Social Networking in schools

This technology enables people to connect, collaborate and form virtual communities via the computer and / or the internet. Social networking sites provided the opportunity to interact and allow visitors to send emails, post comments, build Web content and / or take part in live chats.

These sites can be used in schools for teenagers to share what they are learning or to build something together online. This medium allows teenagers to receive feedback from teachers, parents and peers. These tools for communication are already widely used in colleges and the workplace.

Examples of use in schools include :

1) Maths - students serve as scribes on a blog. Students post notes, visuals, formulas, activities and comments related to each day's lesson. They also post reflections about their learning at least once before each test. See eg http://pc4sw06.blogspot.com

2) School newspaper - Blog format allows for timely publication and the ability to make updates easily. Comments from readers can be added and easy navigation to archived stories. Publication costs are minimal and there is no limit to length of paper. See eg http://www.uni.uiuc.edu/gargoyle

3) Science - two teachers (not necessarily in same school) are working with students on the topic of water quality and ecology. They create a joint wiki for the unit of study. As students find information on the topic, thy post their findings, observations and useful resources to the wiki. They are building their own online resources (encyclopedia) on the topic.

4) English and Library - A blog incorporating new books and / or recommended books is commenced with summaries and covers of books incorporated. Students are encouraged to comment, recommend ratings and suggest other books for purchase.

Holiday Use of Library

Hope everyone had a nice break....unfortunately soon it will be a distant memory.

Thought you might be interested in the the use of the library during this time. Patron statistics for the holiday break include :

1. Monday 14th - 10 MSC, 3 TAFE and 30 University = Total of 43
2. Tuesday 15th - 5 MSC, 4 TAFE and 31 University = Total of 40
3. Wednesday 16th - 5 MSC, 2 TAFE and 30 University = Total of 37
   
4. Thursday 17th - 7 MSC, 2 TAFE and 43 University = Total of 52
5. Friday 18th - no MSC, 3 TAFE and 19 University = Total of 21
   
6. Monday 21st - 3 MSC, 2 TAFE and 29 University = Total of 34
   
7. Tuesday 22nd - 12 MSC, 5 TAFE and 23 University = Total of 40
8. Wednesday 23rd - 4 MSC, 2 TAFE and 20 University = Total of 26
   
9. Thursday 24th - 6 MSC, 3 TAFE and 28 University = Total of 40

A grand total of 333 patrons using the library during the nine days between the hours of 9am - 4pm.

Welcome back to term 2.

Finding Resources at Peel

Many of the students and staff at Peel are unsure about how to go about finding resources. In addition many are unaware that you can :

1) save this information and email it to yourself;
2) manage your own loans and renew them if you wish;
3) can opt in to a Reading History for yourself; and
4) change your contact details if and when you move address.

To make it a little easier, watch the following screencast.

2008

Welcome back to the Campus for 2008.

Did you know that :

A study during 2007 in the US has shown that 59% of all American teenagers engage in at least one form of online content creation. Of those 35% of all teen girls blog, compared with 20% of online boys, 54% of girls post photos online compared with 40% of online boys. Boys however like their video, with 19% of boys posting video online vs. 10% of girls.

Other figures from the study include:

• 33% create or work on webpages or blogs for others, including those for groups they belong to, friends, or school assignments


• 28% have created their own online journal or blog, up from 19% in 2004.


• 27% maintain their own personal webpage


• 26% remix content they find online into their own creations

It showed that 55% of teens online use a social networking site. The flip side to that is that the presumption that sites such as MySpace or Facebook may have peaked may be untrue if 45% of teens aren’t using one of these sites already.