This is a good introductory treatment of Social Constructivism, which sets the stage well for what social networking tools might be able to do for us in education.
Love that the "practical descriptions of constructivist learning" listed in the article
"[C]onstructivist learning should engage students in meaningful learning and ... the critical features
are that the learning should be ...
* Active and manipulative, engaging students in interactions and explorations with learning materials and provid[ing] opportunities for them to observe the results of their manipulations
* Constructive and reflective, enabling students to integrate new ideas with prior knowledge to make meaning and enable learning through reflection
* Intentional, providing opportunities for students to articulate their learning goals and monitor their progress in achieving them
* Authentic, challenging and real-world (or simulated), facilitating better understanding and transfer of learning to new situations
* Cooperative, collaborative, and conversational, providing students with opportunities to interact with each other to clarify and share ideas, to seek assistance, to negotiate problems, and discuss solutions."