[LM_NET] More on Social Networking study

[Nancy Willard <nwillard@CSRIU.ORG>]

Hi all.

The NSBA study release will allow a "teachable moment." Look here:
http://tech.blorge.com/Structure:%20/2007/08/07/schoolboards-net-dangers-ove
r-rated-bring-social-networks-to-school/

"The internet isn't as dangerous as people think, and teachers should let
students use social networks at school.

That's the surprising new recommendation from the National School Boards
Association ..."

And here is from another report
-http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070808-study-fears-over-kids-online-
safety-overblown.html which quotes from the NSBA report:

"The report concludes with a handful of recommendations, the most
controversial of which is likely to be a suggestion that schools reexamine
social networking policies. "Safety policies remain important, as does
teaching students about online safety and responsible online expression,"
the study's authors note. "But students may learn these lessons better while
they're actually using social networking tools.""


So here is the question, presuming that NSBA and Grunwald, the market
research company, have found that kids report fewer online concerns in this
study than have been found in other studies, does this translate to a
conclusion that schools should simply allow students to be accessing sites
like MySpace and Facebook at school?

When the Internet first came into schools, filtering software was offered as
a "cure" for the concerns of safety. The logic went like this: "We have
installed filtering software, this will keep kids safe, therefore schools
should simply allow students to explore the Internet.

In fact, a filtering company called N2H2 published a study of how students
were using the Internet and told everyone that their data indicated that
students were using the Internet "safely."

N2H2 studied the top 300 sites visited by students by number of page views.
According to N2H2, these 300 sites accounted for "roughly half" of the total
page views. N2H2 considered their data to present a "representative picture
of use." N2H2 indicated that an analysis of data by average per-page viewing
time presented the best approach to analyzing how students were using the
Internet. N2H2 provided the data in terms of categories and average viewing
time (columns #1 and #2). I made additional calculations of percentage of
viewing time (column #3).

1. Instructional, Reference & Computing 60 seconds 16.7%
2. News & Sports 58 seconds 16.2%
3. Business & Finance 52 seconds 14.5%
4. Commerce & E-Services 51 seconds 14.2%
5. Music, Games & Fun 48 seconds 13.4%
6. Portals & Search 46 seconds 12.8%
7. Communities 44 seconds 12.3%

Look closely at the list. Note that they added "computing" to "instruction
and reference" in an apparent attempt to bring this category to the top of
the list. But note, only 16.7% of activity was on sites specifically noted
as "instruction reference and computing." Clearly some of the other sites
could have resources that teachers could use effectively, especially the
"news and sports." 

But this analysis clearly indicates that "kids are safe" message had lead to
"so let them explore" which lead to an incredible amount of "Internet
recess."

There has been overblown fear-mongering about safety concerns on social
networking sites. Young people are, in my opinion, making safer choices than
many adults think. 

But this certainly does NOT translate to a conclusion that schools should
make a decision that they should allow students to engage in social
networking during the school day.

The school administrators who were surveyed for this report are the ones who
have their priorities right. The use of social networking technologies for
educational activities with adult supervision is perfectly appropriate.

The report will be released today. Watch carefully.

Nancy


-- 
Nancy Willard, M.S., J.D.
Center for Safe and Responsible Internet Use
http://csriu.org
http://cyberbully.org
http://cyber-safe-kids.com
nwillard@csriu.org

Cyberbullying and Cyberthreats: Responding to the Challenge of Online Social
Aggression, Threats, and Distress (Research Press)

Cyber-Safe Kids, Cyber-Savvy Teens: Helping Young People Learn to Use the
Internet Safely and Responsibly (Jossey-Bass)

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