Myspace and education

There are some people who believe that Myspace and other social networking sites can be used effectively in the realms of education. One social networking site that has been specifically designed for educational networking is called Elgg. The idea behind sites like Myspace and Elgg is that students can learn more by interacting with their classmates and contemporaries better through these sites, because they can post blogs, videos, bulletins, have chats, and use other interactive pieces to express their ideas and learn from others. Myspace or any other social networking site could be used in a telecollaborative project. The sites allow their users to post blogs, videos, surveys, pics, and other interesting things that may be important for someone to view who is involved in the project. The sites allow students to display their creativenees as well, but Myspace is not as control friendly for a teacher as a school or subject created blog. The teacher can monitor each student's site, but he/she cannot control what each student is putting on their page. This could create a lot of headaches. The link for Elgg is attached as well as an article from "Wired" about the use of Myspace in school.
http://elgg.net/
http://www.wired.com/culture/education/news/2007/04/myspaceforschool

One of the major negatives I have found about Myspace and students is cyber bullying. Ten to fifteen years ago children may have been bullied by others, but it usually occurred in physical interactions. Now children have to worry about being bullied by other children through emails and through social networking sites like Myspace. Attached is a video about a young lady who committed suicide as a result of being bullied through Myspace. Please check out her story.