Social Networking

I'll be the first to admit I was not an early adopter of social networks, which is surprising since I'm typically an early adopter of most technology. I, like several of my classmates, didn't really see the need to keep up to date on what people I went to high school with, that I wasn't even friends with in high school, are up to these days. And I sure don't have time to take countless quizzes, etc.

But reluctantly I finally joined Facebook last fall, and this spring finally set up a Twitter account, and surprisingly I've found I enjoy using both. Facebook has helped me keep in touch with former co-workers, as well as friends flung across the US. I've also found that social networks can be very helpful when trying to locate new employment or help a friend locate new employment. With Twitter, the people I follow really are my personal learning network. I follow NPR, ABC News, as well as several colleagues on campus. I been able to stay up to date on the latest news and find some new and interesting people who blog about topics that are meaningful to me.

In the context of emerging instructional technologies, I found a link from a blog I follow (EdVentures in Technology), to someone on his blogroll (Jeff Utrecht, The Thinking Stick) with and interesting post recently about how facebook and twitter and social networks helped students connect with a wider world. The post is titled "A blog post, a tweet and a connection". For all of those who think social media has no place in education, I really encourage to read his post and let me know your thoughts.