Boundaries between educational and social spaces

Alan Cann makes an aside at the end of his post saying the barriers between educational and social spaces are breaking down rapidly. There’s a fair amount of research and survey data that support his statement. Here, he points to yet another study on “natives” but this time there’s a point made about boundaries which apply to all age groups. From the abstract:

…students, despite being heavy users, are less sophisticated and expressive in their use of Web 2.0 than presumed. Students set clear boundaries between educational and social spaces on the Web, and the library may be best served by building Web 2.0 into its site and extending its services into course management systems. (emphasis mine)

I think the issue of boundaries apply at work too and this type of structure (building on an existing site or system) may well be a better solution (than public social sites). (JC)

No Natives Here | Science of the Invisible | Dr. Alan Cann | 9 November 2009

(Study available for fee: No Natives Here: A Focus Group Study of Student Perceptions of Web 2.0 and the Academic Library, The Journal of Academic Librarianship 35(6):523-532.)

Tagged as: boundaries, generational, Web 2.0