Models for the Successful Integration of Social Networking Into the Studies of Digital Native Students

Abstract

In 2001, Marc Prensky described ‘Digital Natives’ as individuals that grew up with technology, never knowing a world without it. He ascribed to these individuals certain characteristics such as speed, nonlinear processing and social learning. Since then, others have built on his work, including the author, who used the concept of the Digital Native to test the use of the Twitter social networking tool in the classroom. However, it was discovered that many students were wary to use the technology and that teachers would not accept it, leading to poor adoption rates. This paper looks at this phenomenon and theorises that for technology to be adopted, it must be connected to a base pedagogical understanding. Using four classic pedagogical models as examples, this paper seeks to identify how social networking could be added to existing pedagogy to supplement it, rather than subsume it. It then draws general conclusions about the aspects of social networking that could be best embedded into any pedagogical framework.