SOCIAL NETWORKING AND LEARNING
Technology has gone stone mad and in some aspects taken the education system with it to new heights. When computers came onto the scene our lives started to change drastically. In the movie 2001: Space Odyssey, a computer named HAL launched havoc on the unsuspecting humans, controlling every aspect of their lives. Little did we know back then, the world would be filled with little “hals” we call smartphones. With smartphones in hand, we are always connected to the mainframe we now call the “world wide web” or internet for short. We know that over 50% of cellphone users have some type of smartphone (Sorrentino, 2012) . The technology has affected education on all levels with deep connections to the phenomenon of “social networking.” A fact in 2010 revealed that over 203 million people used the world wide web, 116 million used facebook (Schwager, 2010) .
If used properly, online communication tools and social networking can create an atmosphere of sharing, exchanging ideas and information among people, provide adult learners with motivation for learning, and a guide for further learning experiences (Gazi, Aksal, & Oztug, 2012) . Social networking consists of “ facebook”, “twitter”, and “myspace.” These websites offer the user instant and continuous connectivity to the world or at least their list of friends and love ones. For an adult learner, this means continuous and constant connectivity with the possibility of learning from fellow classmates, associates, or acquaintances. Apparently people spend enormous amount of time on facebook.
The pros of social networking, first social networking provides adult learners with opportunities to share and exchange information in an informal setting free from the stress of a classroom environment. This will allow them to be more open and expressive. It will also allow the users to speak freely! Second, social networking is on all the time and there will be someone around the world to interchange ideas and or comments, sparking conversation and learning will occur. Additionally, social networking offers continuous and constant connectivity for opportunities to learn. Adult educators can seek out people of similar thinking and comparable situations and communicate about those like things. These platforms offer a collaborative learning environment where knowledge is interchanged with multiple sources (Gazi, Aksal, & Oztug, 2012) .
The cons of social networking are vast but I will use my personal experiences here. First, a lack of face to face social skills will be detrimental to our overall ability of getting to know each other. Second, there are too many distractions for the adult learner. Being online allows the learning to look elsewhere and thereby get off track for learning. We, as adult educators will compete with celebrity news, music, friends, and other entertainment releases. The average user spends over 55 minutes a day on facebook now (Schwager, 2010) . How can online colleges compete with that and be effective. I once worked with person who spent more time on facebook that imaginable for a middle age retired Marine. When we traveled on Saturday mornings to drill competitions, he would get on facebook and tell his followers where he was, what was going on, and what the plan for the day would be. Upon completion of the competition he would get on and tell his fan club how we did. Before school one morning, I asked several cadets when was the last time they actually sat down and wrote a letter, manually. Not one of seven cadets had actually wrote a letter.
If I were to use social networking, I would first establish some ground rules for my adult learners. These rules would stipulate the requirements and the focus of the online collaboration. As Driscoll defines learning as a persisting change in human performance or performance potential which must come about as a result of the learner’s experience and interaction with the world, this would be my basis for using social networking (Siemens, 2005) . Teaching American Government, I would direct my adult learners to explore other forms of governments around the world to compare and contrast differences and similarities. Learning is also a change in how we think. Thus technology is altering our brains. The tools (social networking) we use shape and define out thinking (Siemens, 2005) . I would hope I could direct these changes in a positive manner. These changes would be represented as a result of better understanding of other societies, more collaboration, and better informed voters.
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