APLING678 Week 7 - Social Web

Guiding Questions:

1. What are the similarities and differences between social bookmarking and social networking tools?
2. How can I utilize social bookmarking and social networking tools in my language classroom? Think of some specific ways/reasons and the desired outcomes. 
3. What are the theoretical ideas that support my decisions to do so? 
4. What are the key considerations (benefits and pitfalls) before deciding to incorporate these tools in my classroom?

Readings:

• e-Reserves: McBride, K. (2009) Social-networking sites in foreign language classes: Opportunities for re-creation
• e-Reserves: Prichard, C. (2013). Training L2 learners to use SNSs appropriately and effectively

Substantive Post:

Week 7 focuses on using the Social Web in our classrooms, specifically through Social Bookmarking and Social Networking.  Social Bookmarking is “the practice of saving bookmarks to a public Web site and ‘tagging’ them with keywords” (Lomas, 2005, p. 1).  Some examples of social bookmarking tools/platforms are Diigo, del.icio.us, and Scoop.it.  Social Networking is the practice of using websites or apps to interact with other people, share news, and find people with similar interests. Some examples of social networking sites/apps are Facebook, Google +, and Twitter.  How are these two aspects of the social web (bookmarking and networking) similar, and how are they different?  My initial impression was that networking seems more social and casual, while bookmarking seems more academic and formal, but that might be my bias from my personal experience with them, so I did some more research.  According to the Pew Research Center, Social Networking sites are used primarily to keep up with close social ties, to revive “dormant” relationships, to share videos and photos the users have created or curated, and as an arena for politics (Pew Research Center, 2013).  Social Bookmarking sites are used to share bookmarks with others and to search for popular websites on one’s particular area of interest. They are now also “being used as intelligent search engines” (Nations, 2014, p. 1).  Both Social Networking and Bookmarking sites allow for sharing and commenting, and there is some overlap between the two. For example, people sometimes use Facebook to share articles they find interesting (the same way a person might bookmark an article to share with a group).  I also think that both can be considered communities of practice, depending on how they are used. “Some communities of practice are quite formal in organization, others are very fluid and informal” (Smith, 2003, 2009, para. 6).  To me, social bookmarking sites seem more formal in organization.  Social networking sites seem more fluid and informal, but can also be a bit more formal when groups are formed within the SNS.  What do you think?  Is there a distinct difference in the level of formality of bookmarking sites vs. networking sites? How much overlap is there in the functions and uses of Social Networking sites and Social Bookmarking sites? 

Dr. Compton asks us: What theoretical support is there for using Social Bookmarking and Social Networking in the language classroom?  McBride points out the advantages of the social web in helping students develop self-authorship, an active role in the learning process, pragmatics, manipulation of symbols, and language involved in this environment (McBride, 2009, p. 40-41).  Prichard believes that using SNS in the classroom can “offer skill practice, lead to fluency development, and build pragmatic awareness” (2013, p. 207).  Both McBride (2009, p. 39) and Prichard (2013, p. 206) refer to the idea that users online develop multiple identities – a global identity online that can differ from their local identity. When we discussed blogging as a class, a couple of people in our group (Jonathan and Melissa, I believe) mentioned their personal experiences with multiple identities – specifically, feeling different when speaking or writing in the foreign language. Do you have experience with multiple identities in the arena of social networking or bookmarking? What could be some advantages for our students in developing a separate online identity? Are separate identities formed for each social website used? What should we do to help our students understand and develop online identities?  Another theoretical factor to consider is student motivation.  Self-Determination Theory states that “motivation that plays a crucial role in the increased observed amount of learning is influenced by relatedness” (Akbari, Naderi, Aliabadi, Simons, & Pilot, n.d., p. 3).  Humans have a need for relatedness or belonging, and social networking can help satisfy this need.  This need for belonging is filled by being an active part of a community.  Communities of practice are “groups of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly” (Smith, 2003, 2009, para. 4). How can we turn our classrooms into communities of practice, with our desire for belonging motivating and driving us to learn together? 

Some of this week’s activities, as well as some we have explored in the past few weeks, give us some ideas of how to create a community of practice in our classrooms. Fakebook is a way to create fake Facebook pages. See my creation here.  If I were to do this with my class, all the posts would have been in German, the target language, but for our purposes I kept it in English. I created Fakebook identities for several German musicians. Because they are actual historical figures, their pictures were automatically uploaded by Fakebook. I also experimented with including a non-historical figure, my dog Greta. Please take a look and feel free to post to “Clara Schumann’s” wall. The password is “apling”.  This is one possible use of Fakebook in the classroom; the teacher creates a page, starts it out with 5 posts (the minimum required), then shares the link and the password with students, who then create their own identities and comment on the teacher’s Fakebook wall.  This is a more sheltered environment than using actual Facebook, like the Japanese classes in Prichard’s article did.  There are advantages and disadvantages to each.  How would you use Fakebook or Facebook in your class?  Perhaps Fakebook would be a good platform for initiating the lesson and for teaching responsible digital citizenship in the safety of a private site, before moving on to Facebook on the World Wide Web.  When using an actual SNS (as opposed to one created by Class Tools), there is the possibility of setting the SNS interface into the L2 (McBride, 2009, p. 46).  Have any of you ever tried that?  Having the interface in the L2 AND having the capability of speaking with native speakers would provide lots of opportunities for authentic encounters with the L2.

How can we use Social Bookmarking sites with our classes?  We experimented with Diigo, a social bookmarking site, a couple of weeks ago. Here is the shareable link for the Diigo outliner I used to collect some articles for this week’s discussion.  My post is getting a bit long, so I won’t address it here, but let’s be sure to discuss Scoop-It this week: how it differs from Diigo and how we could use it in the classroom.

