Social media in the classroom?

5/23/2012

2 Comments

 
So, I'd like to take this moment to bring up the quote I posted in my first blog again by Will Richardson in his book titled, Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms.   "A growing majority of students are immersed in social networks and technologies outside of school, and most have no adults in their lives who are teaching them how to use those connections to learn." (Richardson, page ix) I was looking at this quote earlier today and it got me thinking, should we use social media in our classrooms as a tool for learning?  I don't think the traditional social media sites would be appropriate for the classroom but social media is so prominent in the youth today that I think it would be an awesome way to connect.  So are there any other sites that could be used as social media while still keeping it educational and classroom friendly?  I found one, it's called edmodo with this tool you can log on as either a student or a teacher and you can connect with your class by creating a group and sharing the code with your students.  You can also connect with other teachers and you can even get your students to hand in assignments on here.  It's pretty neat!
If anyone else has any other social media tools that they think are good to use, post them in a comment!
2 Comments
Dean Shareski link
5/24/2012 01:46:26 am

When you say "traditional" I assume you mean facebook, twitter, etc. If you don't thing these are appropriate for classrooms, how would you address Will's assertion that no one is teaching our students how to make connections? Do you feel there is an easy transfer between using something in a school context and then using whatever social spaces they have outside of school?

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Carly Hopfauf link
5/24/2012 05:08:58 am

I think that twitter could be useful in the classroom and it would be a great connection between outside of school and the classroom. As for facebook I don't think that's a good tool to use in the classroom, the middle years group at the U of R have a facebook group which is awesome but as for students in an elementary school I personally wouldn't use facebook for my classroom. I think there is too much of my own personal stuff on there to share with my students. But I do feel that twitter would be good and edmodo is pretty similar to using a facebook group and also like a blog so I would like to try that out too.
I think teachers have to be aware that social networks are prominent in our students lives' and we need to help them make that connection that these networks can also be helpful in a school context and offer so much more than just sharing photos and telling people what you're doing.

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