John Ricard TRETC 2012 USING SOCIAL NETWORKING TO TRANSFORM YOUR CLASS INTO A LEARNING COMMUNITY

 What is a social network?  What are some strategies to help apply a social network to my course?  What are some effective procedures that will help adopt a social network efficiently? OBJECTIVES

INTRODUCTION  Currently teaching:  Latin  AP Art History  AP European History  At Somerset Academy in Pembroke Pines, FL  Created Romae.org – Classical Languages and Studies networkRomae.org  Created RicardAcademy.info – network and ancillary tool for “non-Latin” subjectsRicardAcademy.info  Contributor on AFireKindled.com – focuses on integrating education with technologyAFireKindled.com  BA in Art History  MA in Classics

OVERVIEW  Not a lecture  An interactive workshop  Learn by doing!  Agere non modo putare!  Applies to any subject

HAVE QUESTIONS? COMMENTS? JOIN AND POST THEM!  AFireKindled.com/Community AFireKindled.com/Community  Look for confirmation when registering  Join Group: Educational Technology Roundtable  Post in Forum: Using Social Networking to Transform Your Class into a Learning Community

Redefining Learning WHAT IS A SOCIAL NETWORK?

 Social networking is a way to connect and share ideas  Offers ways to collect, curate, and collaborate with content  Some examples are Facebook, Google+, Twitter, LinkedIn WHAT IS A SOCIAL NETWORK?

WHY SOCIAL NETWORKING?  Wanted to find a way to use the technologies my students are familiar with  Further engage students  Make courses relevant  Create an easy, fun environment for learning  Easy access to assignments, information  Accountability

PROBLEMS WITH SOCIAL NETWORKING  Stresses “social” behaviors  Facebook, Google+  Too many distractions  Blurs line between personal/academic  Blocked on most campuses  Twitter  Limited to 140 characters  Can only collect content online (limited curation and collaboration)  Blocked on most campuses

 Need to adapt social networks into “learning communities”  The technology provides a template for both teachers and students to follow  Teachers = technology immigrants  Students = technology natives PROBLEMS WITH SOCIAL NETWORKING

 Focuses on a particular subject  Allows collaboration within a community of learners  Social networks are for “socializing”  Learning communities are geared towards learning WHAT DO YOU MEAN “LEARNING COMMUNITY”?

5 C’S OF EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY  Every Learning Community should have these capabilities  Collect – resources that collect content  Curate – resources that maintain and update content; also reinforce concepts learned in class  Create – resources that help create content  Collaborate – resources that allow collaboration using content  Communicate – resources that help communicate about content  Every Learning Community should have these capabilities  Collect – resources that collect content  Curate – resources that maintain and update content; also reinforce concepts learned in class  Create – resources that help create content  Collaborate – resources that allow collaboration using content  Communicate – resources that help communicate about content

CASE STUDIES How I adapted social networking technology

 Romae.org/Amicitia Romae.org/Amicitia  Social network for Romae.org  Allows members to interact and form learning communities SOLUTION: BUILD A SOCIAL NETWORK

 RicardAcademy.info RicardAcademy.info  Solution for my “non-Latin” courses SOLUTION: BUILD A SOCIAL NETWORK

FEATURES OVERVIEW: ACTIVITY  Activity – shows site-wide activity  Great way to see who has been active  Helpful for students to find others and collaborate, review together

FEATURES OVERVIEW: GROUPS  Groups – allows for different courses to have their own spaces, discussions, etc.  Allows students to form networks with one another  May foster friendly competition (year to year!)

FEATURES OVERVIEW: MEMBERS  Members – easily find other members on the network  Find “study-buddies”, partners for collaborative assignments, group projects

FEATURES OVERVIEW: SITES  Sites – easily find your course’s main site  Assignment updates, announcements, resources for projects, etc.  Creates accountability for BOTH students and teachers

FEATURES: GROUPS  Groups – where the main “action” happens

 Group Features: Documents  Post exclusive documents for group members to share FEATURES: GROUPS

 Group Features: Forum  Used for discussions between group members FEATURES: GROUPS

 Group Features: Docs  Creates a collaborative workspace for group members FEATURES: GROUPS

 Group Features: Members  Form connections between various group members  Follow their activity on the network FEATURES: GROUPS

 Group Features: Send Invites  Allows members of a group to invite other members to join the group FEATURES: GROUPS

 Group Features: Send  Allows members to send communication outside the network FEATURES: GROUPS

WHY SOCIAL NETWORKING?  Using a social network I can:  Collect new content for my course  Curate and update content myself or via my students  Create new content, assignments, projects  Collaborate with my students in a thriving learning community  Communicate with others about assignment dates, project obstacles, etc.  Gives me all solutions in one place  Accessible from anywhere on “the cloud”

What’s next? STRATEGIES AND TIPS

 Form a learning community that is interactive!  Be consistent!  Keep them coming back!  Monitor student activity  E.g. to directly “ping” a student – like Twitter  Upload and share important documents with your class  Syllabus, rubrics, study guides  Create events and announcements routinely  Field trips, test dates, etc.  Create discussions that are open-ended, enriching, interesting!  Try “non-traditional” activities  Minecraft Romae

STRATEGIES AND TIPS  Keep assessments simple  Grade based on completion  Encourage students to use the resource to help them learn, not make it the basis of their learning  When students create accounts, have a procedure to be able to easily identify their usernames

 I built my sites using open source software  Wordpress extended with Buddypress  Building your own site takes time, patience, and experience  Lots of work and “frontloading”  Find a solution that will make your life easier and that is scalable STRATEGIES AND TIPS

How? SOLUTIONS

IMPLEMENTATION  Technology is supposed to make life EASIER  Find ONE resource and use it to make your life EASIER  Use it to make your class more exciting, more relevant!  Lots of FREE options!

+ COLLECT

+ CURATE

+ CREATE

+ COLLABORATE

+ COMMUNICATE

Keep it going! What ideas do you have? CONTINUING THE CONVERSATION

 AFireKindled.com - online publication for integrating technology with education  AFireKindled.com/Community AFireKindled.com/Community  Look for confirmation when registering  Join Group: Educational Technology Roundtable  Post in the group forum

CONTINUING THE CONVERSATION Interested in having your own site/social network?  Contact me:  or visit JohnRicard.info  (see how I use Twitter for my classes)  Read:  AFireKindled.com AFireKindled.com  Sites/Projects:  RicardAcademy.info RicardAcademy.info  Romae.org Romae.org