What are the key considerations (benefits and pitfalls) before deciding to incorporate these tools in my classroom?  I briefly touched on digital citizenship and the need to teach online responsibility. I would plan on using Class Tools like Fakebook and Twister to model and practice good digital citizenship before moving to the actual Social Web.  I would then want my students to move on to communicate via the actual Facebook site (for example) for the sake of authentic encounters with native speakers. McBride mentions that some risks could be avoided if  “the students invented characters” rather than writing about themselves (2009, p. 48), but we then have to consider if that would make the activity less authentic and more false.  Another consideration is how long you have your students.  As the only German teacher in a high school, I had the advantage of having my students for several years in a row.  I would consider setting up a group within an SNS just for my classes. This would create an opportunity for “legitimate peripheral participation” and for newcomers (German 1 students) to learn from old-timers (German 4 students who had been members of the FB group for years already) (Smith, 2003, 2009, para. 15). 

The discussion questions Dr. Compton posed plus a few of my own are all in bold print throughout this essay.  I look forward to your insights within our discussions this week.

References

Akbari, E., Naderi, A., Aliabadi, Z. A., Simons, R., & Pilot, A. (n.d.). Increased motivation in language learners through social networks. Retrieved from http://conference.pixel-online.net/ICT4LL/files/ict4ll/ed0008/FP/2181-ICL1405-FP-ICT4LL8.pdf

Lomas, C. P. (2005). 7 things you should know about social bookmarking. Retrieved from https://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ELI7001.pdf

McBride, K. (2009). Social-networking sites in foreign language classes: Opportunities for re-creation. In International journal of learning (pp. 35-58). [Adobe Acrobat pdf]. Retrieved from https://www.umb.edu/library

Nations, D. (2014). Social bookmarking 101: What is social bookmarking and how can it help me? Retrieved March 18, 2016, from http://webtrends.about.com/od/socialbookmarking101/p/aboutsocialtags.htm

Pew Research Center. (2013). Social networking fact sheet. Retrieved March 18, 2016, from http://www.pewinternet.org/fact-sheets/social-networking-fact-sheet/

Prichard, C. (2013). Training L2 learners to use facebook appropriately and effectively. CALICO Journal, 30(2), 204-225.

Smith, M. K. (2003, 2009). Jean Lave, Etienne Wenger and communities of practice, the encyclopedia of informal education. Retrieved from www.infed.org/biblio/communities_of_practice.htm

Summary of my group's discussion all week:

In Week 7, The Social Web, my group discussed the similarities and differences in social bookmarking and social networking tools, the theoretical ideas supporting using these tools in the classroom, and the benefits and pitfalls of incorporating these tools into the classroom. Most of us had experience with or explored the following SNS and Social Bookmarking tools: diigo, Scoop-It, del.icio.us, Facebook, Fakebook, and LinkedIn. Instagram, Snapchat, Tinder and Bumble were also mentioned, somewhat in jest, but also with also with the realization that as popular as they are, maybe someone will find a good way to use them in the language classroom.

Many of us found bookmarking to be more academic and formal, and networking to be more social and casual. There was some disagreement, though, with Mallorie pointing out that how you present yourself and your level of formality depends entirely on the crowd you’re trying to please. Jonathan came up with different descriptors, saying that Bookmarking is more practical, and Networking is more narrative. Mallorie also pointed out a similarity in the two types of tools – they can both be used to initiate conversation and explore new ideas. We discussed that the level of formality of each tool depends largely on the specific platform and whether one is using the tool professionally or personally.

We explored the theoretical support for using Social Networking and Bookmarking in the classroom. Based on our readings from Prichard and McBride, the benefits seem to be providing the students with opportunities for authentic social situation, self-authorship, exploration of identity, an active role in their own learning, critical analysis of social dynamics, skill practice, fluency development, and pragmatic awareness. We also discussed how creating an online identity can help students feel more comfortable using the language.

Based on the article about Lave and Wenger, we discussed communities of practice and tried to decide whether our class (this APLING678 group) met the criteria to be considered a “community of practice”.  We also discussed how we could turn our language classrooms into communities of practice through social networking. Mai proposed that student motivation is the key to success, and self-determination theory along with real world social communication could be provided through social network use in the classroom.

We then went on to discuss some of the specific pros and cons of using SNSs in the classroom. A pitfall specific to Fakebook, which Melissa tried to find a way around, was that students cannot interact through their individual Fakebook pages. They have to log on to each other’s Fakebook accounts (with a password) to leave comments on the other’s wall. An advantage specific to Fakebook was that it is a sheltered environment, which could be used to teach digital responsibility and netiquette before having students do an assignment on the real Facebook. Then again, Facebook might be on the way out (not as popular with the younger crowd). Gail brought up the advantage of using the special jargons of SNSs to teach students how technology affects language. She also started us on a conversation of the merits and dangers of students and teachers interacting through their private Facebook accounts.

In discussing the benefits and pitfalls of using these social tools in the classroom, here are some things we thought should be taken into consideration:

• Privacy issues
• Narcissism
• Social awkwardness or division over “friending”
• Is forcing students to interact in an authentic environment too contrived or unrealistic?
• How to teach netiquette and digital citizenship
• Teaching students how to develop online identities
• Teaching skills that will carry over to new, future SNSs
• Being careful not to put a shiny new coat on an old method of content delivery, but rather to change the pedagogy
• Curating an online presence and caution about what’s appropriate for professional connections
• Helping students understand the connection to our learning goals (to increase their motivation to participate)