Social Networking: Why You Should and How to Make It Work for You Tim Ito & Simon Cable, Oct. 28, Las Vegas, 2011 ASCD Conference on Teaching and Learning

Social Networking: Today’s Agenda I. Social Networking: What is it really? II. Concerns About Social Networking PD Standpoint III. Reasons to Consider SN (PD) IV. Concerns About Social Networking (Students/Parents) V. Reasons to Consider SN (Students/Parents) VI. Ideas for What to Do Next and Special Guest!

Social Networking: What Is It Really? Relationships Change Information

Concerns About Social Networking (PD) “It’s a distraction.” “There’s no control over staff posts/comments” “I don’t get It / don’t see the point.” “I don’t have time.” “I’ve never had to use it before, so why start now?” “I’m too plugged in already.” or “I don’t get enough face-to-face time.” “My school doesn’t allow it.” “It’s dangerous to post your opinion online.” Others?

Why You Should Consider Social Networking (PD)  Reflect on practice  Stay informed  Get access to advice, mentors, new ideas – your own PLC  Can communicate with large numbers of people at any moment. (Crowd-sourcing)  Instant feedback at any moment (back-channeling)  Others?

Concerns About Social Networking (with Students)  “It’s a distraction for students.”  “We need to protect children -- limit access to unsavory individuals, groups, chats or content.”  “Teachers/educators should not fraternize with students” (We need to protect students from ourselves)  “Social networking teaches/encourages bad grammar and/or poor writing.”  Others?

Why You Should Consider Social Networking (Students/Parents)  It’s what they do already, why not harness it  Banning sites doesn’t work with mobile phones and other devices.  Who better to teach kids social media and networking than teachers?  Builds collaborative community for students (share files, documents, projects, get/give peer feedback). Example: Facebook Summer Reading Discussion groups  Learn about life, culture, and geography in disparate locales (Skype)  Feed important information to students and parents on updates/events/news/disasters (Twitter/Facebook)  Students who don’t participate in class might participate online  Social networking engages students in learning. Encourages creativity

Ideas for What to Do Next (Social Networking with Students/Parents in Mind)  Use Facebook or Twitter to create school page for emergencies or alerts, class updates, field trip reminders  Set up a Google+ account or a Facebook group for your class, have your students join and create a discussion circle with them. Share pictures, notes, links  Set up a Twitter account and tweet a word of the day, history fact, or timely event. Do a shared group study around a #hashtag (EXAMPLE)  Start a book club and have students tweet reactions to chapters as they go.  Use Polleverywhere to take the pulse of students on which book to read – or to get them engaged (EXAMPLE)  Skype with another classroom or a guest lecturer (EXAMPLE)

More Ideas for What To Do Next (Parents/Students)  Post homework assignments on Twitter  Micro-Writing (Twitter): Progressive collaborative writing or problem solving  ‘Lingua Tweeta’ (Twitter): Post a phrase in a foreign language and ask students to translate  Post student projects on YouTube, watch excerpts from experts or footage of news events, or use video annotations  Foursquare/SCVNGR (or other GPS-based) scavenger hunt  Create a Wiki around a topic MediaWiki (developer install) or Zoho (hosted solution)  Use Google Earth to study geography

Ideas for What to Do Next (Professional Development)  Join –Join an Educator social network (ASCD EDge, etc.) and then start/join your own PLN (group) –Join a Ning – Edchat, Curriculum 21, ELL groups –Join Facebook (Find educator groups to join/follow, ASCD, Edutopia, affiliates, Facebook for Educators) –Join Twitter and Make Connections (Use hashtags -- #commoncore, join in on #edchat or #ellchat)  Connect  Put Yourself Out There

Things to Keep in Mind  Do What Works For You or Your Students (There’s no one tool)  Don’t Be Afraid to Dive In  The Importance of Forming Relationships