This panel will look at social networking for teacher professional development, for classroom use, and as part of a growing trend toward maturing Web 2.0 technologies that create engaged learning environments. Attendees will gain a better understanding of what social networks are, their pros and cons for use in and out of the classroom, and what practical experiences educators are having using them.

Attendees will have the chance to actively participate in the panel, initially by voting online to give priority to prepared topic points, and then though an on-line chat system to ask questions or comment in real time in addition to a regular Q & A. The panel will reflect the participative nature of Web 2.0 and social networking.

Outline

MySpace is an early example of social networking, but it is not the only or best use of the technology--far from it. Our panel will discuss what social networking software does very well, and how social networks allows new users to come in to a collaborative environment and feel comfortable.

MySpace is actually a very good example of something--how readily users adopt social networks. 120,000 or so new blogs are created every day, which of course seems like a lot. However, 375,000 new people join MySpace a day. The popularity of social networking in education can be seen by the rapid growth of many teacher development networks including Classroom 2.0 (www.classroom20.com), a social network that currently has over 3100 registered users and keeps growing every week. The idea of being able to create your own social network is a pretty new one, and makes a lot of sense for education. There are now a growing number of programs that allow you to create a social network around anything (class, school, even conferences). This is a new trend that will provide creative control for (and confidence in) the social network as an educational tool.

Supporting Research

www.classroom20.com
CREATING & CONNECTING//Research and Guidelines on Online Social — and Educational — Networking, NATIONAL SCHOOL BOARDS ASSOCIATION http://www.nsba.org/site/docs/41400/41340.pdf
Schools and Online Social Networking, By Nancy Willard. http://www.education-world.com/a_issues/issues/issues423.shtml
Don't Tell Your Parents: Schools Embrace MySpace. http://www.wired.com/culture/education/news/2007/04/myspaceforschool
School Library Journal feature on Classroom 2.0 (by me), October 2007: http://www.slj.com/greatapps
Ning! MySpace is dead. Long live social networking. http://education.zdnet.com/?p=1106.

Presenter Background

Moderator: Steve Hargadon
Founder of www.Classroom20.com and www.supportblogging.com; Director of the CoSN K-12 Open Technologies Initiative; blogger on Web 2.0 in education at www.stevehargadon.com; podcast interview series on ed tech at www.EdTechLive.com; chairman of the NECC 2007 Open Source presentations committee; coordinator of the 2007 EduBloggerCon in Atlanta just prior to NECC; coordinator for the last three years of the NECC and CUE Open Source Pavilions; moderator of a similar panel for the 2007 Office 2.0 Conference. Past speaker at previous NECC, CUE, & FETC conferences.

Panelists: (All have agreed to participate; will work with the selection committee to choose final panelists. Will Richardson has indicated he would also like to participate.)

Name: Cyndi Danner-Kuhn
Location: Hays, Kansas
Short Bio: The Learning Commons Director http://www.fhsu.edu/tlc (website is just in beginning development). Assistant Professor, College of Education & Technology, Fort Hays State University http://www.fhsu.edu. Courses taught: Introduction to Instructional Technology, Instructional Technology for Elementary Teachers, Multimedia Applications, HyperMedia/Hypertext Applications, Technology in Society. Author of: Creating Quality Web Pages and Multimedia Projects with eZedia QTI2
I do extensive staff development in school districts, and am fairly obsessed with Steve's Classroom 2.0 and it has become a critical part my technology classes with the undergraduate future teachers as well as in my graduate classes.
Contact Info: cdanner@fhsu.edu; http://cyndidannerkuhn.info; ichat/ AIM: cyndidannerkuhn

Name: Steve Dembo
Location: Chicago Area
Short Bio: Steve Dembo is an authority in the field of new online technologies and pioneer educational podcaster. His blog and podcast, Teach42, has served as the inspiration for hundreds educators to begin their own journey into the Read/Write web. He is passionate about education and works with teachers around the globe in their efforts to explore and integrate new technologies in the classroom. As the Online Community Manager for the Discovery Educator Network, Steve manages the online activities for thousands of Discovery teacher evangelists. The DEN's website, DENcommunity.com, was honored with a 2006 Award of Excellence by Technology and Learning magazine as well as the 2007 Distinguished Achievement Award for Instructional Websites, by the Association of Educational Publishers.
Steve lives in the Chicago area with wife and baby boy, Aiden Lefty Dembo. If you'd like to learn more about Steve, his permanent record is publicly available on Google.
Contact Info: sdembo@gmail.com

Name: Darren Draper
Location: Salt Lake City, UT
Short Bio: Darren Draper currently serves as the Technology Curriculum Specialist for secondary schools within the Jordan School District. As such, he actively and aggressively participates in training teachers to better integrate technology into their teaching practices. He is also the co-founder of the EduBloggerWorld social network, creator of the Pay Attention video presentation, and has been confirmed to be one of the first people to be successfully treated for Twitter addiction.
Contact Info: darren.draper@gmail.com (email) / darrendrapernotthecity (skype) / http://drapestakes.blogspot.com (blog)

Name: Terry Freedman
Location: London, England
Short Bio: Ed tech consultant; experience of working with government agencies and local government at senior level in UK; instigator and editor of Coming of Age: An Introduction to the New Worldwide Web; publisher of the educational technology website.
Contact Info: terry@ictineducation.org

Name: Lucy Gray
Organization: The Center for Urban School Improvement at the University of Chicago
Location: Chicago, IL
Short Bio: Lucy has worked in public, private, and charter schools for the past fifteen years. Currently, she is the Lead Technology Coach at the Center for Urban School Improvement at the University of Chicago. She is responsible for leading technology integration efforts as well as for designing and implementing a technology professional program across four charter school campuses. In 2000, Lucy earned a M.Ed from National Louis University's Technology in Education program and she currently serves as an adjunct faculty member at National Louis. Named an Apple Distinguished Educator in 2005, Lucy spent time traveling throughout Europe with other Apple Computer representatives to create a digital global awareness curriculum in 2006. She is also a Google Certified Teacher and contributes to the Infinite Thinking Machine blog.
Contact Info: lucyg@uchicago.edu, lgray@usi-schools.org, or elemenous@gmail.com; Skype: elemenous / AIM: elemenous; http://elemenous.typepad.com

Name: Jim Klein
Location: Santa Clarita, CA (near L.A.)
Short Bio: Director of Information Services and Technology at Saugus Union School District, where I have been for the last 11 years or so. Some of the projects I have been involved with include k12opentech.org, edtechactionnetwork.org, and elgg.org. Our various technology escapades have been well covered by the media and I present regularly at a variety of state and national conferences on a number of ed tech topics, including open source and social networking.
Contact Info: jklein@saugus.k12.ca.us / 661-294-5300 / http://webapps.saugus.k12.ca.us/community/jklein/weblog

Name: Michael McVey
Location: Saline, MI (near Detroit)
Ed Tech Shows Presenting: Submitted Unconfirmed: NECC, EduCause, and SITE
Short Bio: Formerly Director of Technology at the College of Education at The University of Arizona. Now am an Assistant Professor in Educational Media and Technology Program at Eastern Michigan University. This Spring I'll be teaching a special topcs course called "Virtual Worlds and Social Networking in Education" at the graduate level. I have been giving talks around the state on Arizona on Social Networking and now have decided to take my message on the road. It seems I have some equally excited colleagues with whom I am looking forward to networking.
Contact Info: mmcvey@emich.edu / http://mcvey.wordpress.com