Learning with Social Networking

Contrary to adult perceptions, while hanging out online, youth are picking up basic social and technological skills they need to fully participate in contemporary society... Youth could benefit from educators being more open to forms of experimentation and social exploration that are generally not characteristic of educational institutions. 

This quote from the findings of the Digital Youth  Project really resonated with me.  While writing my technological autobiography, I came to the conclusion that most of my learning about technology came through personal use. For example, despite hours of typing class at school, I only learned to type fluently when I started instant messaging with friends in high school.  Both the papers from the Digital Youth Project and the MIT Education Arcade really take this idea a step further pointing out that when youth use new technologies they not only learn technological skills they learn higher order thinking skills as well.

I was particularly interested in the MIT article's discussion of how social networking can support collective intelligence.  I am excited by the potential for social networks to allow peers to support each other's learning and increase intrinsic motivation.  It seems that social networks effectively utilized could be more than just the bait to draw in students' attention; they could actually foster new forms of collaboration.  I would love to experiment with one of the more controlled social networking sites they recommend to see how this works out for me in the classroom.