Issues to Consider
Pinterest biggest drawback is its privacy settings, on social networking site Facebook for example you can customize and select what activity and information is shown to other users. On Pinterest all of your pins, boards and comments are public, so every movement you make is seen by any user. This is inconvenience if private boards or groups are wished to be created an also if comments are only intended for one user to read. Having private groups and comment functions would make Pinterest a more intimate social interaction between users. The down side is with more freedom and interaction this can be harnessed and used negatively by students in the classroom possibly leading to cyber bullying which I discussed in my first assignment.
Pinterest is not currently very communicative only having a mere .7% activity of commenting on users pins(Repinly, 2012). Pinterest relies on the social interaction of sharing and viewing other people’s interests and pins. A different idea of social interaction and it has been quite successful so far on Pinterest. Is this part of the reason that it is so popular? Because it is an individual exploration, of other new ideas and other people’s interests, people are not distracted by conversations but more involved in the content.
The restriction of only linking websites that have images attached to them can be a drawback, but this is how Pinterest operates, it is a purely visual resource. Part restriction from an education point of view but there are usually other sites to find with the same information and images. Having visuals helps engage students as they can immediately see and interpret the information they are about to discover.
Issues on the classroom use, Pinterest needs to be introduced and explained to students before use. This needs to cover respectful and appropriate pinning as well as the comments they make as everything is visible. Teachers need to plan and be very precise on how they wish to include this technology to benefit their students learning. Because of the nature of Pinterest the main activities and use are centred on information collecting and sharing.
Pinterest is not currently very communicative only having a mere .7% activity of commenting on users pins(Repinly, 2012). Pinterest relies on the social interaction of sharing and viewing other people’s interests and pins. A different idea of social interaction and it has been quite successful so far on Pinterest. Is this part of the reason that it is so popular? Because it is an individual exploration, of other new ideas and other people’s interests, people are not distracted by conversations but more involved in the content.
The restriction of only linking websites that have images attached to them can be a drawback, but this is how Pinterest operates, it is a purely visual resource. Part restriction from an education point of view but there are usually other sites to find with the same information and images. Having visuals helps engage students as they can immediately see and interpret the information they are about to discover.
Issues on the classroom use, Pinterest needs to be introduced and explained to students before use. This needs to cover respectful and appropriate pinning as well as the comments they make as everything is visible. Teachers need to plan and be very precise on how they wish to include this technology to benefit their students learning. Because of the nature of Pinterest the main activities and use are centred on information collecting and sharing.