Interaction

Towards the end of her article (None of this is real), Danah Boyd emphasized that “digital networks will never merely map the social, but inevitably develop their own dynamics through which they become the social”. I wonder if this sentence would still make sense if we replaced the word networks with learning environments and social with classroom… Let’s try: “digital learning environments will never merely map the classroom, but inevitably develop their own dynamics through which they become the classroom”...

Social Networking Sites (SNSs) adopted flat structures which created new issues in managing and negotiating social relations and thus people had to come up with new strategies. Digital classrooms have also created issues of their own and strategies adopted in the traditional classroom may not be adequate to these new learning environments. So once again, it seems like both teachers and their students will have to come up with new strategies. Are individuals ready to come up and adopt new educational strategies? I’m planning to take my first online course next semester and hence I’m looking forward to the experience.

In their article (The benefits of Facebook “friends”), Ellison, Steinfield and Lampe introduced three measures of social capital: Bridging, bonding and maintained social capital. Had I been part of their experiment, I most probably would have matched their results pretty closely. I “bond” with my close friends by sharing pictures and sending messages, I “maintain” acquaintances from high school and my undergraduate years and I “bridge” with people I briefly meet in face-to-face settings. It seems like it’s becoming more and more common to add people that you’ve just met to your Facebook profile. I feel like the question “are you on Facebook” is becoming part of the general set of questions that people ask when first meeting someone. Would the same be true if the first meeting occurred in a virtual classroom? This would then allow students to interact outside the virtual classroom and probably enhance their learning experience online.