Kristi Robbs Reading Response 3: How social networking can be used to engage students in

communication and collaboration.

2. How can social networking (such as Facebook, Skype, or Tweets) to be used to engage students in
effective communication and collaboration?
The very nature of the new version of the Internet, termed Web 2.0, is to be an interactive and
social web experience. We no longer just have static content, but we can contribute to the content
found on the web instantly. This new Web 2.0 world lends itself perfectly to the collaboration and social
networking tools that are common place today, or should I say that Web 2.0 was termed because of the
release of these tools. Regardless, social networking is no longer an option but a necessity in the
younger generations minds; therefore, students are undoubtedly going to be drawn to these sites, such
as Twitter, Facebook, and Skype. Most of them have never even lived in an era where these tools for
communication with others did not exist. With that said, their draw to these sites means that they can
possibly be used as a way to engage students in communication and collaboration, that is if the sites are
properly monitored by teachers/school librarians and that students are taught etiquette when it comes
to these sites.
Putting the risks aside for the moment, the nature of social networking means that students will need to
be in communication with one another. After all, communication is exactly what these sites set the user
up to do. In the article by Cordell (2012), the author gives numerous examples of how the technological
tool Skype is used to create meaningful and effective communication and collaboration between her
and other teachers/librarians/students. One of the most striking examples was the one where she was
able to Skype with one Korean student working on planning an American menu. Cordell (2012) states
by looking beyond his physical space and expanding his professional team, [the teacher] was able to
offer his class richer, more authentic learning opportunities (p. 9).
In my own experiences, this has also been the case. While taking a class at Clarion called Global
Perspectives in Librarianship, the class was able to voice chat with an American librarian working in
another country. She provided the kind of first hand experiences about how information services are
different in other countries than we would have ever gotten out of reading a book on the subject. Yet
another example of how social media, specifically Facebook, develops communication and collaboration
among students is presented in Hanson (2013) when she states that it provides the platform for
students to be able to organize themselves for extracurricular and academic purposes, such as study
groups. When I was an undergraduate student, my classmates and I were constantly calling impromptu
study group meetings before test dates. We used social networking, Facebook specifically, in order to
do this. We would create invites for a certain time and date to meet in the library study rooms. This
made our communication effective and fostered collaboration within the academic world. Distance or
time frames are no longer a factor either. Students can use technology like Skype in order to
communicate over long distances or even over short distances from their own living rooms at home at
any time of the day deemed appropriate by parents when they are not necessarily able to meet in
person.
Hanson (2013) says that the use of social networking tools helps [the teacher] meet teens where they
are (p. 35). In my mind, this can mean several things, but continuing with my previous thought - no
matter where students are or what they are doing, it allows the teacher to be there. Cordell (2012)
seems to believe that it is also a great feature of Skype since she often uses it herself and touts its
flexibility. All of these features and examples are what make social media tools so vitally important as
catalysts to effective communication and collaboration.
References
Cordell, D. (2012). Skype and the Embedded Librarian. Library Technology Reports, 48(2), 8-11.
Hanson, A. (2013). Can we talk? Young Adult Library Services, 11(2), 35-37.