Colleagues/ I believe/hope that the recently published front page article will be of interest to those who have considered the use of online social networks for education/instruction/learning/teaching/etc. /Gerry Des Moines Register / February 17, 2009 / A New Tool For Students: Educational Networking / GUNNAR OLSON / Ames, Ia. - Iowa State University sophomore Lauren Egerton can compare notes with fellow education majors or study their flashcards with a few clicks on her computer. She simply goes online to a social networking site geared toward studying, such as StudyBlue or Flashcard Exchange."It's at your convenience. It's on your own time. You don't have to coordinate with anyone else's schedules," said Egerton, 19, of Iowa City. "It's just a smarter way to study." Online social networking, made popular across the country and around the globe in recent years by sites such as MySpace and Facebook, is no longer the exclusive territory of teenage romances and family pictures. "You name it, and it seems as though a niche network has been created, and if it hasn't, it will be in the very near future," said Gerry McKiernan, an ISU librarian who blogs and lectures nationally on the subject. [snip] McKiernan called use of the sites a shift away from the "sage on the stage." "The students themselves are creating a learning community," he said. "In a very real sense, I believe they're reinventing the educational process."More students and faculty in Iowa are using such sites. For example, today there are about 40,000 members of ISU's Facebook group, nearly double the 22,000 members three years ago. And more of them are using such sites as tools for learning, as evidenced by the recent success of StudyBlue.com. [snip] "We really built our tool from the bottom up, with the idea of students growing the tool," company spokesman Ben Jedd said. He said about 5,000 students at Iowa universities use the site. Students at the University of Iowa, one of the company's test locations, are among the site's top 10 users. At Iowa State, the number of users doubled last semester to about 1,000, he said. [more] Links to the article full text and associated web addresses are available at [http://tinyurl.com/bkk7pp ] Enjoy! /Gerry Gerry McKiernan Associate Professor Science and Technology Librarian Iowa State University Library Ames IA 50011 gerrymck@iastate.edu There is Nothing More Powerful Than An Idea Whose Time Has Come / Victor Hugo [ http://www.blogger.com/profile/09093368136660604490 ] Iowa: Where the Tall Corn Flows and the (North)West Wind Blows [ http://alternativeenergyblogs.blogspot.com/ ]