creating connecting//research and guidelines on online

CREATING & CONNECTING//Research and Guidelines on Online Social — and Educational — Networking

NATIONAL SCHOOL BOARDS ASSOCIATION

CONTENTS �Online social networkingis now so deeply embedded in thelifestyles of tweens and teens thatit rivals television for their atten-tion, according to a new studyfrom Grunwald Associates LLCconducted in cooperation withthe National School BoardsAssociation.

Nine- to 17-year-olds reportspending almost as much timeusing social networking servicesand Web sites as they spendwatching television. Among teens,that amounts to about 9 hours aweek on social networking activi-ties, compared to about 10 hoursa week watching TV.

Students are hardly passivecouch potatoes online. Beyondbasic communications, many stu-dents engage in highly creativeactivities on social networkingsites — and a sizeable proportionof them are adventurous noncon-formists who set the pace for theirpeers.

Overall, an astonishing 96 per-cent of students with online accessreport that they have ever usedany social networking technolo-gies, such as chatting, text messag-

July 2007

Creating & Connecting//The Positives . . . . . . . . Page 1

Creating & Connecting//The Gaps . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 4

Creating & Connecting//Expectations and Interests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 7

Striking a Balance//Guidance and Recommendationsfor School Board Members . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 8

About the Study

This study was made possible with generous supportfrom Microsoft, News Corporation and Verizon.

The study was comprised of three surveys: anonline survey of 1,277 nine- to 17-year-old students,an online survey of 1,039 parents and telephone inter-views with 250 school district leaders who make deci-sions on Internet policy. Grunwald Associates LLC, anindependent research and consulting firm that hasconducted highly respected surveys on educator andfamily technology use since 1995, formulated anddirected the study. Hypothesis Group managed thefield research. Tom de Boor and Li Kramer Halpern ofGrunwald Associates LLC provided guidance through-out the study and led the analysis.

A more detailed market research report based onthis survey, including findings of interest to industry,is available commercially from Grunwald Associates(www.grunwald.com).

Creating & Connecting page 1

59% Percentage ofonline students who say theytalk about any education-related topics, includingcollege or college planning;learning outside of school;news; careers or jobs; politics,ideas, religion or morals; andschoolwork

50% Percentage ofonline students who say theytalk specifically aboutschoolwork

ing, blogging and visiting onlinecommunities, such as Facebook,MySpace and services designedspecifically for younger children,such as Webkins and the chat sec-tions of Nick.com. Eighty-onepercent say they have visited asocial networking Web site withinthe past three months and 71 per-cent say they use social network-ing tools at least weekly.

Further, students report thatone of the most common topicsof conversation on the social networking scene is education.Almost 60 percent of studentswho use social networking talkabout education topics online and,surprisingly, more than 50 percenttalk specifically about schoolwork.

Yet the vast majority of schooldistricts have stringent rulesagainst nearly all forms of socialnetworking during the school day— even though students and par-ents report few problem behaviorsonline. Indeed, both district lead-ers and parents believe that socialnetworking could play a positiverole in students’ lives and theyrecognize opportunities for usingit in education — at a time whenteachers now routinely assign

homework that requires Internetuse to complete. In light of thestudy findings, school districtsmay want to consider reexamin-ing their policies and practicesand explore ways in which theycould use social networking foreducational purposes.

Creating &Connecting// The Positives

There has been explosive growthin creative and authoring activi-ties by students on social net-working sites in recent years.With words, music, photos andvideos, students are expressingthemselves by creating, manipu-lating and sharing content online.This is how they’re spending time:

Posting messages. More than onein five online students (21 per-cent) say they post comments onmessage boards every day; fourout of 10 (41 percent) say they do so at least once a week. In2002, only 7 percent posted dailyand only 17 percent did so at least once a week, according to a similar Grunwald Associates LLCsurvey.

59%

50%

Source: Grunwald Associates LLC

A Hot Topic of Social Networking: Education

Sharing music. Nearly a third (32percent) of online students saythey download music or audiothat other users uploaded at leastonce a week, or upload third-party music or audio themselves(29 percent). More than one in 10(12 percent) say they uploadmusic or podcasts of their owncreation at least weekly.

