Many of the suggestions outlined below are based on the social
networking site, Think.com,
which has been designed specifically for educational use.
- Registration: sites such as Think.com are free and involve an
initial email from the Headteacher giving permission for the school
to participate in the networking site. A nominated member of staff
will be the main administrator and has the power to allow other
teachers to have teacher permissions and to be team leaders in
shared projects. Classes are enrolled by Year and each student is
issued with a password which they can change. It is possible to
automatically advance all classes into the following academic
year
- Moderation and supervision: moderators can see all home pages
of all students and the messages and materials that are posted on
them. They can contribute messages themselves to student sites and
disable accounts where necessary. All images that are posted must
be ratified by moderators
- Internet safety: all users have to click on a code of conduct
at the beginning which sets appropriate usage rules. Think.com has
a list of proscribed words which it will not allow within the
network
- Technical challenges: educational sites such as Think.com
provides extensive support that can be accessed online or printed.
There is also a forum for support. Most other educationally-centred
networking sites would have similar facilities. Once students are
issued with log-ins and passwords, those who are familiar with
using sites for social use will probably be able to navigate easily
and use the built-in tools. Clicking a 'save' button is the most
important technique to be learned. Uploading files is
straightforward, but may take some time or even time out if the
school’s system is not the fastest and if all students are trying
to upload at once
- Demands on the network: participation in social networking
sites is usually hosted on a remote server, as happens with
Think.com. This eases demand on the school system and an in-built
system of messaging and email protects users from school updates
and changes to email accounts. The ability to log in via a web
interface on computers in other countries is very good for projects
run during school trips abroad
- School protocols and permissions: it is possible to make
content and projects unique to a particular school or class and not
viewable by others. It is also possible to set up a range of
restrictions to stop students gaining access to other students'
work and editing or deleting it. Everyone can contribute to
shared project pages, but cannot edit those pages, unless the
teacher wishes them to do so
Author: John Hopwood : Languages/ICT consultant, Language
College, St Julie's Catholic High School for Girls, Woolton,
Liverpool.