Social Networking as an Educational Tool

The popularity of social software led educators to think that this practice can be used for educational purposes. Social networks’ influence on transforming teaching methods remains to be seen. Instead of this all-or-nothing approach, it would be a good idea to think of social software as just another tool, use it creatively and keep an open mind that using social software could be beneficial in education. Social software is part of the technologies collectively referred to as Web 2.0 Web 2.0 represents the idea of users creating new content on the web, which is connected through hyperlinks to the existing content, Web 2.0 has three distinct characteristics which separate it from the social forms of interaction that existed prior. The first defining characteristic of web 2.0 is that users have profiles that can be used to identify them as a person or a persona. The second one is that participants can list others as friends or some equivalent which is displayed in all participants’ profiles for other people to see. This creates a “social network” of people. The third characteristic of web 2.0 is that participants can leave public comments on each other’s profiles which create a space where an individual’s own expression is combined with other people’s ideas about her or him. User-generated content has obvious benefits. Users are actively engaged in the construction of their experience. They can refresh content without expert input. They can also employ new tools that support collaborative work and learn skills required to work in teams. Some of the most common user-generated content sources today are blogs, podcasts, and video games Another way to look at user-generated content would be to see it as a network, in the meaning that it is used in today’s society, where life is lived in and through networks. The proper use of Web 2.0 technologies can help students gain the skills necessary to navigate in today’s society as opposed to current system where the focus is on individualised acquisition of content and skills. Blogs, wikis, and similar social networks provide learners training grounds for thinking about concepts, testing their knowledge, and seeing how their mental images measure against diverse input. According to the user-created online content critics, the move to Web 2.0 learning does not meet the quality requirement in higher education. They refer to the web having mostly unfiltered, unauthenticated information. Without the guidance of an authority figure and proper expertise, students cannot navigate through the mostly unreliable mass of information Many studies have been conducted due to the assumption that students born into the digital age and growing up in this age need a different form of education. If we look at the data of Oblinger's study on Millennials, learning characteristics; being prone to multitask, learning more easily with pictures and sounds etc. and preferring to be in interactive works can be mentioned. However, these features cause disadvantages such as short attention spans and poor text literacy. Technology is actively used by academics, researchers, etc., as well as those born into the age of technology. Literature is now mostly online. In fact, in most scientific disciplines, printed resources are already outdated. Unlike Web 1.0's contributions, Web 2.0 provides many advantages such as real interaction and collaboration opportunities. Also "Knowledge is created, shared, remixed, repurposed and passed along. In short web2.0 is a research network as well as a learning network. Contrary to the argument that printed books are completely unnecessary, the combination of the two is advocated. Another question is how the use of technology changes learners. In this regard, people are divided into two categories. Digital natives, people who are familiar with everything digital; and digital immigrants, people who later adapt to things that are digital. Already, according to Prensky, "… today's students think and process information fundamentally differently from their predecessors. ''Providing diversity in types of resources, assessments, communication tools, and learning activities not only creates greater flexibility for all learners  to customize their learning but also provides a self-reinforcing learning environment for creativity and innovation ''Johnson and Johnson cite many studies on the consequences of collaborative learning that lead to higher success rates. The student-centered course means that the student also has control over learning. This allows the student to both follow their own learning and learn freely. There are many ways that the student can gain this control. In addition, in the student generated content, students not only find the content but also create it, which changes the role of the teacher. The teacher's role changes from deliverer of knowledge to facilitator of online interaction so they are supposed to let students to participate in creation of the content.Constructivist approach, which is thought to be quite compatible with the use of Web 2.0, argues that learning is the process of building, not the process of acquiring knowledge. Using web 2.0, students not only acquire knowledge, but also contribute to the content by using the materials actively and interactively. However, some educators are looking beyond constructivism and associating it with web 1.0 thinking. Constructivism enables students to be active in the learning process in order to direct them to their own learning and to prepare them for lifelong learning. In a networked world where the kind of knowledge we acquire is worth exploring, the need to evaluate the value of learning something is a meta skill that is practiced before learning. Stating that the ability to synthesize and recognize connections and patterns is a valuable skill, Siemens posits a theory called connectivism. According to the principles of connectivism, learning, the process of connecting specialized nodes or sources of information, is based on a variety of ideas. The capacity to know more is more critical than is currently known. It is necessary to nurture and maintain connections to facilitate continuous learning. Accurate, up-to-date information is the goal of all connective learning activities. Connectivism sees choosing what to learn and the meaning of the incoming information from a changing perspective of reality. Connectivism provides a learning model that reflects a society where learning is not an individual activity. It argues that using new tools will change the way people learn and work. Connectivism is the theoretical basis for the learning skills and tasks required for students to thrive in the digital age. Learning Design argues that lesson design should not focus on content, instead it should focus on designing activities that help learning through interaction with resources, people, and ideas. Learning designs help course designers to easily identify the essence of a design or learning sequence and apply it to their curriculum areas, guide the process of creating activities and highlight policy and technology consequences. There is a slight transition in the learning outcomes that focuses on the process rather than the content. With this transition, learning outcomes have also become the driving force of a course's assessment strategy. A good assessment should reflect the desired learning outcomes most closely and the evaluation process should have a direct beneficial effect on the learning process. The teacher’s being aware of the expected results and being clear about the criteria he will use to assess whether these results are achieved gives the student more control and makes this assessment a good learning experience for the student. Why is another book needed? Because the evidence from the literature on the use of new technologies in education shows that educators find new technology such as computer-based learning, video conferencing, or computer conferencing appropriate, but use them to reflect existing practices rather than take advantage of their real income. It is argued that this gap between the potential of technologies and the reality of actual use is due to a series of interrelated problems, such as the inability to understand how to use the tools, lack of proper guidance during the course design phase, and the inadequacy of the tools. As emphasized by the issues affecting Web 2.0 course design, the better the design of the teaching strategy used by educators, the better the tool used. In Web 2.0 applications, the main focus is on collaboration and active participation, not control and coercion. The important thing is to create, share and interact together. This gives us an important insight into how to design educational uses for these apps and services. Reflecting the powerful ideas behind tools and services that have a lot of potential for education, Web 2.0 is actually more than a set of tools and services.