A recent survey of K-12 educators shows that a majority of the respondents (62%) belong to a social networking website and feel that it helps them to share materials and ideas with colleagues. While teaching has generally been a process that happens between the teacher and his/her students, teachers do share ideas, procedures, and strategies with their colleagues.

The social networking sites on the Internet have become an excellent way for educators to share classroom strategies and lesson plans with a larger community of teachers. While a social network is simply a structure made up of individuals who are connected through a common theme, an educator’s social network on the Internet can be made up of teachers, administrators, principals, and other instructional leaders who communicate using tools such as Web 2.0. In addition to sharing lesson plans, they also can utilize the network to create a sense of community that helps to support teachers in their challenging profession.

A coalition of edWeb.net, MCH, and mss/education conducted the survey to find out how many educators are involved with a social network and what the general awareness of social networks are among educators. Their survey goals were to: “Benchmark attitudes, perceptions and utilization of social networking website and content-sharing tools by teachers, principals and school librarians.”

The survey was conducted through the Internet with 70,000 randomly selected educators (teachers, principals, and librarians) who have email. 979 educators responded for a 1.4% response rate (N= 979). Of the respondents, 78% were female, 22% male; 16% were age 18-34, 55% age 35-54, and 45% age 55+.  45% were elementary teachers, 29% were middle school teachers and 33% were high school teachers.  46 states and DC were represented. The surveyors acknowledged some inherent bias since they talked only to educators who have email, but it is assumed that the majority of teachers now have email.

The survey found that 62% of the respondents belong to a social network. Within the educator subgroups, 61% of teachers, 51% of the principals, and 71% of the librarians indicated they are members of a social network.

86% of educators have joined Facebook, 22% have joined MySpace, 13% have joined LinkedIn, and 10% have joined Ning. There are eight education sites that educators belong to, but since the education sites are relatively new, they do not have many members. Respondents who are not members of any social network are still familiar with the concept of social networks and with particular sites such as YouTube and Facebook.

Educators believe that social networks could provide significant value for education. In a survey where 0 = not valuable and 3 = very valuable, educators reacted to statements about the added value through social networking.

Major concerns about social networking include personal privacy, time, email overload, and district policies against accessing social networks. The largest concern was personal privacy and 47% of the teachers were concerned that their district does not allow access to social networking web sites.

Preliminary observations from the initial survey:

·         Educators are definitely joining social networks; Facebook is #1

·         Those who have experienced social networks are believers and supporters

·         Educators indicate a high interest in joining education social networks

·         Primary concerns include district policies, privacy, safety and time

·         Many expressed concerns about keeping their professional and personal lives separate

·         Many expressed the need for professional development and the time to learn how to use these technologies

·         Educators recognize that their students already communicate with these tools and they need to learn how to integrate social networks and content-sharing tools into teaching

A follow up survey, and a final report are available at no charge on the sponsors’ websites.

Educators as Social Networkers

A survey of K-12 educators shows that a majority of the respondents (62%) belong to a social networking website and feel that it helps them to share materials and ideas with colleagues.

A summary of K-12 Educators on Social Networking and Content Sharing tools

Preliminary Findings