PERCEPTION OF PROSPECTIVE TEACHERS ON THE ROLE OF SOCIAL NETWORKING IN EDUCATION

Social networking is fast emerging only as a most widely used medium to interact but also as an avenue to gain knowledge and for learning. Social networking services allows individual to construct a public profile within a bounded system. Though people are using internet to connect with people since early part of 1980s but only in the last decade the social networking services have acquired a place in the life of young people. Social networking is an online interaction service that managed to connect people with shared interest. It is use of technology not only to connect people but to collaborate with each other and form virtual communities. It include services such as Facebook.com, Myspace.com, Twitter, etc. which have millions of members each. It also includes services like Flicker for photo sharing, You-Tube for video sharing. The social networking sites has transformed the process of communication and social interaction with an increasing integration of social media to these services. Young people all over the world as enthusiastic users and they are eagerly sharing information with one another on daily basis. It has been found that there are a number of significant benefits associated with the use of social networking sites. These social networking sites can be used for educational purposes to help the students to develop a more collaborative view of learning and creating a connection to, real life learning. Social networking is fast becoming a kind of virtual world where different learning communities share knowledge and provide platform for professional development. The present paper aims to find the various social networking sources used by prospective teachers during their internship period. It also aims to find the perception of prospective teachers about the use of social networking for teaching-learning. The study is conducted on 100 B.Ed. students of GGSIP University affiliated college. The results are discussed in the light of objectives of the study.