In blogs and social networking services (SNS), people interested in the topics being discussed gather to engage in active exchanges of opinions and information (though it is also a fact that many are just lurkers). I believe many people consider their use in education by focusing on the interactions that take place there.

As I have written about on this blog, when using social software for educational purposes, one must consider the objective. This is something that must be considered first when using ICT in education, but when it comes to trendy things, it is easy to lose sight of this point.

Blogs and SNS are often used in informal settings. There is communication and information that exists precisely because it is an informal setting. When using such tools for educational purposes, it is naturally necessary to devise ways to encourage active use without making it feel like learning, but there is one more hurdle to overcome even after that. Depending on the learning goals of the learning taking place on blogs or SNS, a mechanism is needed to provide value and awareness regarding the communication exchanged in that space.

It is the same with mobile phones; even if you give students software for mobile phones, they might try it out a little at first, but they will almost never use it for continuous learning. As I have written before, just giving them the tools is not enough. I think the same applies to SNS and blogs. As was discussed at the symposium of the Japan Society for Educational Technology the other day, modules for actively using SNS based on the SNS itself are important.

It is said that when used within a company, blogs and SNS are sometimes used not only for information sharing but also to have employees raise issues regarding the company’s organization. When used within a company, simply having employees communicate with each other is insufficient; the process of extracting important information from the communication that takes place between employees becomes important. It was concluded that social software alone is insufficient. I believe the same can be said for educational settings such as universities.