Female Secondary Students' Use of Social Networking As Part of Formal Education: Perspectives and Opportunities

This case study seeks to understand the potential benefits of using the social networking site (SNS) Edmodo by female secondary students studying year 12 chemistry and year nine Chinese at a single sex state school in Melbourne. Discourse analysis of survey and semi-structured focus group questions were aimed at understanding how students perceive the use of social networking in their classes and theorizing how this technology relates to their identity formation as learners. Lave and Wenger's situated learning theory, Bakhtin's dialogic self and Foucault's technology of the self provide a theoretical basis for the study. Although Edmodo may be regarded as the Facebook for education, the ways of being in both spaces do not overlap. These students see themselves as passive participants in the community of practice. They reported their own and others' posts to have limited benefit to understanding concepts in subject areas. This paper concludes with a discussion of pedagogical implications offered to educators seeking to employ social networking in their classrooms.