Project 4: Questions
Centering in on a research question that is timely, presents new data and could be corporately funded is certainly not an easy task. After some considerable thought, questions, observation and discussion I’ve moved away from my original research questions and thanks to educational interactions within social networks that we have engaged in so far within this course, I’ve turned my attention to those social networks, but started to ask questions about formal education networks that work in a similar fashion.
1) School of thought/theoretical framework
The impact of Internet based communication networks (or social networks) is something I witness and work with everyday as an undergraduate college instructor of student produced media. The combination of communication and technology is at the forefront of what I teach. Effective use of technology as a communication tool means understanding the tools that exist and how students are using them. I am extremely passionate about understanding how best to communicate to students and enjoy the study of their communications habits.
Yet, there seems a trend emerging within social networks such that they are becoming a driving force in educational circles. Meaning, traditional systems of lecture, class discuss, assignment posting and academic achievement is moving out of classroom and into social networks. Or rather, my hypothesis is that it must. While these ideas raise many questions in my mind about the role of social networks in education (focusing on FaceBook and SL). I would like to formulate my research question as a hypothesis and while the wording is still not quite right it might present itself like this: The Educational system must broadly embrace the use of social networks as a teaching tool.
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