Does Facebook Hurt a Student’s Grades?

A recent research by Aryn Karpinski at Ohio State University discovered that students with a Facebook account have lower grades than students who do not. Facebook users averaged 3.0 to 3.5. Those without a Facebook account averaged 3.5 to 4.0. The research does not blame Facebook for the lower grades, and recognizes that there may be some other factors that were not measured. Perhaps students with Facebook accounts are more involved in other social situations that take their attention away from studying.

Let’s step back and think about this for a minute. First, what is wrong with a B or a B+ average? I am sure that many parents would be happy if their son or daughter did that well in college. Second, perhaps there are advantages of having a Facebook account that actually raise a student’s grade, help a student cope with the pressures of college or enlarge a shy student’s social circle.

Now I don’t deny that there is something magnetic, perhaps addicting, about the internet. A quick Google search on internet addiction yield 8,040,000 hit. I don’t know if Internet Addiction is real or not. I do know that there are times when I go to the Internet to get caught up on the latest news or do some quick research that I don’t reappear for a very long time. I get sucked in to following links, watching the latest video, or check the newest deal on Amazon. I also know that the Internet is an incredible and fast resource for information and has aided my research on countless number of occasions.

While I find the Facebook study interesting, I am not ready to cancel my Facebook account quite yet.

What do you think?

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Wikis: There Not Just For Students

After my initial failure with talking with my Principal about creating and using Wikis in conjunction with the ongoing Professional Learning Communities (PLC) with have established at my school, I have quietly spoken to several other teachers in the two PLC I attend. Both of them see their value. So, one of my self-appointed tasks over spring break along with other wikis, blogs, advocacy issues, portfolio, work around the house, and meeting my wife is to set up a simple wiki on PBWiki for my US History PLC. PBWiki is so simple and easy to set up that it is the logical for a short-term experiment. If it success, then I may have Media Wiki (wiki software) installed on the school servers. This initial effort will focus on review for the SOL which will soon be upon us. Since I already have several ways to review already prepared, I will prime the wiki pump with my material. Our SOL testing window is May 18-23,(we can’t believe it is that soon either). After that we have several weeks of “Okay What Do We Do Now”? I will propose that one thing we do is share ideas, lesson plans, and play with the wiki all at the same time.

I will let you know how it goes.