If you haven’t seen the National School Boards Association’s Creating & Connecting: Research and Guideline on Onliline Social – and Educational – Networking, it’s a fast (12 pages) read that might provide your site and/or district administrators with a new perspective on the value of blogs and blogging as a tool for learning.

The attention-grabbing statistic for me was that nearly 60% of online teens and ‘tweens say they use social networking to discuss education-related topics, with 50% stating they actually discuss homework! And I quote:

“ In light of the study findings, school districts may want to consider reexamining their policies and practices and explore ways in which they could use social networking for educational purposes.”

Thank you to SCOE‘s John Fleischman for sharing this report during last week’s K12 HSN meeting.  Discussion of the report findings prompted #1 IT guy Bob Carter to share how his whole understanding of the value of social networking changed during a recent workshop with Alan November. 

Thank you Nat’l School Board.  Thank you Alan November.