Foundations and Assessment of Education/Edition 1/Foundations Table of Contents/Chapter 13/In the News/Peer Review Three

Introduction
Technology HAS become increasingly popular and effective in the classroom, despite it being a new AND CONTROVERSIAL concept. Many educators support technology in the classroom stating that it makes learning more engaging for students of the digital age, especially the interaction of Web 2.0. Technology makes it possible for students to communicate with other students of different cultures around the world, creating a diverse classroom. However, there are also educators who disagree with the integration of technology and education, claiming that it distracts students fro despite m learning. Critics RAISE the issue that many schools cannot afford to have a large technology integration or program. REGARDLESS OF these arguments, social networking is extremely popular among students with millions of users interacting every day, from all over the world. This provides an opportunity for educators to use sites built for communicating among friends, into sites where students can communicate with other students about education.

What Is Social Networking and How Does It Work In the Classroom?
Many people in AMERICA have most likely heard of the term “social networking” or have heard of a site that does social networking, but do not know what exactly social networking is. Social networking is a community where family, friends, and colleagues connect online. People discuss COUNTLESS TOPICS, ranging from how their day WAS to career field discussions. Since social networking sites are online, users are diverse in age, gender, race and culture. HOWEVER, many, if not most, of the PEOPLE who use social networking SITES consist of middle school, high school and college-age students spending as much time social networking as THEY DO watching television. With the majority of users being in an educational setting, it provides an opportunity for teachers to making learning engaging and interactive.

One of the most important aspects that an educator can teach is that learning can take place inside and outside of a classroom. Learning is a lifelong process, and if students recognize this, they gain a BROADER lesson from their teacher than in a textbook. Social networking makes IT possible for CLASSROOMS TO connect and FOR STUDENTS TO learn outside of the classroom. Teachers are already using emails and websites to keep their students informed with notices, notes, projects, exams and assistance. While EMAIL and classroom websites can be informative for students and their parents, social networking allows students and teachers to use what they have learned in the classroom, apply their knowledge, and display it to their peers, no matter where they are physically located. The versatility of social networking permits educators to use any subject and making it engaging for all students. For example, many teachers would enjoy bringing a real-life scientist in their classroom but cannot because of availability and financial reasons. These teachers could use Facebook for their class to have a live discussion with the scientist. Students are given an engaging experience without the limitations of finance, time and geography.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Social Networking
Although social networking is still somewhat of a new concept, research has shown that there are many advantages of using it in the classroom. Students who live in rural areas or are unable to attend their school of choice because of geography are now able to receive a high-quality education through social networking and virtual schools. Classroom would also become learning environments with global diversity. Sister schools around the world would be able to communicate with each other in real-time, ALLOWING students to gain a perspective of their world through learning. There are also advantages for educators using social networking. The National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future has developed Teacher Linked In Networked Communities, which is an initiative to have teachers feel part of their community through social networking and become part of a diverse “learning team”. These networks would be a new approach to professional development where educators would discuss feedback, new ideas, and instructional strategies with colleagues. Besides being used for building knowledge, social networking sites have also been used to strengthen the relationship between students and teachers. Alyssa Trzeszkowski-Giese, a high school English teacher from James W. Robinson Secondary School in Fairfax, Virginia, discovered that Facebook helped put a “face” not only on her students, but on herself as well.

Social networking has shown many beneficial factors to improve education for children, however there are also many setbacks. One of the first issues schools always address is “Can we afford this?” While Massachusetts school districts actually benefit financially from virtual education, others like Florida schools district cannot. Florida school districts and many other cannot afford to spend their budget on computer and internet access for all students and teachers. Another major issue of social networking is that schools are now connected to students constantly, forcing them to TAKE disciplinary action when students do negative public actions, such as underage drinking, and cyberbullying, which is the verbal attacking people online. The internet allows people to remain anonymous to some extent, resulting in people saying things they would most likely not say in person. The Internet provides open communication between students and educators, but it also forces teachers and administration to set THEIR boundaries. Just as teachers have to set limits in the classroom, they must also do the same online by putting a limited amount of personal information on their user pages. Teachers also have to consider what age group they may want to interact with, for example, A fifth grade TEACHER may be hesitant to have students who are in third or seventh grade interact with her students online.

Unanswered Questions
Educators, school administrations, students, communities, and researchers have raised and determined many questions about social networking and how it is used in the classroom. However, there are still many questions that still need to be answered:

''Current and pre-service educators are learning how to integrate technology into the lessons. With social networking becoming more prominent, what other aspects should they learn?''

Are the schools right to resist technology in the classroom, or are students correct that they can benefit from the integration?

Policies are being developed to prevent cyberbullying, but can cyberbullying really be stopped by students?

Financially speaking, is it better for students to attend school online, or in an actual building?

With social networking and technology eliminating the problem of geography and physical location of meeting people, is this the end the traditional brick-and-mortar school?

