those that will actually bring rewards.
- 3. Understand the motives of fellow networkers. Keep in mind that the audience for your social networking posts have certain expectations, which is to say that they have their own reasons for joining the network. Do they want to share information about professors? Are they sharing links to sources of practice quizzes? Are they sharing information about online writing centers? To be effective, one must perfect the art of "listening" online.
There are literally thousands of social networking sites. If one includes discussion boards and blogs, along with deli.cio.us, tag cloud providers, and feedsharers, the number quickly jumps into the thousands.
Without going into tag-based, or blog-sharing types of social networking, here are a few huge blockbuster sites that will help you establish a community of people with shared interests.
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com — This is perhaps the most popular social networking site for certain demographic groups, which would include teenagers and young adults. It is a popular place for artists and musicians as well, because it's a perfect venue to post demos, virtual exhibitions, photos, and news. Some people become obsessed with seeing how large their networks can be. That seems to be a clear case of quantity over quality, but on the other hand, when the networks are active, the posts can be a lot of fun.
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com — This is an excellent place for college students to network. It seems to be an excellent way to share information about universities, programs, courses, and professors. In fact, pickaprof.com and facebook.com have connected to make reviewing professors and courses easier. Pickaprof.com even allows students to make their schedules known so that friends (and stalkers?) can register with them.
Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com — Linkedin is a career and employment networking site, which is quickly outstripping monster.com and other conventional job sites in terms of buzz and energy. It quickly suggests that the "six degrees of separation" concept may actually be something like four, or even less, when one starts looking at interests in common. It seems to be an excellent way to keep in touch or to find lost contacts. The sense of anomie engendered by the aggressive competitiveness of some people who seem bent on having networks of thousands could be construed as intimidating rather than welcoming.
Ratemyprofessor.com: http://www.ratemyprofessor.com — This is an amazingly user-friendly and popular tool where students can post their experiences and evaluations of professors. While the information can be very helpful and, in general terms, reliable, it is easy for students to forget that in an online course, the professor is not always in control of the way the course is developed, administered, or offered. If major glitches occur due to textbook changes, course shell updates, or learning management system crashes, the student's experience is likely to be quite negative. Conversely, students may have had a great experience with the course, but, unbeknownst to the student, the department or college has made structural changes, and the new course is not as user-friendly. Another caveat and word to the wise: it is not unknown for departmental politics to creep into ratings. In other words, not all the posts are necessarily from students. Some may be bogus posts from friends, colleagues, or the professor down the hall who is jealous because he/she did not get tenure. It's not a particularly common occurrence, but it happens. So, like any posts and evaluations, buyer beware!
And now for the research…
A recent article published by M. Anderson (2007) looks at how social networks on the Internet are being used in real-life situations to problem-solve and to gather information. The study also specifically looked at how Internet-based social networks are influencing organizational behavior. The study included 77 MBA students in an executive-level IT class in the year 2000 at the University of Minnesota's Carlson School of Management.
The following questions were asked:
- Question 1: Do network size and tie-strength lead to more information gathering? The actual network size was measured by the number of contacts. The effective network size was the number of members who actually knew each other.
- Question 2: Agency and motivation question: Do some people benefit more from social capital opportunities? The goal was to link personality and social networks. The study concluded that social networking can be a great way to gather information.
However, there must be 1) sufficient motivation; 2) a clear goal in mind; 3) no redundancies. Further, it is important to keep in mind that "actionable knowledge" can be derived through social networks, and, when utilized in an efficient manner, can lead to immediate progress on a current assignment or project.
In conclusion, yes, social networks can work for you. To maximize the benefit for your elearning endeavors, be sure to focus your networking and make sure that specific questions and issues that you have remain at the center of what you're doing online.
Reference
Anderson, M. (2007). Social networks and the cognitive motivation to realize network opportunities: a study of managers' information gathering behaviors. Journal of Organizational Behavior. Accepted March 2007. In press.