Educators are very excited about the prospects of social media making its way into the classroom. Programs like Piazza and others are encouraging; it seems like social media can bring education into the 21st century.
And now, instructors are already thinking about how to integrate the Google+ beta into their curricula. Though Facebook remains more of a social platform, Google+ seems primed to enter the market, since many of Google's apps are already used in the classroom.
Some education-friendly characteristics of Google+:
-Gmail, picasa and google docs are streamlined on the user's profile.
-The advent of Circles can make it easy for teachers and students to communicate.
-The Spark service provides news and research papers by keyword.
This will make information gathering and sharing easier. Overall, the ability to be connected with a group of peers will undoubtedly create communities (or, I suppose, Circles) dedicated to learning and education.
Are you signing up for Google+? What's your opinion?