Social Networking in the Classroom

    
Photo Courtesy of: https://cdn.makeawebsitehub.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/social_media.jpg

Welcome back to Shep's World and this week I am going to talk about my continuing adventures in the field of Social Media in the context of education.  Never in my career prior to my class EDET 543 would I have ever considered using social media as a tool that I could use in my profession but every time I turn around it feels as if I am discovering some new use for social media. Whether I am talking about professional development, classroom and community management, or as an instructional tool that uses of social media in the classroom only seem limited by depth of my own creativity.  I have explored using Twitter, Facebook, Skype, Google+, and Pinterest  in the last few weeks and the number of applications I am still learning about is almost overwhelming so I am going to repeat advice that I was given to anyone who may be reading along and possibly feeling the same.  Slow down and pick a few.  As you start to grow and become proficient at using these new resource branch out and try others.

In today's blog I would like to focus on what I am doing using these two new to me resources that many of you are already familiar with, Google+ and Pinterest. I chose these two resources for a few  reasons including the fact that my Facebook page I try to keep as my nonprofessional outlet and these two tools seem different enough to provide me with different experiences and ideas on how to incorporate them into my classroom. Google+ and Pinterest both have a variety of different uses that can benefit both the teacher as well as the students in the classroom.

Social media is nothing new and many of us use some form of it daily (some hourly or even more frequently) and our students have been collaborating with it (whether that's what they would call it may be another issue) for years. This is an exciting time for education due to the fact that communication is nearly instantaneous potentially giving our students virtually unlimited access to instruction as well as our community stakeholder the ability to see transparently into the daily classroom activities of their child and their schools. As a matter of fact this level of access and transparency is quickly becoming an expectation as districts everywhere are increasing their presence on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter. Just the other day I received an online survey from my school district asking me to grade them on their communication. This type of usage of social media to gather data is only one of the potential benefits schools everywhere are gaining just from having a presence on social media and that is a lot of return for no real investment. Despite the numerous benefits I do have some concerns regarding just how much can be shared and where the lines are between what is acceptable to show publicly and what is private and those lines at times appear to be quite blurry. 

After setting up my Google+ profile I jumped into the multitude of communities available.  In many ways this is not unsimilar to the group pages on Facebook where a variety of people can access and join communities according to their interests. These communities can be public or private and therefore have many potential uses. One of the first thoughts that I had regarding how I would implement Google+ into my classroom is by creating a group specifically for my PLC (professional learning community) so that we could collaborate in a space outside of school.  I have also considered creating a classroom community where parents and students can join to stay up to date about what is taking place in the classroom and as an additional space for students to collaborate on projects/assignments outside of school.  Google+ gives me the ability to create a classroom outside of my class where parents have the ability to stay informed, present, and a part of the process of their child's education.  Social media is ultimately about communication and collaboration and by encouraging it's use as a part of the classroom we also have the ability to facilitate and model proper online netiquette helping our students develop the ability to conduct themselves appropriately on the internet.

Perhaps my biggest shock was just how useful Pinterest is for teachers. Prior to becoming acquainted with this tool I was under the impression that Pinterest was for creative people like my mother who are looking for crafting ideas to occupy their time. Little did I know that Pinterest is essentially a social bookmarking tool not unlike Diigo that allows you to gather resources from all over the web as well as searching through the millions of ideas already cataloged on Pinterest by other users. I can use this tool to gather resources for my students to use, research lesson ideas, find crafting ideas for my classroom, etc. This source has a ridiculous amount uses and unfortunately for me I am overwhelmed by just how much the site has to offer. On top of the ability to gather resources this site also gives you the ability to share those resources out making them useful to your students. Best of all like Google+, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and many many others it is FREE!

Now that I've talked about these two tools I want to dive a little bit deeper and discuss the potential benefits that these tools have for our students with diversities. Both of these resources allow educators to compile vetted resources that students may utilize for the completion of assigned tasks. I believe however that they also provide benefits to students by allowing educators to tailor an educational experience based on student interest and needs. An educator can by using Pinterest provide scaffolded resources to specific students taking into account issues such as reading levels, interests, or any other factor that may be essential to adequately engage the students. Using a resource like Google+ can provide a different experience for students who have difficulty speaking in front of their peers. For example students who struggle with Autism and are nonverbal in the classroom may be able to find their voice behind the keyboard. A teacher who set up a Google+ community for their classroom may host discussions in a space that more reclusive students may find more comfortable. As a teacher my goal is to engage 100% of my students and although I often feel that this goal sets an unrealistic expectation; however, by providing my students more opportunities and ways to interact with my classroom on their own terms I hope to move even closer to that goal. The classroom is a community and by extending my classroom into the internet through social networking I hope to send the message to each of my students that the world is their classroom.

Perhaps the thing that really I really learned about incorporating social media into my professional life is that essentially that social media and networking gives me the ability to develop myself as well as my classroom outside of the physical space provided by my school.  It provides students the opportunity to learn and grow academically at any time their schedule permits. It provides my students that are sick, injured, or just not able to attend class for whatever the reason to be an active participant in the class; they can be mentally and socially present even if they can't be physically present. After beginning to use social media and networking applications I have become convinced that the ability to use social media in the classroom is an essential skill for today's educator. Social media is a great tool that allows teachers to communicate with parents, students, colleagues, and other professionals as well as giving educators and school districts the ability to advertise their accomplishments to their community.
This weeks resources to help get you started:
Pinterest 2015 Tutorial for Education

Google+ for Teachers


Pinterest for Teachers of Special Education


Comments

  1. Scott,

    I always enjoy my visit to Shep's World! :-)

    RE: "Social media is ultimately about communication and collaboration and by encouraging it's use as a part of the classroom we also have the ability to facilitate and model proper online netiquette helping our students develop the ability to conduct themselves appropriately on the internet."

    Exactly! In my undergrad class this week, our topic is the nine elements of digital citizenship. One student ask, "In what subject area is digital citizenship taught?" My response was, of course, "All of them!" Integrating social media into traditional "subject areas" offers endless teachable moments.

    RE: "Perhaps the thing that really I really learned about incorporating social media into my professional life is that essentially that social media and networking gives me the ability to develop myself as well as my classroom outside of the physical space provided by my school."

    You are again on point! Social media makes it much easier to be a life-long learner. (Are you rolling your eyes? :-)

    Dr. Dell

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  2. I began using Pinterest for the crafting purpose, then when I really got into my education classes in college, they told us to start creating Pinterest boards. This has been extremely helpful when gathering resources and ideas for the classroom. Even though it is great for gathering resources, I have a love/hate relationship with Pinterest. I love it because resources and ideas are so easy to find. I hate it because it sometimes takes you to other sites to get the resource. Depending on what site it leads you to, it can sometimes be difficult to find the resource in the first place.

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  3. I loved your advice of slowing down and picking a few things to focus on at a time. There are so many resources out there that is easy to become overwhelmed. Pinterest is one of my favorites and I would definitely not consider my self super crafty. I have boards for recipes, birthday parties, school stuff, etc. Warning...Pinterest can be addicting!!! Happy Pinning!

    ReplyDelete

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