Adding a School Link

Through Bebo, once a member you are able to join to your school/college link. This is a feature that helps to communicate with friends you went to school with as you simply add a link to your school. Once the school 'moderators' have accepted your link request you are able to search through that school website to see other members who also went to that school and information about the school.
In order to do this you need a valid email address for the college. Most have one. After registering with Bebo click on the Home tab then next to Colleges / Schools click "Join Yours ". On the next page choose your country then your college. To join, click 'join now'. That is how simple it is and it can be used as a great communication tool. It creates a community of learning directly involving the school you attend or the school you have attended in the past.

You can also use Bebo without registering your school or college.

However, if you do register your school or college on Bebo then you can view other students or Alumni from your own educational establishment. You can also join clubs, will have direct access to school forums and photos, create your own brick on The Wall and the whole exciting world of Bebo will spread before you like a magical thing of wondrous beauty.
This is a also a great way of communicating about learning and because most schools are on the network, almost everyone is able to join to the school of their own.

Social Networks

Other Social Networks are Dead..
I was explaining how, sitting here today, it is difficult to see why anyone would want to sign up to a social network that isn’t Facebook.

While MySpace used to be the market leader, it was always far too annoying and buggy to remain on the radar for long. Every time I visit MySpace I just get bombarded with spam. Most friend requests are either from awful bands, fake people or are just plain spam. Visiting MySpace is like wading through a thick, stinking swamp. With pink glittery things in it.
By contrast, I don’t recall ever seeing a single piece of spam on Facebook. Not even a spammy friends request.

As for Bebo, at least you can say they are not just burying their heads in the sand. I never really saw what Bebo had going for it, apart from being slightly less worse than MySpace. But that’s not saying much. They have recently launched a minor redesign, which looks like a desperate attempt to be perceived as Web 2.0.

But Bebo is a pretty tired site now. As I said above, many of the site’s features are now watered-down copies of other websites. Take the "sayings" feature, a recent feature which is a copy of Twitter in every way. Except the Bebo version does not link to your mobile phone, and is generally a bit rubbish.

I guess the “me too” thing is quite clever, but I think it says something about Bebo users if they can’t even think up an original thought. And what is with those Skittles emoticons? Why? They seem immensely popular as well.

My biggest beef with Bebo is the fact that you can’t post a link on your profile. That is the stupidest thing ever. Is not the WWW supposed to be all about links? Even worse, when you just type in a URL, Bebo puts spaces in it to prevent the text from spilling over the narrow columns — so these URLs become broken because of Bebo.

But despite all of these niggles, I don’t think Bebo is in any immediate danger of going south à la MySpace. Bebo attracts a different audience to Facebook. You get a lot more young people there, which you might be able to tell if you clicked the link to the popular sayings above. They won’t be tempted by Facebook at the moment. But what about when they grow up?…

This is a view from a woman who thinks that facebook is the best way to communicate on a social networking website. Because this is only an opinion we cannot judge what she comments as a true statement. However, she does indicate that bebo is more relevent to a younger audience and facebook attracts a more older audience. This I believe is true. Because lots of young people are creating a bebo site of their own, they are developing the skills needed to communicate as a means of learning. That is why I believe that enhancing a bebo network in the classroom will be of great interest to most, if not all children in the class and will work well to attract a more updated, relevent learning system.

I also found another interesting blog that talks about what happens when you want to go for a job but the employers are able to search your name and locate any blogs you have developed. This creates a tension where people have to make sure they are careful with what they write in their blogs.

Blogs and Job Hunting...
There is a bit of a fear about employers discovering your blog. I guess that is a bit old-fashioned now. More salient is the issue of MySpace, Facebook and bebo accounts being discovered. Blogs must seem relatively benign compared to some MySpace profiles.

Nevertheless, there is still a bit of a dilemma. What do you do if you are a blogger who is hunting for a job? I am getting to the stage where I am starting to think seriously about this issue. By this time next year I am supposed to have graduated and be doing a proper job. I now have to contend with the fact that large swathes of my personal life and opinions are out there in the open.

