Social Networking

Hello:

According to The Huffington Post, 2012, in this digital world, opportunities for education are available like never before. Though teachers using online tools are empowering students take part in their education, they may also expose them to inappropriate material, sexual predators, and bullying and harassment by peers.  Teachers who are not careful with their use of the sites can fall into inappropriate relationships with students or publicize photos and information they believed were kept private. For these reasons, critics are calling for regulation and for removing social networking from classrooms -- despite the positive affects they have on students and the essential tools they provide for education in today's digital climate. A listing of social networks used in educational environments or for educational purposes.

ScolaMates:

• ScolaMates is a free online educational social network for educators, students, researchers, and other actors in the educational community (Hargadon, 2012).
• It offers powerful features for collaboration in an educational setting, including resource sharing, course management, study/research group management, Q&A module, task/goal management, blogging, and a lot more.

BuddyPress:

• Apprendre 2.0 - Social Network across the world about education 2.0 and learning to learning - Most of the activities are in French in this network!
• Students Circle Network : Connects students, schools & teachers. There are over 10,000 course resources, 15 study groups for students to schedule study sessions, Social Networking features similar to Face book and University, Scholarship and Internship offers and provisions for students. Students connect to share ideas, learn in a social Q&A environment.

CourseCracker:

• Elementary School Teachers: Connect & collaborate with other elementary school educators to share information & teaching techniques.
• Orange County Math Teachers: The group homepage for the OCMTA to house all meeting dates, official documents, and online meetings.
• Teacher's Lounge: A place for educators to meet and network in a relaxed, off-topic environment.

Reference(s):

Hargadon, S. (2012) Educational network

     http://www.educationalnetworking.com/List+of+Networks

The Huffington Post(2012) Social networking in schools Retrieved June 21, 2012,

     http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/27/social-networking-schools_n_840911.html