Sharing videos. Nearly a third (30percent) of online students saythey download and view videosuploaded by other users at leastonce a week. Almost one in 10 (9percent) say they upload videos oftheir own creation at least weekly.Overall, more than one in fiveonline students (22 percent) saythey have uploaded videos theycreated at some point.

Sharing photos. Nearly one infour (24 percent) of online stu-dents say they post photos or art-work created by others at leastonce a week. More than one infive (22 percent) say they postphotos or artwork of their owncreation at least that often. In2002, only 12 percent said they“exchange pictures with friends”

once a week or more. Overall,nearly half (49 percent) say theyhave uploaded photos or artworkat some point.

Site-building. More than one in10 online students (12 percent)say they update their personalWeb site or online profiles everyday; one in four (25 percent) doso at least weekly. In 2002, only 12percent of tweens and teens evenhad a personal Web site or onlineprofile.

Blogging. More than one in six(17 percent) of online studentssay they add to blogs they’ve cre-ated at least weekly; 30 percent ofstudents have their own blogs. In2002, blogs were a negligible blipon the online scene for students.

Creating content. In 2002, onlyabout one in seven students (13percent) said they were involvedin online art and story-sharing,either creating it or looking atothers’ work. Today, many morestudents report participating injust one creative process —authoring — every week — andthe range of their content creationactivities is much broader. One in

six (16 percent) say they useonline tools to create and sharecompositions that are moresophisticated than simple art orstories, including virtual objects,such as puzzles, houses, clothingand games. One in seven (14 per-cent) create new characters atleast weekly, with nearly a third ofthese students doing so every day.One in 10 (10 percent) start orcontribute to online collaborativeprojects weekly or more fre-quently. Ten percent send sugges-tions or ideas to Web sites at leastonce a week as well. Nearly one in10 (9 percent) submit articles tosites at least weekly or create polls,quizzes or surveys online.

Nonconformists — students whostep outside of online safety andbehavior rules — are on the cut-ting edge of social networking,with online behaviors and skillsthat indicate leadership amongtheir peers. About one in five (22percent) of all students surveyed,and about one in three teens (31percent), are nonconformists, stu-dents who report breaking one ormore online safety or behaviorrules, such as using inappropriate

page 2 National School Boards Association

language, posting inappropriatepictures, sharing personal infor-mation with strangers or pretend-ing to be someone they are not.

Nonconformists are signifi-cantly heavier users of social net-working sites than other students,participating in every single typeof social networking activity sur-veyed (28 in all) significantlymore frequently than other stu-dents both at home and at school— which likely means that theybreak school rules to do so. Forexample, 50 percent of noncon-formists are producers and 38percent are editors of online con-tent, compared to just 21 percentand 16 percent, respectively, ofother students.

These students are significantlymore likely to be heavy users ofboth new media (online, videogames, handhelds) and old media(TV, videos/DVDs, radio). Butthey are significantly more likelyto prefer new media to old. Theyalso are disproportionately likelyto learn about new sites and fea-tures online, through the “chatvine” or other online mechanisms,while other students are more


Popular Social Networking ActivitiesPercentage of online tweens and teens who say they do these activities at least weekly


Posting messages

Downloading music

Downloading videos

Uploading music

Updating personal Web sites or online profiles

Posting photos

Blogging

Creating and sharing virtual objects

Creating new characters

Participating in collaborative projects

Sending suggestions or ideas to Web sites

Submitting articles to Web sites

Creating polls, quizzes or surveys

41%32%30%29%25%24%17%16%14%10%10%

9%9%

likely to hear about them fromparents or teachers. Ironically,nonconformists also are more intouch with their parents as well,communicating significantlymore frequently with their par-ents in every way except in person— online or by cell phone, forexample — than other students.

These students seem to havean extraordinary set of traditionaland 21st century skills, includingcommunication, creativity, collab-oration and leadership skills andtechnology proficiency. Yet theyare significantly more likely thanother students to have lowergrades, which they report as “amix of Bs and Cs,” or lower, thanother students. However, previousresearch with both parents andchildren has shown that enhancedInternet access is associated withimprovements in grades andschool attitudes, including a 2003survey by Grunwald AssociatesLLC. In any event, these findingssuggest that schools need to findways to engage nonconformists inmore creative activities for aca-demic learning.

