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Some of the most productive parts of the class were the weekly take-home assignments that asked the students to post comments on their social networking sites while using connected viewing technology

While the students learned a lot from the class assignments, they were initially anxious about letting an instructor into their social network. I felt it was necessary to preserve the anonymity of the students for the study so I wanted to keep their comments about the connected viewing private.

Unfortunately, the only way to ensure this anonymity was to create a “secret” Facebook group. “Secret” Facebook groups are one of three categories of groups that allow members of the social network to collaborate on a project. Though this setting allows all posts and members to remain confidential it also required me, as the creator of the “secret” Facebook group, to “friend” all of my students so that I could then add them to the group.

  38   SOCiaL-NetwOrKiNg SiteS 2001). This difference in ‘lifestyle’ gives educators reason to believe we shouldincorporate SNS usage into our class-related activities, to capture these students’imaginations and t their thought patterns and socializing habits (Godwin-Jones,2008; Winke & Goertler, 2008).However, although technology is an integral part of neomillennial students’lives, they often do not know how to use technology in ways that would benet them in computer-assisted language learning (CALL) (Dieu & Stevens, 2007;Kolaitis, Mahoney, Pomann, & Hubbard, 2006; Winke & Goertler, 2008). Suc - cessful CALL activities, then, often require a substantial training period at theoutset (Jones & Bissoonauth-Bedford, 2008; Kolaitis et al., 2006), and studentsmay be less enthusiastic about a class’s language and culture projects if the formof computer-mediated communication ( CMC) employed is not the type they areaccustomed to using (McBride & Wildner-Bassett, 2008; Thorne, 2003). A usefulresponse may be to craft CALL activities more to the practices that our studentsare familiar with (Winke & Goertler, 2008). SNSs are an obvious possibility to consider, given their tremendous popularity.If we can get our F

we can get our FL students to interact socially on SNSs, then they may beengaged in more authentic social and communicative behavior than typically hap-pens in classrooms, because “instead of merely simulating other modes of interac-tion, technology mediated communication is, in and of itself, the real thing

  40   SOCiaL-NetwOrKiNg SiteS and sites like it, knowing, socially and technically, how to re-use media in thisparticular way has become foundational for communication and creative expres- sion over the Web” (Perkel, 2008, p. 218). We can call this activity of writing/remixing the self through the manipulationof text and media ‘ self-authorship.’ Within the framework of CALL, this term refers to students authoring their own materials which can then serve as the basisfor learning and lessons. Using student-created materials as the center of a lesson ts with a student-centered pedagogy (Dieu, Campbell, & Ammann, 2006). Self-authorship activities can increase interest and time on task, and they put students in a more active role in their own learning process (Kramsch, A’Ness, & Lam,2000; Nikolova, 2002).Students must take an active role in their learning. They cannot simply be handed knowledge from an expert because understanding is the result of a cre- ative process one must work through over time with other people (Bereiter, 2002). Learning

38 percent of 12-year-olds in the United States participate in social networks. And in June 2011, Consumer Reports estimated that about 7.5 million people who use Facebook are younger than 13.

Parents need to understand these technologies so they can relate to their children's online world — and comfortably parent in that world."

Online hobnobbing can enable youngsters to discover opportunities for community service and volunteering "and can help youth shape their sense of identity," the report states.

Remember to give students guidelines on ways they can respond. For example, they should not just say that they agree with what a certain student said. They should be specific and say what they agree with and why. Use specific examples in class of good posts and not-so-good posts.

talk to the other teachers in your school and try to agree on one or two social networking tools you will all use

however, for teachers to regularly monitor the networks, removing inappropriate posts and keeping a dialog open with students about appropriate use of the school social network.