Social media is a reality in our technological world. Students are craving interactions with others. Engaging them in the classroom is more challenging than ever. As educators, we need to employ the old adage "don't work harder; work smarter". This is why social media needs to be embraced in the classroom.
Students are already using Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter. However schools block these sites to protect the students from potentially harmful material. So what social media may schools use that are free, aren’t blocked and provide safety for their students?
Sara Kessler wrote about The Case for Social Media for school in 2010. One of the benefits she writes about is that some of the social media is free to educators. An example of this free social media is kidblog.org. This site allows teachers to create a classroom blog. With this blog, students can respond to discussion questions and publish their own posts concerning topics discussed in class. This creates the interactions that students desire. The benefit to the teacher is the blog allows students to comment on other students’ work and gives the teacher feedback about the effectiveness of the lesson through the responses posted.
Edmodo is another free blogging site that schools may use. This site offers two main thrusts: connecting students and connecting the world. Currently there are 1.5 million users of this site. In our society today, students need to work on collaboration and not isolation. Making connections with other students is an essential life skill that all of them will need. Engaging students through technology is what the future will be about in education. Utilizing blogging sites is one avenue educators may use.
Another component of social media that is just beginning to be utilized in the classroom is the back channel feature at TodaysMeet. This tool enables students to participate in a discussion without actually having to speak. Students have terrific ideas, but some are unwilling to share. This social media allows the students to post questions, responses and thoughts in a live stream. The teacher can monitor the live feeds and incorporate them into the discussion as well. In an article by Trip Gabriel entitled Students Speak Up in Class, Silently, via Social Media, students comment that this is a terrific way to speak up without actually having to raise their hands and speak out. This social media is currently free.
Of course with any social media device the teacher needs to be careful of what is being posted whether it is in a blog or through a back channel. As a poster put out by Argus says, “Words have a life of their own. Think before you speak”.
Key words: social media, kidblog.org, Edmodo, TodaysMeet
Here Here! I couldn't agree more that we NEED to utilize social media in our classrooms if we ever want to embrace students as a population. Right now, we are trying to use primarily "old and accepted" means of education. Therefore, we rely on the boring means of instruction. Instead, we need to focus on how we can use what students are already good at if we ever hope to improve our in-class education. I mean, the difference one blog can make in our classrooms will be insane. Students want to use their computer; let's allow that to happen. Your blog is spot-on exactly what needs to be done to better our education.
ReplyDeleteI am always excited by your posts. You clearly are one that "gets it." Social media and other forms of Web 2.0 should not be looked at as a threat to the classroom but a tool. I think that social media and web 2.0 offer so many benefits that reach beyond the traditional learning style. Just the other day my sister when on FaceTime and asked a fellow student how to do a particular problem. She was able to show her how to do it on the screen and it made a huge difference in regards to the rest of her homework that evening. The fact of the classroom is that educators need to embrace this technology because it provides so much additional value.
ReplyDeleteGreat post Valerie! I also believe that social media needs to be embedded into the classroom. High school students are already engaged in social media so why not use that to encompass learning. The use of blogs and other Web 2.0 tools can allow students to learn from each other. The interaction they are not showing within the classroom can be generated online. Some do not want to speak in school or get a chance to. Those students who do not speak well in the classroom have a chance to express themselves through online interaction. Very insightful!
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