Social Learning and Social Networking Sites Chi Ben Graduate Student Department of CIS

Table Of Content What is Social Learning? Why go Social? Social Networking Sites (SNS) categories How to build an SNS?

Social Learning "Learning would be exceedingly laborious, not to mention hazardous, if people had to rely solely on the effects of their own actions to inform them what to do. Fortunately, most human behavior is learned observationally through modeling: from observing others one forms an idea of how new behaviors are performed, and on later occasions this coded information serves as a guide for action." -Albert Bandura, Social Learning Theory, 1977 People learn from each other, by observing, learning and imitating others’ behavior.

Basic Social Learning Concepts People can learn through observation. “Bobo doll” studies Mental states are important to learning. Learning does not necessarily lead to a change in behavior.

Table Of Content What is Social Learning? Why go Social? Social Networking Sites (SNS) categories How to build an SNS?

Why Go Social? K. Walsh 1 summarized 7 ways in which “social learning applications” can play an impactful role in education: Engagement Using social media and networking tools require students’ active engagement Social Learning Present social learning refers to socialization occurs via “social” computer tools, instead of face-to-face social interaction Use time outside of class better, so you can use class time better Content delivery outside of the classroom

Why Go Social? It provides opportunities for writing and writing assessment: Teachers can choose to include grading of writing quality as part of the rubrics they develop for grading social media based assignments and class work. Encourage dialogue, reach more students No face-to-face contact, student feel more freedom to express Help students get ahead of the professional curve Social media business positions Build connections A bonus reason: many of social networking tools are free

Table Of Content What is Social Learning? Why go Social? Social Networking Sites (SNS) categories How to build an SNS?

SNS Categories General: Facebook, MySpace, Orkut, Skyrock, Renren Blogging/Micro-Blogging: Twitter, LiveJournal, Tumblr Photography: Flickr, Fotolog, Fotki Music: Douban, Last.fm, Buzznet, Mog Video: Youtube, Yahoo Video, Youku Professional: LinkedIn, HR.com, XING

How To Use SNS For Teaching? Use Facebook 2 To connect to students, or their parents To leave homework, reading assignments In place of Blackboard, students are already familiar with FB Use Twitter 3 As class chatter To get instant feedback To follow a professional To offer resources Use Youtube To host instructional videos

Table Of Content What is Social Learning? Why go Social? Social Networking Sites (SNS) categories How to build an SNS?

An Easy Way Use a social networking site provider Wall.fm, Ning.com Create an account, do basic settings, you are good to go.

A Not-so-easy Way Open Source software Elgg, Mahara, Dolphin Hosting service To deploy the software package Do some not-so-straightforward settings You are good to go

Again, The Easy Way Wall.fm and Ning.com We will try them in a few minutes

References 1. leverage-social-networking-tools-in-the-classroom/ leverage-social-networking-tools-in-the-classroom/ 2. the-classroom-seriously/ the-classroom-seriously/ 3. teach-with-twitter/ teach-with-twitter/

Thank You Questions?