Social Networking

Resources

• Dialogue 2000: One of the most thorough and inventive MFL collaborative learning projects for 14 to 19 year old students took place under the Dialogue 2000 initiative in the late 1990s. It used FirstClass software, which is ideal for running collaborative projects for GCSE or AS/A level. The pedagogical principles and findings of the D2K project are still of great interest today. An archived PowerPoint presentation is available at http://www.semantise.com/dialogue2000/d2k_summary.pps
• Online social networks: friend or foe? 2008 Teacher’s TV
  The rise of online social networking has brought a new dimension to social interaction. This programme looks at the technology behind sites such as MySpace, Facebook and Bebo, exploring the issues that they raise for teachers.
• Futurelab: Social software and learning, July 2006 - a report examining the use of social software in learning (paper on social software).
• Becta: Emerging technologies for learning downloads of relevant articles.
• Ewan Mcintosh's blog covers a preview of Becta’s research into new technologies.
• Education Guardian: Missed opportunity, Jan 9 2007 - an article about educational applications for social networking sites.
• Subject Centre for Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies: E-learning symposium (25 Jan 2008).
• The Learning Landscape for Schools: a subscription site offering a safe environment for schools to use blogging with their pupils.
• Think.com
• Master New Media website: American research into school student use of social networking spaces.
• Wikipedia: List of social networking sites.

Author: John Hopwood : Languages/ICT consultant, Language College, St Julie's Catholic High School for Girls, Woolton, Liverpool.