Social+Networking+and+Special+Needs

Social Networking and Special Needs

Group tasks are a tool used by teachers to not only encourage student interaction but to also display how the student seeks information and deals with complex tasks. Group tasks can sometimes prove difficult for children with learning disabilities, generally things such as socialising, concentrating for extended periods of time and understanding the groups topic can be confronting and extremely difficult. When a group task involves the internet most students will use search engines, such as Google, to gather facts and information. //Brynn M Evans// and some of his associates performed a test that was to explore the “outcomes of using social resources to help with exploratory search tasks”. The students were given a task and were limited to using social resources, such as social networking sites and communication with other people. They completed a similar task after which allowed them to use any search engine as long as it wasn’t a social resource. They found that the social condition test resulted in higher information processing from the students and they understood the content at a higher level. In comparison to this the Non-social condition test found a larger depth and range of information, that although may be more correct and more factual it didn’t not show a large understanding by the students. What happens when a concept such as this is applied to a child with a learning disability? The answer should be, nothing at all. Social networking sites and the internet can be very beneficial teaching aids for students with a learning disability. Many students find it easier to communicate with their group over social networking sites. These sites allow them more time to think about what they are going to say, understand the content of the conversation or topic, re-read things that they may not understand first and are also less confronting as the student does not see their group face to face. There are many sites out there such as B//logger, Wikispaces and Blogspot// which allow you as a teacher to incorporate social networking skills into the classroom in a controlled manor that you can supervise closely.

Link to Blogger: [|www.blogger.com] Copyright Google 1999-2011 Link to Blog Spot: [|www.blogspot.com] Copyright Google 1999-2011

Reference list: Brynn M Evans, //Do your friends make you smarter?: an analysis of social strategies in online information seeking,// Information Processing and Management, November 2010.