Creating &Connecting//The Gaps

�While social networkingseems omnipresent in the lives ofmost tweens and teens outside ofschool, most school districts arecautious about its use in school:

Most schools have rules against

social networking activities:• More than nine in 10 school dis-

tricts (92 percent) require par-ents and/or students to sign anInternet use policy. Nearly all(98 percent) districts use soft-ware to block access to inappro-priate sites.

• More than eight in 10 districtshave rules against online chat-ting (84 percent) and instantmessaging (81 percent) inschool.

• More than six in 10 districts (62percent) have rules against par-ticipating in bulletin boards orblogs; six in 10 (60 percent) alsoprohibit sending and receivinge-mail in school.

• More than half of all districts(52 percent) specifically prohibit

27%39%

25%41%

32%59%

10%23%

42 friends

17 friends


Leading Their Generation

Nonconformists are significantly more likely than other students to be:

Traditional influentials (students who recommend productsfrequently and keep up with the latest brands)

Networkers (students with unusually large networks of online friends)

Organizers (students who organize a lot of group events using their handhelds)

Recruiters (students who get a disproportionately large number of other students to visit their favorite sites)

Promoters (students who tell their peers about new sites and features online)


any use of social networkingsites in school.

Still, despite the rules, there issome officially sanctioned, educa-tionally packaged social network-ing occurring in schools. Almostseven in 10 districts (69 percent)say they have student Web siteprograms. Nearly half (49 per-cent) say their schools participatein online collaborative projectswith other schools, and almost asmany (46 percent) say their stu-dents participate in online pen palor other international programs.More than a third (35 percent)say their schools and/or studentsrun blogs, either officially or inthe context of instruction. Morethan one in five districts (22 per-cent) say their classrooms areinvolved in creating or maintain-ing wikis, Web sites that allow visitors to add, remove or editcontent.

Many school districts also usesocial networking for professionalpurposes. For example, more thanone in four districts (27 percent)say their schools participate in astructured teacher/principalonline community.

Interestingly, districts thatreport that their parents are influ-ential in technology decisionmaking are more active in socialnetworking (71 percent vs. 59percent in districts with lowparental influence). Further, large,urban and Western districts aretypically more active users ofsocial networking than other districts.

Students and parents reportfewer recent or current problems,such as cyberstalking, cyberbully-ing and unwelcome personalencounters, than school fears andpolicies seem to imply. Only aminority of students has had anykind of negative experience withsocial networking in the last threemonths; even fewer parents reportthat their children have had anegative experience over a longer,six-month period.

Most problems students andparents report are similar to thetypes of problems typically associ-ated with any other media (televi-sion or popular music) orencountered in everyday life:• One in five students (20 per-

cent) say they have seen inap-


Teachers Requiring Internet Use for Homework

Nearly all school districts (96%) say that at leastsome of their teachers assign homework thatrequires Internet use to complete.

More than a third of all school districts (35%)say more than half of their teachers assign home-work that requires Internet use.

More than nine out of 10 school districts of lowsocioeconomic status (94%) say some of theirteachers assign Internet-based homework, and morethan one in four of these districts (27%) saymore than half of their teachers do so.

Nearly all school districts (95%) say that at leastsome of their teachers are using Web pages to com-municate assignments, curriculum content andother information.

More than eight out of 10 school districts (88%)subscribe to online educational services or learningmanagement systems, or both. Of these subscribingdistricts, 87 percent allow students to access theseservices from home.

School district leaders report that teachers are now routinelyassigning homework thatrequires Internet use to complete,no longer allowing equity con-cerns to be a barrier:

propriate pictures on social net-working sites in the last threemonths; 11 percent of parents,referring to their own childrenover the last six months, concur.

• Nearly one in five students (18percent) say they have seeninappropriate language on socialnetworking sites; 16 percent ofparents concur.

