Pros and Cons of Social Media

Pros

Kids like technology. Students today are used to being connected on multiple platforms.  

This seems like a natural way for teachers to connect with students and for students to collaborate and connect with each other.   It is also a creative way for students to share their knowledge with teachers and students.

It seems like many people, especially teens are always near their devices.  This is a negative in many ways, but it does allow for quick and frequent access to teens.  If a student is struggling with an assignment or needs clarification, this social network is a way to help guide a student instead of waiting until class the next day.

There is a variety of tools available, some are more social than others.  This diversity allows the teacher to choose a tool that is best aligned to the objectives in the lesson.

Some of the tools listed in our text look very interesting as social media tools.  Ning, SchoolNet Global and Bebo all look interesting and could be a way to link with students across the globe.

Cons

Not all students have access to computers and smart phones.  This could easily divide the class by “haves and have nots.”  Teachers may need to limit the types of assignments given using these platforms if the students themselves do not have the tools.

For the security of the teacher, it’s important to assure that the teachers accounts are separate from personal accounts.  Many districts have policies against social media contact between students and teachers.  This process should be transparent.

I asked my own teen aged kids about their use of social media in class,  Edmodo is used by my kids.  They both feel that it is not a good platform.  They told me that they think the teachers like it because it is like Facebook but that kids today don’t really like Facebook.  They think it is too old fashioned or as I like to say, Facebook jumped the shark.  I personally, think it has great potential for organizing the classroom use of social media. Maybe students could brainstorm ways to use other social media formats if they felt that this was not as helpful to them.

I have heard my daughter note on few occasions that she wished that teachers would not use technology just for the sake of using technology.  The example she gave me was from last year.  She was in English 9 and they were doing a book group.  

The teacher had them split into groups but they were using Edmodo to do their group work instead of discussing the book in the group.  It was a real turn off to some of them.

Link to my Toolbox Wiki

jenn f tool box wiki

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Freeda 3_3 Blog PLN

I chose to follow various types of people in education for this project.  Many of the blogs and Tweets I read were interesting but I wasn’t drawn to their sites.

Jacqui Murray is an editor of technology curriculum and writer. She writes about various topics but the one that is most interesting to me is Inquiry Based education. In her blog post called, "11 Ways to be an Inquiry Based Teacher,"  Jacqui discusses the importance of using an inquiry based approach in education. 

I work at an International Baccalaureate school and we strive to teach using an inquiry based model.  Assessing student learning is more complicated in an Inquiry Based classroom.  Performance based assessments are essential as they allow the students to creatively show their new knowledge.  Many of our education technology tools can facilitate these assessments. Jacqui writes that you can’t just, “all you do is ask questions and observe answers.”  She’s right.  It is a lot more complicated than that. It also means that as the teacher you need to be willing to let go of the control in the classroom or at least, loosen the reigns a bit.  I look forward to following Jacqui Murray through her blog.

Another post from Jacqui Murray, "How the Internet Neighborhood is Like Any Other Community"  discusses digital citizens and how we as educators can help today’s students “thrive in the digital world.” Our students actively learn and share their knowledge using a variety of tools available.  Many of these tools have only recently become available to the students.  These tools will continue to evolve and change.  Our job as technology integrators is to always be abreast to the current tools and to help the classroom teachers integrate their usage into the units.  Murray discusses the importance being risk takers in their learning.  This philosophy blends beautifully with an inquiry based education.

I was drawn to Matt Gomez for a few reasons.  He is a kindergarten teacher and his blog is not only tech friendly but also geared toward the needs of kindergarten students.  We don’t see too many male kindergarten teachers and I find it refreshing that he enjoys working with our youngest students.  "Wonder Journal: First Activity of the Day"  uses Wonderopolis.com   is one of the sources Matt uses for his Wonder of the Day.  This quick activity completed as arrival work gives the students an opportunity to stop and wonder about the image posted.  

An example from Wonderopolis.com

He notes that some times the discussions spurred by these “wonders” is the beginning of   a group inquiry.  The parents can also link to the site if they are interested also.  As an IB teacher, we are encouraged to use provocations at the beginning of our units to help engage the students in the topic we are learning about.  This is a great example of that.  I can’t wait to try this with my class!

In another post from Gomez, he posted a link to an article from Teach Thought called “How Deductive Thinking Can Drive Student-Designed Research.”  There is a big push in our district to increase the frequency of research done by students.  

Greenwich Public Schools Research Cycle Grades K-2

I found it interesting that our lower grade students were more likely to do short term multiple inquiries and research while the older students began working on larger projects but less frequently.  Our media and research department is in the process of encouraging the upper grades to follow the practices of the lower grades.  This article spelled out the basic steps to effectively researching a topic with students.

Seeing the effect that multiple resources can have on my ability to teach, I am looking forward to completing my PLN.  This is a great way to further delve into subject areas that both directly and indirectly effect how I teach and how students learn.

Freeda Blog 2-2

Did you ever just “Google” your name or that of a friend? It is startling the amount of information that is available with just the click of a mouse. It would be easy to be paranoid about what is available. Intelius “knows” that I’m a Libra.

Spokeo posts a Google Earth picture of my house. If I use my Google Maps on my phone in the house, and I move around the house, the blue dot moves to different locations around my house. I know in our SNHU classes we have taken steps to protect our privacy as much as we can in an online class format i.e. using first names and last initials for blogs etc. it’s important to protect our privacy as much as possible. I think as educators, we need to stress the importance of maintaining that privacy. Young adults and kids too, do not seem to value their privacy and some are learning the hard way that it is easy to be violated.

 Here’s a story from last week’s New York Times. As teachers, we have a very important role in helping students become good digital citizens. First we need to keep them safe in school, using only first names, making sure we have parental permission to use their names etc on the internet. We also need to educate the students and their parents about the safe use policies outlined by the school district. These policies help our students not only learn how to keep their privacy, but also learn how to effectively use online tools and research in a way that is developmentally appropriate for the students. This is an on going process that evolves as the students grow and mature. I think it’s important to stress that the parents need to be active in this process also. I think it’s important for any student who is using the computer with internet access to begin to hear about being a good digital citizen. Children need to know what to do when a pop up ad comes on the screen that may be inappropriate.

 They need to learn not to hide it because they think they will be in trouble. Schools are fairly good about filtering but we the children are still on the computers at home. Many times there is not an adult just standing there, like there would be in a computer lab. Children need to know what to do to keep themselves safe and use the technology most effectively.