Hi Christine,

Much of what you said echos my thoughts. However, after being encouraged to do so I asked our university counsel about the implications of using facebook. She got the vice-provost involved and they both said that the legal/privacy implications make it unfavorable. The main reason was that University-related material would be discussed in a forum not directly controlled by the University, in contrast to blackboard. I'm still very interested in using this medium but will have to do some more careful thinking, both legally and pedagogically, before implementing it.

As you astutely point out I think a challenge will be to get students to use the virtual world to perform analytical and problem solving tasks. Can you send me a reference to the australian university studies that you mentioned?

I will keep the group posted as I learn more.

Cheers,
Greg

--- In astrolrner@yahoogroups.com, Christine Redman <redmanc@...> wrote:
>
> HI Greg
>
> I agree that Facebook is a 'virtual place' that they are already 'in'
> and, like you, imagine that there is only a minimum effort required to
> 'click' into a professional Facebook space.
>
> I have tried blogging and Wiki spaces for similar reasons ... that could
> also be seen to apply to Facebook... that is that these technologies may
> provide an opportunity to help learners to verbalize and share complex
> ideas. As educators these technologies may help us to facilitate and
> support reasoning but now in this new 'anywhere and anytime' format.
> This digital culture to which today's cohorts belong maybe regularly
> users of virtual communication ...b research has shown that they are not
> used to using these technologies for analytic and reflective thinking
> ... so that is our challenge. There are two big Australian University
> studies that detail that ... I think it is worth trying Facebook and
> would suggest that you have a presence there as well, it may help
> focus/refine your planning for teaching and learning... and it should
> also contribute to the everyday relationships of students in lectures,
> tute and research groups. Good Luck - look forward to an update ...
>
>
>
> Cheers
>
> Christine
>
>
>
> Dr Christine Redman
>
> Senior Lecturer
>
> Melbourne Graduate School of Education
>
> The University of Melbourne
>
> Victoria
>
> Australia
>
>
>
> ________________________________
>
> From: astrolrner@yahoogroups.com [mailto:astrolrner@yahoogroups.com] On
> Behalf Of grudnick74
> Sent: Saturday, 4 July 2009 5:07 AM
> To: astrolrner@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: [Astrolrner@CAE] Re: Facebook as a discussion forum tool
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Thanks for all the useful comments on using facebook. Some of you have
> pointed out the possible legal privacy implications and I've contacted
> the University lawyers to see what those might be.
>
> About the use of facebook vs. some other discussion medium. To be
> honest, I am not planning on using this for moderated highly insightful
> discussions. It's blunt, but with a class of 150, minimal grader
> support, and a heavy research load I don't have the time to do this in a
> meaningful way that would require every student to comment. I really
> meant this group to be a simple forum for students to post any kind of
> question they have about the class, be it academic or administrative.
> The only reason I chose facebook as opposed to other alternatives is
> that many students are on it all the time, literally, which means they
> are more likely to reply to something in the normal routine of the
> online experience. There is virtually no extra time cost for them, which
> does exist on blackboard. I can also imagine posting some random
> questions now and then, just to provoke the thoughts of those students
> that do happen to check the group.
>
> At least this is the rough plan. Let's see how it works in practice.
>
> Cheers,
> Greg
>