Can you imagine a world without MySpace, Facebook, or Twitter? I know that today’s students definitely cannot. Gone are the days of wondering what one of your “friends” is doing. We now have instant access to people’s locations, food choices, and random thoughts. While the jury is still out about the merits of using social networking sites in schools, one thing is crystal clear, our students spend hours a day actively engaged on these sites. So as an educator who is always trying to make real-world connections, what better way to do this than by bringing in a little social networking. I would like to share a few ways to incorporate these limitless tools into an educational setting.
Facebook
According to a national survey conducted by Pew Internet & American Life Project, more than half (55%) of all online American youths ages 12-17 use online social networking sites. So knowing that the students are already using sites this regularly means that the schools just need to get creative on how to use this tool to assist in the ever growing challenge of improving student achievement. If a teacher creates a fan page on Facebook and her students join, she is now able to post assignments, helpful links, videos, and pictures related to her content area. Students are able to share their opinions, answer each other’s questions and practice effective communication skills all at the same time. Also, parents are able to join the fan page and stay connected with the school about upcoming events and assignments. Notice how I said that teacher’s should create fan pages and not personal ones. I believe that the fan page sets the tone for a more professional atmosphere. This way educators don’t have to worry about “friending” parents and students and creating a gray area at school. Even if a teacher has a personal Facebook page, the lines on Facebook should be drawn extremely carefully to ensure that a professional environment is maintained.
Twitter
It seems like Twitter is gaining a lot more traction these days and young people are really enjoying this tool. They can keep up with celebrities as well as close friends and family. This tool is great to use to post reminders about upcoming projects as well as linking actual homework sheets. It can also be used to acknowledge outstanding students. Twitter doesn’t have a fan page like Facebook. However, I strongly urge you to create a teacher email account and then create a teacher Twitter account. My students love to read “tweets” from their teachers and it’s a great way for parents to engage in meaningful dialogue about what students are learning about in school.
Edmodo
Edmodo was created specifically for educators as a way to keep social networking safe in schools. I love the features it offers in terms of a gradebook and the ability to create different groups within the same teacher account. My students and I use Edmodo daily and they love it. One of the best features is the library function. Students can upload their work to their library and that way they don’t have to worry about keeping up with a flash drive. The other cool feature is that parents can join groups and see their child’s progress. Edmodo also has a calendar that my students use to record their independent reading each night. At the end of the month, they can print it off and turn it in or save it as a pdf and email it to me via Edmodo. There are a few drawbacks to this site because the students can only interact on the main wall. This means that they can’t privately communicate with each other. I like the idea of students being able to email each other privately so I hope that eventually this feature is added.
In conclusion, social networking sites can be a great way to connect with students. These sites can also be a wonderful way to connect with other educators in an effort to share and exchange ideas and resources.
References
Lenhar, A., & Madden, M. (2007). Pew internet project data memo.Pew Internet &
American Life Project, Retrieved from http://www.pewinternet.org/~/media/Files/Reports/2007/PIP_SNS_Data_Memo_Jan_2007.pdf.pdf
SCHULTEN, K. (2011, September 30). The learning network [Web log message].
Retrieved from http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/09/30/teachers-teaching-
teachers-on-twitter-q-and-a-on-edchats/?ref=socialnetworking
Michelle,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the introduction to Edmodo; that’s a new one for me. True confession time – I don’t do social networking. Just not my thing. But Edmodo might make me change my mind. It sounds almost too good to be true: grade book, uploading to a library, calendar . . . . And you’re right in saying that we, as educators, have to connect with students in the language they speak and the media they use. So it's time for me to get with the program.
After reading your blog, I checked out the tech tip you posted. (Nice job on that, by the way.) I followed your steps and set up an Edmodo account. I can see lots of ways I could have used this site when I was a teacher. My only question is about the private communication feature you’d like to see added to the site. I can see where that would be helpful for students, especially if they were working in competing or different groups, but I assuming all communication would have to be available to the teacher so that the site could be fully monitored.
Liz
Michelle,
ReplyDeleteI am glad that I was able to read your blog. It was my third pick so I might not have got to read this informative article if I would not have clicked Group 5.
The suggestions that you shared about how we can use Social Media in the classroom is great and hopefully was brought up in the online debate and position papers from those in your debate.
I really like what you shared about Edmodo. I plan on doing some reseach on this site as after our district went through migrating the computers (Windows 7, Office 2010, etc.) we lost our drop boxes. This would be a great way to interact with our students and allow them to turn in their work. It is great that it has a gradebook. At present, I am not sure how much I would want my students to email each other unless they were asking for help and too shy to ask 'in public'.
Lastly, I am a Facebook user and like the idea of the Fanpage so not to have any questions about ethics as it relates to teachers dealing with students. I started a Twitter account this summer but have not had time to play around with it but love the idea of sending reminders, links to homework, and acknowledging students.
Thanks for sharing and I am happy that I landed on your blog.
Thanks again,
Cynthia
I really enjoyed reading this post. I have actually been thinking as I read through all these posts about the practical applications of using these sites in the classroom. I am so glad you gave me some ideas. I love the idea of tweeting reminders about assignments. The media specialist could do something similar by tweeting about a great new book that just came into the media center or sending out reminders about upcoming events. I know that my daughters high school does not use social networking in the classroom yet but they do use it in several of the extracurricular clubs. I love the reminders about projects that come up on my news feed in Facebook for Service Club. This helps me stay informed so I can make sure she is doing what she needs to do. Very helpful. Thanks again for the great ideas.
ReplyDeleteYou hit the nail on the head when you brought up the point about students being comfortable and knowledgeable with the use of networking sites. As you mentioned, it provides a great way to get the students engaged with their learning. It makes the information that you are teaching feel more relevant to their lives when they work with it in a medium that is familiar.
ReplyDeleteTo be honest, I was not that shocked to see the high number of teen users on Facebook. I constantly hear students referring to the site. The main issue that I and other teachers have when trying to use social networking sites is the filtering software in the schools. It seems that we often find great sites at home only to discover that the school’s system blocks them
I loved your explanation of the different sites. A couple looked very interesting and useful.
Blake
Thanks for the introduction to Edmodo. I created an account to play with it and is sounds great...I can even access it from school!!! I am on the fence about social networking in schools. I think believe that social networking can be a great tool but approximately 30-35% of my students do not have access to the internet at home. The inability for some students to access the internet is the only reservation I have about utilizing sites such as Edmodo. I have to admit that I am not that familiar with Twitter. Of course, I have heard a lot about it but I have never created a Twitter account...so maybe I will do that just to familiarize myself with it. Both Twitter and Facebook are blocked at school. If a site is blocked at school I believe that a teacher should not include the site as part of out of classroom activities. To me, this tells students that school rules are not important...so this brings us back to Edmodo!
ReplyDeleteJust sending out a quick thank you to all those who replied to my post. I'm so glad that the information was helpful. There really are so many resources out there that can make our content more engaging. I just found a new one - Good Reads. I'm using it with my 8th grade students and they absolutely love it!!!
ReplyDelete