I’m not upset or angry about that. I was always aware that it would be the case. But it’s an interesting problem to tackle. It is pretty much accepted that nowadays employers will Google job candidates as a basic check.

True, you could blog anonymously. But I let that cat out of the bag years ago. Anyone searching for my name will find my website, this blog and my accounts for Bebo, Jaiku and Twitter — all on the first page of results.

Thankfully, while the general advice to blogging workers a few years ago was to keep it under your hat, nowadays I am seeing more and more people saying that having a blog is actually a boost to your career prospects. I am still not entirely convinced. Sitting in a Web 2.0 bubble, it is easy to say that blogging is great. But in my day-to-day life I still feel as though blogging is something that many people scoff at.

Although all this is true, it is dependent on some things. For instance, I have a personal bebo site of my own however, because I chose to make it a private profile, other people are not able to access my site unless I accept them as a friend. So in this case the public and people perhaps wanting to employ me cannot access my blogging network.

It is totally dependent on the safety circumstances of the social networking site you wish to use for your personal blogging network. I am quite a safety conscience person so I ensure that only people who I accept can access my information.

So why do children enjoy this type of communicating/learning?

Social Networking Websites – Bebo, Myspace, Friendster etc.
Social networking websites are a massive online phenomenon. Writing on the 27th March 2006, MySpace is the fifth most popular website in the world according to Alexa Web Information Service. Bebo, another social networking website, claims to have half a million Irish users. The Sunday Independent recently claimed it was the most popular website in Ireland. Visits to either of these sites would leave you scratching your head wondering how a seemingly amateurish collection of random pictures and misspelled blogs could have sprung from nowhere to be the hottest thing on the web.

The common denominator of both sites is the profile of the users; they are mostly secondary school and college students. By offering a combination of web hosting, e-mail, picture sharing, messaging, and internet telephony services these sites have struck a chord with a whole new generation of web users.

What is social networking?
Social networking websites were originally set up in the late 1990s to enable friends to stay in touch with each other. In 2003 Friendster was launched and soon became the most successful website at using the ‘Circle of Friends’ technique for connecting people.
“ MySpace is the fifth most popular website in the world .”

Google has its own social network called Orkut, which was launched in 2004 and in 2005 Yahoo launched Yahoo 360, it’s social networking offering. The popularity of these sites rapidly grew, and in 2005 MySpace was purchased by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp for $580 Million.

Social networking sites develop from an initial set of members who send out messages inviting their friends to join the site. New members repeat the process, growing the total number of members and links in the network. The value of the network for members is exponentially linked to the number of people in the network.

Social networking sites offer features such as automatic address book updates, viewable profiles, the ability to form new links through "introduction services," and other forms of online social connections. These networks tend to be organized around shared common interests. MySpace, for example, builds on independent music and party scenes, and Tribe.net is organised around geographical location.

Bebo, is an online community where friends can post pictures, write blogs and send messages to one another. Each member has their own personal page, on which they can tell the world about their likes and dislikes, their favourite films and music and post up photos of their lives. Bebo links people together through the schools and colleges. This is significant in Ireland because Bebo has an extensive database of Irish schools and colleges that users can join.

What are some of things young people are doing on these sites?

1. Creating profiles:
Once they are registered with the website, users post a profile of themselves which can be read by others online. The goal is to look cool and to be acknowledged by their peers as being cool. The number of page views on a users profile is a proxy indicator of how popular they are. For users the more views the better.

2. Adding links to their friends profiles:

The next step is to invite their existing contacts to join their profile. They are usually invited from their existing e-mail and messenger contact lists.

3. Creating their own blogs and posting comments on other people’s profiles:
An explicit reaction to their online presence offers valuable feedback to teenagers as they strive to create their identity. Comments are also a sign of affection and affiliation. There is a definite social etiquette at play; comments are expected to be reciprocated.

4. Sharing photos
Why do teenagers do this?Many teens are using social networking sites everyday; it’s just another part of their life. They are natural born multi-taskers and can be surfing social networking sites while doing their homework, downloading music, or chatting on Instant Messenger. They want to be with their friends in a space that isn’t contaminated by adults and because of the constraints imposed on them; they rarely get the opportunity to do this outside their virtual environment.

