Social networking sites
Absolutely brilliant and completely not at the same time. Social networking sites used in the classroom seems to be a fantastic idea, that is until you get to the part where you're not allowed to use it due to administrative policies. The theory is great. Students can interact with each other in a familiar environment and comment on threads, links, photos, comments, posts, notes, blogs, etc. However, the reality of it is just not very plausible when you have school districts such as the entire state of Texas that simply will not allow you to integrate certain technologies into the classroom, such as social networking sites.
I don't really see the necessity of using a social networking site in the classroom. Students are very familiar with these types of sites, and I think it's best to draw a line between our professional and academic life, and our personal life. When you start mixing the two, bad things happen. A. You start hating your personal life enjoyments because they become forced on you and B. Your personal life can get you into trouble in your academic and professional life. With blogs and wikis available, I believe students will get plenty of interaction on the web through those mediums.
As a future teacher, I will encourage my students to keep their personal life private. I will most definitely encourage interaction as it's a key in learning language and communication, but I don't think I'll do through facebook, myspace, ore any other social networking site.
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