I joined the American Society for Training and Development (ASTD) group. I joined this group because the focus of my coursework and education is education in the workplace, training and developemt, performance technology, etc. I felt that it would be beneficial to receive information and be able to network with others from this agency. I think the appeal of networking tools like Diigo is that they provide an easy, cost effective environment for professionals, students, teachers, etc. to meet and discuss their profession or field of study. Without networking tools like this, it would be hard for these professionals to all be in one place together.
If used in a classroom, networking websites could positively affect teaching and learning by providing a new avenue for information sharing. Also, students and teachers could link to each other, and receive and share the same information from outside sources like journals, professional societies, etc. Networking websites can negatively affect teaching and learning by removing the interpersonal aspect that the classroom provides. Students and teachers in distance learning courses rarely meet with one another, or experience the interaction that only a classroom can provide.
Most of the time I spend on networking sites is spent on sites like Facebook or Twitter for the purpose of interacting with friends, family, and co-workers. The benefit is that I can easily communicate with people close to me, or people that I may not have seen for an extended period of time. The drawback is that it may be a waste of time, or a distraction from more important things. Also, it seems as facebook, text messaging, blogging, and email have become more prevelant in our soceity, the level of actual social interaction in conversation, phone calls, etc. has decreased.
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