According to Conor Galvin (Lecturer in Education University College Dublin ), the simple answer is because they like it, and they can. Bebo becomes a personalised space where they can present themeselves in a way that they control. And as Danah Boyd – one of the world’s leading authorities on social networking software – recently observed: “Most of their [teenagers] space is controlled space. Adults with authority control the home, the school, and most activity spaces. Teens are told where to be, what to do and how to do it. Because teens feel a lack of control at home, many don't see it as their private space.

“To them, private space is youth space and it is primarily found in the interstices of controlled space. These are the places where youth gather to hang out amongst friends and make public or controlled spaces their own. Bedrooms with closed doors, for example… By going virtual, digital technologies allow youth to (re)create private and public youth space while physically in controlled spaces.”

In short, places like Bebo allow young people to experiment in reasonable safety with versions of who they are. They try out various presentations of themselves, get feedback from friends and peers and work on ideas about 'cool' fashion and language all to better represent the person they want to be.

There are potential risks to using social networking sites, most young people are aware of that these risks exist and yet they still come in their thousands to these sites. For them the benefits far outweigh the risks.

Communicative Tools...

Tiffany said...

Blogging is developing a world of communication in and out of school environments. Because you are able to access blogging systems whether you are at home or at school it has the potential to be an incredibly useful communication tool. Already this is what we are seeing through bebo. Blogging is beginning to develop in schools, where teachers have known for a long time that students develop better communication skills when they are authentically communicating. A number of educators are helping their students developing their writing skills by having them publish their work as blogs, and then invite comments from people in the outside. In a setting where expression, collaboration, peer support, successful class dynamics, risk taking, sharing and all these recognised characteristics of effective learning are fostered, then personal publishing allows for a revolutionary form of expression and exploration between learners in the same class and the rest of the world. (Smith, 2004).

By using blogging as a means of communication in the classroom it can also be used as an assessment where children are writing for a purpose rather than a passion. However, by its very nature, assigned blogging in schools cannot be blogging. It’s contrived. No matter how much we want to spout off about the wonders of audience and readership, students who are asked to blog are blogging for an audience of one, the teacher. Wrede’s (2004), also comments on his perception of blogging as a means of assessment. "I try my best to pretend it’s not so, and maybe on the elementary level where kids are less focused on playing the grade game this may not be as true. But my students drop blogging like wet cement when the class is over. And it’s because I can’t let them blog in the first place. I can let them write about their passions, but I can’t let them do it passionately due to the inherent censorship that a high school served Weblog carries with it. I can tell them the process will strengthen their writing and their intellect, but I can’t tell them I won’t assess it or else they won’t do it." From my own personal experience this is certainly true. If something is not being assessed, it carries with it a means to not try and not put effort in if it's worthless anyway, even if you know it helps to develop important skills. This can be a negative influence of blogging in the classroom, whether using a system such as bebo or not. Children will not put effort in unless they know it is being assessed, this is more so with older children.

I also found this neat positive quote about blogging by Smith (2004). When I read this I felt it had impact as it states precisely the link between writing and blogging. Something to think about anyway:
"Writing stops, blogging continues. Writing is inside, blogging is outside. Writing is monologue, blogging is conversation. Writing is thesis, blogging is synthesis…"

October 21, 2007 5:38 PM

Positive/Negative??

Tiffany said...

Is blogging always positive in the classroom??

October 21, 2007 5:36 PM

Blogs...

Tiffany said...

Blogs are used worldwide to create communication of a common interest. It is becoming more and more popular, especially in young people as they develop the skills to communicate in this way. It is very relevant to young age groups and this is partly because of sites such as bebo that are set up to create a community of learners and friendships where children are able to comment on blogs. Through education however, it is only just starting to take on this blogging aspect and we are beginning to see this tool being used in the classroom.

Blogging is now being used for children to post work on the web for classmates, teachers, the wider school, and the world to access. This makes the process of learning and work easier to access, and saves on resources. Many schools are also taking advantage of blogging to keep a link open between the home and school. Often students will not inform their parents about what is happening in the school so therefore this blogging allows for parents to access the site at any time.

