School Librarians Lead the Social Networking Pack Among Educators

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By Debra Lau Whelan -- School Library Journal, 11/9/2009 2:05:00 PM

Media specialists are more likely to join social networking sites than teachers and principals—and they’re more likely to adopt a variety of content-sharing tools for personal, professional, and classroom use, says a new report.

“A Survey of K–12 Educators on Social Networking and Content-Sharing Tools” found a significant difference in attitude and behavior among the three groups, with 70 percent of media specialists, 62 percent of teachers, and 54 percent of administrators saying they’ve joined a social network.

The survey also says school librarians are most positive about the value of social networking in education, but they’re frustrated with their school districts blocking access to Web sites like YouTube and Facebook.

Although they understand the need for some restrictions, school districts are overly restrictive, the survey found.

Teachers are fully aware that students use this technology every day and believe they’ll need it for success in life, but they have very little time to spend on this technology in the classroom. Another concern for teachers is that they want to separate their personal and professional communications. Meanwhile, principals accept the value of social networking, but they also have some reservations about it and feel they’re not up to speed when it comes to the technology, the report says. Overall, however, many educators recognize that they need to learn how to integrate social networking and content-sharing tools into their teaching.

Some 61 percent of educators say they’ve joined a social network and engage in more online activities than educators who haven’t joined one. Those who have a social networking account are also more positive about the value of this technology for education.

Facebook is the most popular site for educators, with 85 percent reporting that they’re members, MySpace came in at a distant second at 20 percent, and LinkedIn, a popular site for the business community, came in third at 14 percent. The primary reason they use these sites is to connect with family and friends, the report says, with many also using them to connect with colleagues and to stay current with Web 2.0 technology.

Although 85 percent of those surveyed have a Facebook account, 76 percent say they “seldom or never” use it. By comparison, they report higher usage on MySpace, LinkedIn, Ning, and the education social networks. Social networks dedicated to education, such as Classroom 2.0, edWeb.net, LearnCentral, Tapped In, TeachAde, and WeAreTeachers so far have little usage, but there’s growing awareness, the study says, and some survey respondents were pleased to learn about these sites from taking the survey.

Educators who have not grown up as “digital natives” feel overwhelmed by technology and say it eats up so much valuable time that they simply don’t have to spare. They also see their students using collaborative technology every day, mostly outside of school, and understand the need to address and incorporate it into teaching and learning. In fact, they say they’d like more training, professional development, and direction on using social networking and other technology from their schools and district leaders.

“As more educators join social networks, and as younger people enter the education workforce, the adoption of this technology will continue to increase,” the report says.

The survey was cosponsored by edWeb.net, a social networking site for educators, MCH, Inc, a compiler of business-to-institution databases and mailing lists, and education consulting firm MMS Education.