July 9, 2009

Creating and connecting: Research and guidelines on online social—and educational—networking

Annotation

This report carried out commissioned by the National School Board Association, carried out by Grunwald Associates and funded by Microsoft, News Corporatoin, and Verizon, gathers its data by surveying over twelve hundred students age 9-17, one thousand parents, and 250 district leaders. In general, it finds that kids spend about 9 hours/week online, about 60% of online students use social networking sites to talk about educational issues and 50% talk specifically about schoolwork. It also finds that while parents and district administrators see the great potential of social networking sites to foster 21st century skills, many of those sites and activities that make up the bulk of functionality on those sites (e.g., sharing media, blogging, messaging) is blocked in schools. It also finds that while much of the reason for blocking revolves around safety concerns, only 7% of the students surveyed have had someone ask them personal questions online, 7% have reported to have been cyberbullied, and 4% have had “uncomfortable” conversations on SNSs. Furthermore, only .08% of all students say they’ve met someone from online, in person, without their parents permission. (Since this data is self-reported, and because children may not understand or trust the notion of anonymity, this number may be underreported.) Given this data, the report suggests that the benefits of social networking may outweigh the actual harm and that schools should consider relaxing restrictions on these sites in schools.

Most importantly for my work, the final suggestion of the report states that social networking developers should
“work with educational leaders to increase services that are explicitly educational in nature via informal and formal initatives.”

Creating and connecting: Research and guidelines on online social—and educational—networking. (2007). . Alexandria, VA: National School Boards Association. Retrieved June 9, 2009, from http://www.nsba.org/site/docs/41400/41340.pdf.

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