Joining the Community

Today's question to my kids was pretty straight forward: "Do you see potential for our Google+ community to become a relevant part of your online landscape?"  And some of the reaction was also pretty straight forward: "Hell no."  OK, they were slightly more diplomatic and not quite so profane.  But a few of the students lodged some pretty forceful negative reactions.  But let me back up.

Our school is exploring the potential for our district to go 1:1, and the teachers in the digital pilot decided it was important to have an online space where the students and we could register our opinions, ask questions, and make recommendations about technology in the classroom.  Because our district has already made a heavy investment in Google's suite of education apps, creating a Google+ community was a no-brainer. 

A day after the students created their profiles and joined the "community," I wondered exactly what that word meant to them and if they saw the relevance of our fledgling group. We started with a discussion about the word "community" in general.  According to them, it is usually naturally occurring, but not always; it provides a sense of belonging; it typically has a common goal; it is collaborative; and it is usually meaningful for its members.

Now, back to the beginning.  

       Me: "Do you see potential for our Google+ community?"

  One student: "Actually, I hate it.  I don't know any of the students on it. Why would I want to share with kids I don't know?"

       Another student: "I see potential for conflicts and confrontations."

       And another: "I just don't get the purpose.  Why would I go there?"

Of course, these points of view in no way represent the perspectives of all the students.  There were some students who immediately nailed down the point that a "community" like this can be incredibly beneficial because not only will it foster collaboration, but this collaboration can occur with people you might not know, even though they go to the same school.  

So here's my take-away from this discussion: it brought into focus the way a lot of them see social media as strictly a social outlet.  When I dug a little deeper, the most vocal critics were basing their judgments on their experience with a limited range of social media that they use for a limited range of purposes, i.e. Facebook to stay social.  While I am talking about a small sample, my gut feeling is that most teens regard social media in the same way.  And this is an important reason why they cannot be left on their own to understand how to harness these tools.  The fact that there are many uses for social media is not something they intuitively know simply because they are young.  They need our help to understand this and to make the most of the technology that will have such a great impact on their futures, regardless of what they decide to do or be.