The final research report for a Survey of K-12 Educators on Social Networking and Content-Sharing Tools is now available. The survey was sent to 83,000 educators nationwide (teachers, principals, and librarians) during late August and September and was co-sponsored by edWeb.net, MCH, Inc., and MMS Education.

Educators, like millions of other Americans, are exploring the world of social networks and see a high value for this technology in education. Here are some key findings:

• 61% of the educators surveyed have joined one or more social networking websites.
• 85% of educators who have joined a social network have joined Facebook.
• Educators who have joined a social network are more positive about the value for education.
• Educators express a need and desire to separate their personal and professional lives. Looking forward educators strongly prefer the idea of joining a site dedicated to education.
• Factors inhibiting the growth of this technology among educators include—privacy concerns, schools/districts blocking access to website, lack of time, and some frustration with technology.
• Educators would like more training, professional development, and direction on using social networking and other technology from school/district leaders.

You can join a community on the edWeb to participate in an online discussion about the survey.

Click here to download a copy of the final report.

About the Sponsors

edWeb.net is a professional social network for the education community that makes it easy to connect and collaborate with colleagues, share information and best practices, and create professional learning communities. The edWeb is a user-friendly Web 2.0 platform that introduces educators to technology that students use every day, mostly outside of school. The edWeb is free for education professionals and for educational institutions. Education companies are invited to join as sponsors. For more information, contact Lisa Schmucki, founder and CEO, at 800-575-6015, ext. 100, or by email at lisa@edweb.net. Follow the edWeb on Twitter at www.twitter.com/edwebnet.

MCH is America’s leading compiler of business-to-institution (B2i) databases and mailing lists. The MCH database features information on 1.1 million institutions and 8.2 million decision makers. The largest institutional markets include governments, hospitals, medical practices, schools, school districts, and churches. MCH also provides custom telephone research and data processing services. MCH is a strategic partner of edWeb.net and is helping to spread the word about the edWeb to the preK-12 education community.

MMS Education is a national market research, consulting and marketing company specializing exclusively in the education market. MMS is particularly interested in how social networking and social media will provide enhanced opportunities for educators to collaborate peer to peer, and also as a way for education companies and nonprofit organizations to connect more directly with the educators who use their products and services in classrooms every day. For more information, contact Susan Keipper Meell, CEO, at 800-523-5948 or by email at smeell@mmseducation.com.