Educational social networking comes to Samo

Samo teachers have started to use social websites to teach and communicate with their students more efficiently.According to S-House Principal Jason Kurtenbach, the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District (SMMUSD) recently started using a website called My Big Campus, which is designed in a similar model to Facebook.“My Big Campus is a web-based program that allows teachers to really build an online classroom for students to access; they can post videos, homework assignments, quizzes and tests,” Kurtenbach said.According to Kurtenbach, My Big Campus gives teachers the ability to create an online environment free from cyber-bullying. In addition, the platform enables teachers to easily share lesson plans with each other. My Big Campus also gives students the opportunity to work on group projects online.“From a teacher’s perspective [My Big Campus] has multiple functions,” English teacher Maria Stevens said. "There is a place for you to ask questions and answer questions, like a discussion board. There are also bundles which are essentially little lesson plans that you can access and change if you need."Science teacher Kate Song uses a similar website, Edmodo, to post assignments and hold discussions with students. Song and Stevens said that both of these programs work well to keep students engaged and connected with their teachers and fellow students.According to Kurtenbach,  if the entire school were to adopt educational social networking websites such as My Big Campus and Edmodo, it could pose significant challenges. Stevens said it would be difficult for students with limited computer access to access the website.“I think one of the biggest set backs is that we might not have the technological infrastructure if, in fact, everyone started using it,” Stevens said.In addition, according to Kurtenbach, many teachers are either not technologically savvy or have trouble learning how to use these online programs.However, AP Biology student Ella Sinfield said that, from a student perspective, social networking could help increase student communication with teachers.“If you had all of the teachers at the school on one website, it would be really unifying,” Sinfield said.ewergeles@thesamohi.com