I personally enjoy using Facebook. It has been a wonderful way for me to keep in touch with friends from high school and college, however I don't believe it belongs in the classroom. I think the same for Twitter and backchanneling.
Computer chat cannot take the place of actual classroom participation. If the discussion needs to extend beyond the classroom then these options are definitely a good tool because the teacher can monitor and watch the discussion. People skills are very important, and businesses are still interviewing in person not through twitter or computer based chatting.
I don't think these things are bad, and can be of good use socially and to extend the class discussions outside the classroom, but I am against it being used in class.
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I just discovered that it has been blocked in SBISD at the elementary level. However, it is still available at the MS and HS levels. I agree with you that there is nothing like the face-to-face discussion, but I have seen it used for creating projects in the middle and high school libraries. I'm not sure how I would get past the idea of making my kids use facebook though... Just my thoughts!
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