• Personally directed incidents,which are of serious concern tostudents, parents and educators,are relatively rare. About one in

14 students (7 percent)say someone has askedthem for informationabout their personalidentity on a social net-working site; 6 percentof parents concur.About one in 14 stu-dents (7 percent) saythey’ve experienced self-defined cyberbullying; 5percent of parents con-cur. About one in 25students (4 percent) saythey’ve had conversa-tions on social network-ing sites that madethem uncomfortable;

3 percent of parents concur.Fewer than one in 30 students(3 percent) say unwelcomestrangers have tried repeatedlyto communicate with themonline; 3 percent of parentsconcur. Only about one in 50students (2 percent) say astranger they met online tried tomeet them in person; 2 percentof parents concur. Only .08 per-cent of all students say they’veactually met someone in personfrom an online encounter with-out their parents’ permission.The vast majority of students,then, seem to be living by theonline safety behaviors theylearn at home and at school.

• School district leaders seem tobelieve that negative experienceswith social networking are morecommon than students and par-ents report. For example, morethan half of districts (52 per-cent) say that students provid-ing personal information onlinehas been “a significant problem”in their schools, yet only 3 per-cent of students say they’ve evergiven out their e-mail addresses,instant messaging screen names

or other personal informationto strangers. Similar differencesoccur between districts’ beliefsand students’ and parents’reported experiences with inap-propriate material, cyberbully-ing and other negativeincidents.


Only .08%of all students say

they’ve actually

met someone

in person from

an online encounter

without their

parents’ permission.

Creating & Connecting// Expectations andInterests

�While a significant per-centage of educators require theirstudents to use the Internet forhomework, school policies indi-cate that many are not yet con-vinced about the value of socialnetworking as a useful educa-tional tool or even as an effectivecommunications tool. This mayindicate that their experience withsocial networking is limited.However, they are curious aboutits potential — a sign that theremay be some shifts in attitudes,policies and practices in the future.

Both schools and especially par-ents have strong expectationsabout the positive roles thatsocial networking could play instudents’ lives. District leaders saythey hope social networking willhelp students “get outside thebox” in some way or another.Nearly half of them (48 percent)expect social networking to intro-duce students to “new and differ-ent kinds of students.” More thanfour in 10 (43 percent) hope

social networking will help stu-dents “learn to express themselvesbetter creatively” and “developglobal relationships.”

But district leaders are skepti-cal at this point about the educa-tional value of social networking.Fewer than one in three (29 per-cent) believe that social network-ing could help students improvetheir reading or writing or expressthemselves more clearly (28 per-cent). Somewhat more of them(36 percent) hope that social net-working will help students learnto work together to solve aca-demic problems.

Parents, on the other hand,have higher expectations. Morethan three in four (76 percent)expect social networking to helptheir children improve their read-ing and writing skills or expressthemselves more clearly; three outof four (75 percent) also expectsocial networking to improvechildren’s ability to resolve con-flicts. Almost as many (72 per-cent) expect social networking toimprove their children’s socialskills as well.

Both schools and parents areinterested in social networking as

an educational tool. Both alsodemand an educational value andpurpose as a requirement forsocial networking in school.Nearly nine in 10 district leaders(87 percent) say “strong educa-tional value and purpose” will bea requirement for them to permitstudent access to any social net-working site. Urban (89 percent)and rural (96 percent) districtsfeel particularly strongly aboutthis, compared to their peers.More than seven in 10 parents (72 percent) agree that educa-tional value and purpose are“important” or “very important.”

Large proportions of districtleaders say that a strong emphasison collaborative and plannedactivities (81 percent), strongtools for students to expressthemselves (70 percent) and anemphasis on bringing differentkinds of students together (69percent) would be required forthem to buy into social network-ing for school use. But most alsowould insist on adult monitoring(85 percent) and would continueto prohibit chat and instant mes-saging (71 percent) as conditionsof social networking use inschool.


Striking a Balance//Guidance andRecommendations for School Board Members

�Parents and communitiesplace faith in school board mem-bers and educators to protect stu-dents during the school day —and that means securing theirsafety when they’re online. It is

appropriate,then, forschool boardsto approachsocial net-working withthoughtfulpolicies thatmaintain theirparents’ andcommunities’trust.

