Liz: Social Media Could Be a Good Idea for Spanish Community Service Learning

I know that I speak for myself, as well as many of my class mates, when I say that my main social network is through Facebook. It’s an easy way to keep in contact with all your friends no matter where you are. I would say that most students here at the U of I use Facebook instead of other cites like MySpace that are more centered around blogging. Facebook does offer an application where you can add “posts” or “notes” that I would compare to a blog. Most students do not use this application but it would be easy to add for a class project. The good thing is that most students update their Facebook on a regular basis and check other people’s profiles frequently. So, there would be a lot more people reading the blogs and responding to them. I also think it would be a great idea to get more students involved in community based learning project. If the students posted notes about their personal experiences in the community and reflected on what it means to them, I really think that more people would become interested. As far as delivering services to the community, I think that would be a bit more difficult. It might be a good way to contact some one if you don’t know where to go. But for example, I think it would be much more difficult to help the students in ESL classes through a social media. The students usually have specific questions on homework or projects at Central and I know they would prefer that the students come to the class in person. I could see making video blogs, kind of like what we have been doing with the Youtube videos, to give instructions on how to fill out paper work at the Refuge Center. I could also see making something similar to explain to Hispanic families how to register their kids at Central High School. We would have to figure out a way to get the community involved and contributing to the project. It would be great if Spanish and Illinois could get this grant! The program already has all of the elements we just need to bring them all together. If anyone else has any ideas, don’t hesitate to let us know!