Education

Examining Teachers’ Social-Networking Habits

By Katie Ash — November 04, 2009 1 min read
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A new survey conducted by edWeb.net found that 61 percent of educators have joined a social network, and those who have are more likely to participate in other online activities, such as uploading photos, downloading podcasts, and reading blogs. Out of those educators who have joined a social-networking site, 85 percent use Facebook. However, the survey also found that of those who use Facebook, 76 percent report using it “seldom/never.”

Another interesting aspect of the survey found that the educators surveyed expressed an explicit desire to keep personal and professional lives separate on social-networking sites. And although many educators recognized a need to integrate technology, such as social-networking sites, into their teaching, most pointed to time as a constraint to reaching that goal.

Survey results were based on 1,284 responses by teachers, principals, and librarians. It looks like my co-blogger Kathleen Kennedy Manzo wrote about this report in September, when the preliminary results were released. Much of the information is the same, but the recently released report is a little more extensive.

A version of this news article first appeared in the Digital Education blog.