Social Networking and Education - The Debate Rages On

Currently my advanced students are working on a controversial documentary. As part of their work on story, I had them cut a trailer just before the winter break. We decided to post the video on youtube, because that's what everyone does nowadays. I also thought it would be fun for the filmmakers to be able to show their work to their friends and family over the break.

This small act has had a huge impact. In two weeks, over 500 people watched the video. Youth in the neighborhood embedded it in their myspace pages. And young people who were nervous about the project before Christmas, are now begging us to be in the movie.

This is just one example of some benefits of social networking in an educational setting. But there are downsides too. As we all know, once you publish something on the web, you really don't know and can't control what could happen with it.

The Economist magazine has been hosting a series of debates on various topics. Their latest debate is about Social Networking specifically. "Social Networking: does it bring positive change to education?"

Ewan McIntosh is the 'Pro' speaker. Here's what he has to say about the debates on his blog, edublogs: "The Economist debates have stirred a great amount of intelligent debate, both on the Economist site and on others' blogs. While the groundswell continues to show over two thirds of the general public (or Economist readers, at least) believe that social networking can have a positive effect on educational methods, it's the comments from within the blogosphere that pour both healthy and unhealthy water on the embers."

What do you think?