An example I found on the internet is a set up classroom blogging system where children can leave a comment if they wish. For example in Mrs. Kreul's Class Blog, (http://marykreul.teacherhosting.com/blog/) they have a communication system about such things as recommended books to read that students ahve come across. This way they can recommend books to other students in their own time and children can choose to read them or not. I believe it is a great way to share ideas.

On bebo, you are able to set up blogs about whatever you wish such as..memories where your friends and family are able to write down their memories about you and these comments are open to any other users accessible to your bebo site.

Because children are mostly aware and have developed the skills to use a blogging system it is something that can be very successul in the classroom if used well. The teacher must also have the skills to be aware of what's going on and update and check as an ongoing communication system.

October 18, 2007 3:22 AM

Using bebo as a community of learning to enhance mathematics programmes: An example of classroom use/learning

Tiffany said...

The typical BEBO user is a digital native, comfortable and happy in exchanging all kinds of social information across the Internet. Given the recent controversy about mathematics in the Leaving Certificate, UL have recruited 3 Leaving Certificate students and a PhD student to explore extending the social learning dimension of BEBO into productive learning particularly in the field of mathematics. The project is in its infancy but we intend to use topic maps and a specialist software Smartdraw with whom we are in discussion to amend their product to make it amenable to the BEBO environment.

Our attitude is rather than banning the use of BEBO we want to experiment as to how this phenomenon can be integrated into the teaching and learning environment.


WHY?
Research supports the contention that we need to get inside the head of our learners and try and understand how they learn and what motivates them to learn. By setting up peer support communities it allows the students to communicate with one another about difficulties they are experiencing and in turn receive information and guidance towards finding a solution to their problem. The majority of teenagers are digital native, are avid users of the Internet and of Bebo and it forms a huge part of their daily social network. By taking the concept of Bebo a step further it will allow students to use it as a means of learning and for developing and collaborating their understanding of mathematical topics.


WHAT?
We are setting up online peer support learning community for mathematics, through the medium of Bebo. We choose Bebo as it currently has a social network of over 11,000 members, the majority of whom are below the age of twenty. By setting up this community it will allow students to discuss any problems they may be experiencing with mathematics and to receive feedback and support from other members in the community. If a student has experienced a similar problem they can share this experience and suggest possible solutions. Also we are trying to collaborate the students’ knowledge of mathematics and develop their understanding. Due to the nature of the points system many students are relying on rote learning and procedural knowledge for examinations and lack a deeper understanding of mathematics and its applications. Students can collaborate their understanding through the development of topic maps. These topic maps allow students to make connections within maths topics and between these topics. Students will be encouraged to develop their own topic maps and to share these with the other members of the communities.


HOW?
We are working with a software company who have developed a package containing templates for the topic maps. Students will have free access to this software. The topic maps can then be imported into Bebo for others in the community to access and discuss. Through Bebo students can create a blog for discussing mathematical problems and receive instant feedback from other members in the community. Also a glossary of mathematical terms and symbols has been set up and will be expanded as topics are discussed. Prizes will be given for innovative ideas and solutions to problems discussed.


-http://www.ul.ie/erc/bebo/index.html


Bebo is a social system that children work well with as they understand how to communicate to others effectively. By creating this mathematics link to learning through bebo it will give children the opportunity to express themselves, ask questions and clarify their own understanding through a system that they feel comfortable with and able to operate at their own will.

I think this idea is a real attribute to the learning of children and also to bebo as it is a step up and a new feature of bebo with a great purpose. This is an example of the way bebo can influence teaching and learning in the classroom. Because bebo is so relative to children and their lives it will work well as a learning tool through other subjects also. It creates a social network and community of learning that is generally positive. Alternatively, this type of community of learning can be seen as not so useful for children to use as they may not disucss the subject as such but move off topic.

I personally believe it is certainly a positive aspect as stated above. I strongly believe that I.C.T. through the use of such social networking as bebo can strengthen children's learning. It can be used as a community of learning by bringing in subject school content rather than for just personal use.