Educational Value To Social Networking?
I came across this “study” last week that basically tried to say there is an educational value to social networking. Bologna. Absolute hogwash.
Here is the article on the study – and my thoughts in red…
Study finds educational value to Facebook and MySpace
MINNEAPOLIS — University of Minnesota researchers say they have discovered educational benefits of social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook.
The same study also found that low-income students are in many ways just as technologically savvy as their counterparts. The university says this goes against what results from previous studies have suggested. I find it funny that they have shown so easily what I believe to be un-true, yet are surprised at the discovery that all kids are tech savvy, regardless of income/class.
The information was collected over six months this year from students, ages 16 to 18, in 13 urban high schools in the Midwest and released Friday by the university.
The study found that of the students observed:
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94 percent use the Internet. Sounds about right.
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82 percent go online at home. Little low?
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77 percent have a profile on a social networking site. Sounds about right, since there have been many stories of kids seeming to grow tired of SNs when they reach the age of the study participants.
When asked what they learn from using social networking sites, the students listed technology skills at the top, then creativity, being open to new or diverse views and communication skills.
OK, this is why you should take what kids say as “kid speak.” Learning “technology skills” from a website that is essentially a puzzle: they give you the pieces, you make the layout. How is that a tech skill? Are you considering the ability to log on to a membership website a tech skill? You’re not learning HTML or any sort of in-depth webpage layout. You are learning to conform to what the website allows. You are learning mundane participation.
“then creativity,”… you can only be so creative with a puzzle. There is only one thing to build. Or maybe, I guess you could say this is like a Lego box. You can follow the directions, or make up your own stuff with the pieces. Sadly, 98% of the MySpace pages I have seen follow the SAME FORMAT… thus, everyone is following the included directions. So how is that creative?
“being open to new or diverse views and communication skills”… This I believe and WISH it were higher on the ill-conceived list.
Reference: see this post and the link within: Social Networks are a Waste of Time…?!
“Students using social networking sites are actually practicing the kinds of 21st century skills we want them to develop to be successful today,” said Christine Greenhow, a learning technologies researcher in the university’s College of Education and Human Development and lead investigator of the study. Like what, opening a web browser? Following format? “Students are developing a positive attitude towards using technology systems, editing and customizing content and thinking about online design and layout. It’s called building a collage – nothing new. They’re also sharing creative original work like poetry and film and practicing safe and responsible use of information and technology. OK, that is cool. That is the one redeeming quality of MySpace… no matter how little of a blip you make on the radar, you do have a slice of a stage to present it on.
“The Web sites offer tremendous educational potential.” Ummm… would kids go there if it became an educational tool?
The study also goes against previous findings from the Pew Research Center in 2005 that suggest a “digital divide,” where low-income students are technologically impoverished. The Pew study found that Internet usage by teenagers from families earning $30,000 or below was limited to 73 percent, 21 percentage points below what the University of Minnesota research shows. Yeah, see, I don’t see where a revelation is here. If the family is poor, and they can’t afford the Internet, wouldn’t it be logical that the kids in that family aren’t online as much? Like, when they are home? Yet this stat is not the same as the finding mentioned above about low-income kids being just as tech savvy as the rich kids – that I find to be true. Just because they aren’t online at home, doesn’t mean they aren’t online at all and/or don’t understand the Internet. That’s a dumb assumption. The kind that people who do studies like to make.
The students participating in the university study were from families whose incomes were at or below the county median income (at or below $25,000) and were taking part in Admission Possible, an after-school program aimed at improving college access for low-income youth.
