Social Media: Blog 4

My initial thoughts, currently being a teacher, about social networking in schools is absolutely not. There is no use for them. Or is there? When I think social media, I immediately think of the two most popular sites, Facebook and Twitter. These are sites students use daily and are attracted too. Could there be a way to incorporate them into the learning process. The AASL did surveys which revealed that schools are starting to embrace social media into the school curriculum mainly to create more of a collaborative and community learning. It is believed social media can make students more active and accountable for their learning. There are several ways to incorporate social media into education and it could start with the media center. Several OPAC’s are starting to combine social networking with their automation system allowing students, teachers, and staff to give text ratings to books and submit text, audio, or video reviews. Could this encourage more student use of the application and use from home? I believe the idea is good and we actually have Destiny Quest at my school. I feel it is not advertised enough however. There is the question of safety and security while using these sites from school. This would require teachers and parents to become responsible at teaching the students how to safely use the internet and social media sites. That brings up the whole internet filtering debate. I believe many would benefit from social media use in school, but some would abuse it as well. I read somewhere in an article that we should not punish the majority for what the minority does on the internet while at school. While there are several education social media sites out there, including Flickr and Library thing, I feel the students would not see them as attractive for they are most familiar with the most popular mentioned earlier. Would they think Flickr and Library Thing are fun or just another school assignment? That is why I feel if you are going to use social media for what you want it to accomplish, it may have to be the ones they use daily. My school does not allow access to Facebook or Twitter while in school, however does have pages on both for things such as athletics and the school’s home web page. Therefore students and parents can be socially interactive with my school, but from home. I am currently requiring students to complete assignments, do readings, and make comment posts on my school blog. The students are familiar with it and can easily access it form smart phones, etc… However, they look at it as another school assignment, not something that is social media attractive. Maybe I need to take baby steps to using Twitter or Facebook.