At the sametime, parentsand communi-ties also expectschools to takeadvantage ofpotentiallypowerful edu-cational tools,

including new technology. Clearly,both district leaders and parentsare open to believing that socialnetworking could be such a tool— as long as there are reasonableparameters of use in place.Moreover, social networking isincreasingly used as a communi-cations and collaboration tool ofchoice in businesses and highereducation. As such, it would bewise for schools, whose responsi-bility it is to prepare students totransition to adult life with theskills they need to succeed in botharenas, to reckon with it.

Finally, despite the largemajorities of students who seemto be highly active social butter-flies online, equitable access is stilla critical consideration forschools. It is incumbent onschools to recognize the silentminority of students who do nothave easy access to computers, cellphones and other devices com-monly used for social networking.

Here are some ways thatschool board members couldstrike the appropriate balancebetween protecting their studentsand providing a 21st century edu-cation:

Explore social networking sites.Many adults, including schoolboard members, are like fish outof water when it comes to thisnew online lifestyle. It’s importantfor policymakers to see and tryout the kinds of creative commu-nications and collaboration toolsthat students are using — so thattheir perceptions and decisionsabout these tools are based onreal experiences.

Consider using social networkingfor staff communications andprofessional development. In dis-tricts where structured onlineprofessional communities exist,participation by teachers andadministrators is quite high.Nearly six in 10 districts (59 per-cent) say at least half of their staffmembers participate, while nearlyfour in 10 (37 percent) say 90percent or more do so. Thesefindings indicate that educatorsfind value in social networking —and suggest that many already arecomfortable and knowledgeableenough to use social networkingfor educational purposes withtheir students.


Safety policies

remain important, as

does teaching students

about online safety

and responsible online

expression — but students

may learn these lessons

better while they’re

actually using

social networking tools.

Find ways to harness the educa-tional value of social network-ing. Some schools and educatorsare experimenting successfullywith chat rooms, instant messag-ing, blogs, wikis and more forafter-school homework help,review sessions and collaborativeprojects, for example. These activ-ities appeal to students — evenstudents who are reluctant to par-ticipate in the classroom.

Ensure equitable access. Schoolshave a role to play in closing thedigital divide with social network-ing, just as they have withInternet access. Most studentshave some way to get online,either in their schools, at publiclibraries or at home — as educa-tors apparently recognize whenthey assign homework thatrequires Internet use. But educa-tors will have to consider theoften-impromptu exchanges andinstant access that are characteris-tic of social networking as theyplan ways to incorporate it intoeducational experiences.

Pay attention to the noncon-formists. The survey findingsidentify this group of students ashighly engaged and skilled atsocial networking and as an influ-ential leadership cadre amongtheir peers. Yet they seem to belukewarm about traditionalschoolwork and academics, per-haps because the allure of socialnetworking is more compellingthan traditional ways of learning.By reaching out to these studentsand tapping into their interests,educators could yield a doublebenefit: a heads-up on the nextnew things that many other stu-dents are likely to gravitate toonline and improved academicresults for the nonconformists.

Reexamine social networkingpolicies. Many schools initiallybanned or restricted Internet use,only to ease up when the educa-tional value of the Internetbecame clear. The same is likelyto be the case with social net-working. Safety policies remainimportant, as does teaching stu-dents about online safety andresponsible online expression —

but students may learn these les-sons better while they’re actuallyusing social networking tools.

Encourage social networkingcompanies to increase educa-tional value. Educational leadersshould work with social network-ing companies to increase servicesthat are explicitly educational innature, via informal or formal ini-tiatives that highlight educationalofferings.


Writing and design by Vockley•Lang

National School Boards Association 1680 Duke Street Alexandria, VA 22314 703-838-6153 www.nsba.org

The National SchoolBoards Associationis a not-for-profit federa-tion of state associations ofschool boards across theUnited States. Our missionis to foster excellence andequity in public educationthrough school board lead-ership. NSBA represents

the nation’s 95,000 school board members that gov-ern 14,890 local school districts serving more than47 million public school students.

The Technology LeadershipNetwork (TLN) is NSBA’s districtmembership program designedfor education leaders who estab-lish policies and implement tech-nology decisions that enhanceteaching and learning, operations,and community outreach efforts.

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