Reflection #20

(1) Describe the Resource / Experience:
During my resource search this week, I discovered a Wikipedia entry entitled “Social Network Service”. This Wiki article provides the best definition of “Social Networking Service” that I have found so far. It defines a “Social Network Service” as a web based service that provides a variety of ways for users to interact, such as e-mail and instant messaging services, and focuses on building online communities of people who share interests and/or activities, or who are interested in exploring the interests and activities of others (Wikipedia, 2009, no page numbers). These ideas seem to directly correlate with the chapter of our WikiText that discusses learning communities because this articles talks about using social networking sites to build learning communities.
(2) Lessons Learned / Applications for the Classroom / Recommendations for Yourself or Others:
Overall, through reading this article, I learned that social networking sites can be used to help build and support learning communities. At first, I couldn’t find any information that supported how/why social networking sites were relevant to constructivism, but this article made it all very clear. After reading this article, I discovered that social networking sites are relevant to constructivism because constructivism focuses on learning in the social context and integrating social networking sites into education is one way to add a “social” aspect to any learning situation. Social networking sites allow learners to connect and build learning communities with their peers from all over the world. I just think it’s so exciting to see how all of this information fits together under the topic of constructivism. I feel like I learn something new about constructivism every day. I’m really looking forward to further investigating the use of social networking sites in today’s classroom.
(3) Links to Readings, Resources, or Discussions:
These ideas directly link to the following resource from my Resource Log:

Wikipedia. (2009, April 6). Social network service. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_network_service

Moreover, these ideas directly relate to chapter 4 of our WikiText, entitled “Building Learning Communities”, which discusses creating and using learning communities in the constructivist classroom.