Quiz
{Question: What is social networking? -An interactive television channel with shows and content from the Internet. +Social networking is a community where family, friends, and colleagues connect online. -A strategy business people use to gain more customers and business partners. -A business conference where people discuss the latest mobile devices.
 * type=""}

{Question: The least effective way of using social networking in the classroom is: - Discussing the Civil War on LiveJournal. - Creating a story by thousands of students on Twitter. + Reading an online literary review. - Having a video chat with a doctor on Facebook.
 * type=""}

{Question: Ms. Jordan has a classroom Facebook account for her 6th grade class. One of her students posted a picture of himself and several other students drinking at a party. Ms. Jordan should... + Report the picture to administration for appropriate disciplinary action. - Not report the picture to administration but give the students disciplinary action. - Not give the students disciplinary action but remove the picture from the page. - Not give the students disciplinary action and leave the picture on the page.
 * type=""}

{Question: An advantage of social networking is: - Forces schools to set online boundaries. - Cyberbullying. - Cost of online learning. + Students and teachers can collaborate around the world.
 * type=""}

Answers
1. B, 2. C, 3. A, 4. D

Multiple Choice Questions

 * 1) What does each question assess: knowledge or reasoning (application of knowledge)?
 * 2) Question 1 knowledge
 * 3) Question 2 application
 * 4) Question 3 application
 * 5) Question 4 knowledge

Answer the following questions about the multiple-choice questions.


 * 1) Are there 4 multiple-choice questions? yes
 * 2) Do they each have four answer choices (A-D)? yes
 * 3) Is there a single correct (not opinion-based) answer for each question? yes
 * 4) Do the questions assess the learning target? yes
 * 5) Are the questions appropriate and reasonable (not too easy and not too difficult)? yes
 * 6) Are the foils (the response options that are NOT the answer) reasonable i.e. they are not very obviously incorrect answers? yes
 * 7) Are the response options listed in alphabetical order? no
 * 8) Are correct answers provided and listed BELOW all the questions? yes

Please make a comment about the multiple-choice questions. If you answered "No" to any of the questions above, please explain how the author can improve the question/s.

Comment: The second question seems a bit opinion based, you might considering revising the question.

Part 2 - Ratings
LIST and EXPLAIN your rating for each of the four criteria.

 Importance:
 * I rated this article 3 for importance because... it does contain relevant information, but it does not represent a thorough understanding of the topic.

Interest:
 * I rated this article 3 on interest because... The sidebar contains relevant information, only a few novel ideas, and some of the points were not adequately explained.

Credibility:
 * I rated this article 3 for credibility because... Although there are more than sufficient sources, all but one were from the same popular magazine. Also there were not scholarly sources. This leads to bias, and does not represent both sides of the topic adequately enough. There is no parenthetical citation used throughout the article.

Writing skill:
 * I rated this article 2 on writing because... Many sentences were awkward, and needed more sentence structure variation. (Repeated however, also, and despite - vary your word choice.) There seemed to be lacking explanations throughout the article, and it did not really grab the readers attention.



HIGHLIGHT SPECIFIC POINTS IN THE RUBRIC that apply to the article. To do this: Highlight sections with the cursor and use the BOLD icon above OR type ''' (3 apostrophes) before and after the text you want to make bold

Part 3 - "2+2"
List TWO compliments and TWO suggestions about the article content
 * Hints:
 * Focus on the work, not the person
 * Describe "There is...", "I see.." rather than judge "You didn't..."

Compliments  . The article has more than the minimum number of sources. . Good explanation of Social Networking.

 Suggestions  .In The News Special Feature Article: In the News

This special feature article will present current events related to the chapter topic. It will provide brief summaries of recent reports in the news media that discuss research, laws, litigation (court cases), classroom practice, films, book releases, events, etc. related to the chapter topic. The article may also link to articles in newspapers, magazines, Internet sites, etc. where the reports can be found.

Article format:

Introduction: 1 paragraph introduction to the chapter topic and a general report of the media's focus on associated issues.

Several 1-2 paragraph summaries of (and links to) reports in the media. Any key terms mentioned in the summaries should be explained. For example, if a report discusses the opening of a new charter school, the summary should describe what a charter school is.

Conclusion: 1-2 paragraph synthesis of the current events related to the topic. What is currently happening in VA, the US, the world on this topic? What should current and future teachers be looking for in the months ahead.

Remember that the "In the News" article must also include all the features required in Wikibook articles generally: title, author, learning target(s), sidebar, 5 sources, 4 multiple-choice questions, and include about 1000-words of original text.

Be sure to reread the description of the assignment. There are supposed to be summaries of recent news articles given in this article. .  Be sure to vary your sources not only to bolster the credibility of the article but also to avoid bias. News links would be a good way to do this. You should make sure to cite your references in your article otherwise the reader will not know whether information represents your opinion or actual fact that has been documented.

You can make compliments and suggestions that relate to specific areas of the paper or to the paper in general. I suggest a mixture of both. Focus on what's most important. Of course, you can also include more than two suggestions and more than two compliments. The goal is to help the author improve his/her article.