Using social media as an extention to the classroom
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What is Hoot.me?
The Hoot.me app as a “knowledge” forum; I have the Hoot.me as a Facebook app but it does not have any library science classes or forums available at this time, it is geared more towards mathematics, engineering and sciences.
Can Facebook and its app be used to help students study rather than a means to avoid? I would have to say yes, but I would have said no until the being of last fall semester. As an undergraduate student I used Facebook for the same reasons many other students used it. To see what my friends were doing, where my favorite band would be playing and what events I might attend. After graduating Facebook became a place to connect with friends who had moved across the country or around the world for school and work. Facebook lost its appeal, at least to me, I kept in touch with the friends I wanted and we spoke on the phone rather than made status updates. As I have mentioned before I am a graduate student although I’m a distance learner which comes with its own issues; namely not being connected with other students as one might be if you are forced into a classroom on weekly basis. The program I am in does have a cohort and it requires you to attend a four day classroom session, which is helpful in making connections with other classmates.
I digress, the point of this post is to examine the use and usefulness of social media, in particular Facebook. From the cohort weekend a group chat was formed of four classmates including me, it was and is a great place to post question to each other about assignments or clarification about readings. At times it has also become a support group. The group worked well and this spring semester we added two others to the group chat, after the new additions it became clear the group was too big at six people. With the additional members meant more messages and question have gotten lost or completely overlook. On the other hand for Social Media and Library Professionals although group work is required, it has been done so by maintaining a distant relationship. My group has maintained contact for the two projects wither through Google Docs, email, or messages on Connect.
http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/2011/10/using-facebook-hootme-as-a-study-tool284.html
http://blogs.kqed.org/mindshift/2011/09/distractions-set-aside-facebook-as-a-study-tool/
http://www.cnn.com/2011/TECH/social.media/08/10/7.sins.netiquette/index.html