I think it is a given that young people are going to connect online. All of the research indicates that young people are flocking to the free online communities like facebook at an unprecedented rate. As educators, parents, concerned citizens, the big question for us all is not “should our kids be online in social networks”. This is beginning to be a bit like asking “should our kids be able to mix with others in the playground?” The world of online and offline is really beginning to blur and let’s not forget that our kids are mostly connecting up with people that they know already when they go online. The problem for adults is knowing what they are doing online and whether and how to support them.

I guess a big part of this is knowing what sort of things to support youth doing online. This is the reason for the explosive growth in online communities for anything from horseriding to learning mathematics.

Many schools are beginning to switch onto the fact that they are trying to force their students into a “walled garden” to access learning that is tightly controlled and dictated by the school whilst the students themselves would rather be a part of a wider community of learners.

It will be interesting to observe the conflict that is going to continue to build between trying to get students to spend time in the school created network whilst the students and their parents are being marketed to by increasingly sophisticated and engaging networks of interest outside of the school community.

After all, we all only have so much time to dedicate to any sort of network online or offline.

Do any of you have stories of this conflict arising already in your schools? Who’s to say that they learn more from your closed network than the fascinating and engaging networks that extend across the planet?

Photo: Links http://www.flickr.com/photos/pocphotography/3274242344/