The Value of Social Networks in Education

In my previous post, I discussed some recent ways in which schools are incorporating social media into their pedagogy. The use of Facebook and Twitter in education will probably always be fraught with controversy, and thus some education institutions are turning to private social networks as a way to utilize the positive aspects of social networks. However, the issue still remains whether social networks can benefit education and not just add another burden for educators or be a detriment to learning.

One interesting report by McKinsey, shows how social networks can enhance the productivity of companies by 20 to 25 percent, as employees spend less time searching for information or tracking down colleagues to help with tasks. While this report is primarily concerning private enterprise, the tasks surveyed, such as communication, collaboration, and research, are also vital components of education, and thus social networks can also enable more productive learning. For educators and academics, there are a variety of professional social networks that can help education professionals in a particular field connect, publish, and obtain immediate peer feedback. This used to take months or even years, but social networks can speed up the process and free more time for research or teaching. Social networks can also enhance the learning process, and thus some universities and other education institutions are creating their own private structured social networks that enable students, professors, and administrators connect with each other. These networks blend serious academics with the engaging aspects that stakeholders have come to enjoy with Facebook, and encourage an organic personalized learning experience within the context of the university.

The shift in education from forbidding social media outright to one that adapts the positive learning and productivity attributes of social media into private social networks is part of an overall paradigm shift that is vital for eduction. As Sir Ken Robinson eloquently points out in one of his Ted Talks, education needs to move away from its current "manufacturing model", which was useful in producing doctors, lawyers, managers, engineers, and other confined roles that suited a 20th industrial century society. But the 21st century requires cross-functional individuals who can diversify economies through their own creative ventures and networks. With increasing access to technology and the expansion of social networks in education, personalized education that can fit an individual's talents and learning styles becomes possible, and stakeholders in education are able to organically learn from each other and enhance their productivity.