Social media

Steve Wheeler has just put up a slide show about researching social media in education and what we, as teachers, can learn.

Researching Social Media in Education: What can we learn?

View more PowerPoint from Steve Wheeler

This slide show is really interesting and discusses social media and the case for using these in education.

In addition he discusses researching, researchers, and publishing research. I found this very interesting as here our universities are 'rated' on the research 'outputs' of the lecturers which aligns with slide 55. Outputs are counted when they have been published in an international academic journal.  I guess one of the reasons I have found this part of the presentation so interesting is that I have found that many of the articles I have found most useful are ones in open journals with are not considered as prestigious.

Rules for using social media

We are often reading about children and their use of social media sites. Although Facebook has people sign to say that they are over 13 years of age the reality is that many who are under still have their own Facebook pages. There are social media sites which cater for younger children where children under 13 should have their accounts - not Facebook.

In some social media sites young children have been 'groomed' by older adults and some have found themselves in situations which are extremely unsafe.

Here is a really good YouTube video from Atomic Learning dealing with some rules to use when working with children who are using, or want to use a social media account (such as Facebook).

Online networks

Not all agree with the last post. In our Saturday Press is an article "facing up to Facebook" by a university lecturer from New Zealand. He is a lecturer in Marketing but also has an interest in 'what makes people tick' - how people interact and express themselves in online worlds such as Facebook. He highlights how these sites can be used in positive ways but also warns that there is a 'dark and dirty side'.

It will be interesting to see this research when it comes out.

Learning together online

Steve Wheeler has just put up a new slide share about Learning together online. This presentation discusses how social networks are an important part of the culture of many young people. In light of this teachers need to exploit the power of these tools to engage students to enhance the thinking and learning in their classrooms.

Here in New Zealand, we have had some instances where a social media network (such as Facebook) has been used in a way where the outcomes are probably not what was envisioned by the young people using it. Teaching how to use the tools in a responsible way is also important.

Learning together online

Diipo

What is Diipo???

Education 2.0: Social networking for your class

Diipo connects the teacher with their students making it easy for the teacher to communicate with their class. Diipo also connects teachers with other teachers as well as their class with other classes. Diipo uses an easy-to-use and familiar user-interface which is similar to Facebook and Twitter. One of the aims of Diipo is to help students stay connected and engaged.

Teachers can connect with other teachers to share and exchange ideas as well as best practices on how to get the most out of Web 2.0 technologies. In addition teachers can share educational content with each other or brainstorm ideas for collaborative projects.

This is an ideal site to use with the students so that they can also learn to use a social networking site in a responsible way.

Facebook in the classroom???

I have just been reading Ewan McIntosh's blog. He uses an example of Kimberley Swan and her total lack of understanding about consequences. His blog reminded me of a similar case here in New Zealand a couple of years ago when a teenager was derogatory about her place of employment. Her post was seen by her boss and she was sacked. Many teens here were very upset and did not understand why she had been fired. Lawyers were called in to show that the company had every right to fire her.

He further links to Lindsay who complained about her boss on her Facebook page; the only problem was she had added him as a 'Friend'.

Ewan's final sentence to sum up is fantastic (I wish I had thought of it...)

"If Lindsay or Kimberley had been taught by a real "real teacher", maybe they'd
have not only had a conversation at some point about how one uses social
networks for both play and work, as part of your public face, they may also have
had, subject to the filtering policies in their schools, some hands-on practical
sessions in privacy settings and the art of communication on the net."