School Principals and Social Networking in Education: Practices, Policies, and Realities in 2010

This report was conducted by edWeb.net, IESD, Inc., MMS Education, and MCH Strategic Data. Research was performed during fall of 2009 when an online survey was sent to a cross section of educators across the U.S., followed by an in-depth EDRoom online discussion with 12 principals all of them using social networking in their professional lives.

This are the key findings:

» Most principals who responded to the survey believe that social networking sites can provide value in education because they provide a way for educators to share information and resources with an extended community of educators, create professional learning communities, and improve school-wide communications with students and staff. About half of the surveyed principals felt that social networking is very valuable for these purposes.

» Most of the principals in the discussion group thought that social networking and online collaboration tools would make a substantive change in students' educational experience.

» None of the responding principals in the discussion group had school/district policies in place on social networking that were deemed adequate, suggesting the need for conversations and collaboration on establishing policies that can facilitate appropriate use of social networking in schools for educational purposes.

To get a copy of the study visit edWeb.net or click here.

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