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activities frequently sought in twenty-first century
instructional reform efforts.
Although there are various forms of educa-
tional constructivism, generally, constructivism
is a theory of learning that views the nature of
“knowledge” as created or formulated by the
learner actively engaged in the process of making
meaning (Fulton, 1999). Learners make or “con-
struct” new meaning by taking what they already
know and applying what is being learned to new
situations. “Knowledge,” rather than inherently
meaningful, becomes meaningful through the
learner's interpretation and application of what he
or she knows in a community where knowledge
is shared. Experience and individual differences,
therefore, are important and respected, and situ-
ations that have direct relevance to the learner or
applicability to life are those that provide the best
opportunities for learning. In the constructivist
model, the learner's background, expertise, and
beliefs all affect the learning or knowledge that
is assembled (Brown & Duguid, 2000). When
applied to pedagogy, the constructivist view of
learning supports a learner-centered instruc-
tional environment where learning and teaching
are “facilitated” by the instructors rather than
“transmitted” as in a traditional lecture-oriented
teacher-centered classroom. Online social network
site features may support such environments by
enabling users to profile their individual differ-
ences and commonalities, communicate interests,
ideas, and experiences in multimedia forms,
negotiate learning goals, aggregate the wisdom
of the group to co-construct solutions, and solicit
and get feedback from multiple audiences.
chapter considers how students, in using SNSs,
are practicing the kinds of “21
st
century skills”
that are increasingly emphasized in educational
and workplace settings, but perhaps especially
important in human services occupations. These
include
creative thinking
: the ability to construct
knowledge and develop innovative products and
processes;
communication and collaboration
: the
ability to communicate in multiple media and to
work collaboratively to support individual learning
or the learning of others;
research and information
fluency
: the ability to locate, organize, evaluate
and process data from a number of sources and
present the results; and
problem-solving
: the
ability to define problems and manage activities
toward a range of solutions (International Society
for Technology in Education, 2007; Partnership
for 21
st
century Skills, 2008). Moreover, today's
instructors are expected to develop and model
these competencies as well as to facilitate their
development in students (International Society
for Technology in Education, 2008).
caSe StuDy context
Drawing on these frameworks above, we under-
took an exploratory qualitative study in the spring
of 2008 to examine whether and how urban youth
from low-income families in the upper Midwestern
United States used the online social network site,
MySpace.com, as part of their everyday lives and
whether and how their MySpace use demonstrated
educational and social benefits. This investigation
is part of a larger three-year effort to profile these
students' Internet technology access, use, and ca-
pacity. A total of 1200 students (17- and 18-years
of age) were given paper surveys in the winter of
2007 (number of respondents=850) and again in
the winter of 2008 (number of respondents=600).
They were asked a series of questions about their
location, frequency, duration, type of computer and
Internet use, and their purpose for using various
Web-based technologies. Focus groups were also
21
st
century Skills frameworks
Ultimately, at all levels of education, from un-
dergraduate to graduate programs, we want our
students and clients to be trained in and profi-
cient at using emerging digital tools and social
media to ultimately enhance their career-related
decision-making and performance. Therefore, this
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