Social networking sites have educational benefits

A short personal review about the interview with Christine Greenhow

"University of Minnesota researcher Christine Greenhow breaks down how her research has found that social networking sites like Facebook and My space can have an impact for learning and educational growth for high school students."

In her research work Christine Greenhow found out that social network sites like Facebook or MySpace help the kids to improve their communication skills. They use blogs to present their personal thoughts and ideas, and in contrast to their experiences at school they get feedback and comments not just from their teachers, they also get comments from "friends" and members of their online community. So there is an educational benefit of such sites. 

“Data were collected over six months from students, ages 16 to 18, in 13 urban high schools in the Midwest” (Greenhow, 2008) 

Greenhow found out that “94 percent used the Internet, 82 percent go online at home, and 77 percent had a profile on a social networking site.” (Greenhow, 2008)

The most important skills the students learned by using such sites are:

• technological skills
• creativity
• being open for new views and opinions
• and communication skills

All these skills are important for the 21st century and they should develop them to be successful at school and in their future life. They share texts, videos and they get and give comments to others – they building up a typical feedback culture.
By knowing their social background and networks teachers can “make schools even more relevant, connected, and meaningful to kids." (Greenhow, 2008)

Listen to "Moments of the University of Minnesota" - it is a short summary of the research work of Christine Greenhow. You can find the text on the homepage of the University!

http://blog.lib.umn.edu/urelate/radio/social_net_study.mp3