Social Media and Networking in the Classroom

Hello Everyone!

I'm curious how instructors have been or are considering using social media and networking in the classroom; whether it is K-12 or higher education, what tools, techniques are you considering?

For example:

Have you tried using Twitter to facilitate question and answer sessions within a lecture?
Do you set a policy how you'll be using social media/networking in your classes to set expectations with your students?
Does the school board have a social media / networking policy that guides you in what you can and cannot do.
If you're in grades 9-12 are you using public social networks or private ones? What advantages and disadvantages do you see in student engagement?
How are you measuring success / student engagement?

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Permalink Reply by Josette Soard Nase on March 15, 2012 at 5:03pm

My county uses Edmodo for middle and high schools. Some elementary schools are using it, too. It is very much like facebook, but it much more secure as only those with the code to join can be on a classroom's Edmodo page.

I don't personally use it, but know it to be used for continuing discussion started in class, posting assignments, turning in assignments, posting more resources to lessons, and more.

Our county has an AUP that guides what can and cannot be done on this site.

Hope this helps.

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Permalink Reply by Wesley Emlet on March 15, 2012 at 6:25pm

I have not used social media sites because of my district's policies which result in every site being blocked. Instead, there are ways around this that I haven't personally used yet but I would love to attempt with my third grade students. I'd want to try blogging using Edublogs with my students by having making the assignment optional and posting a higher level thinking problem that they can respond to throughout the week. This is one way of engaging students outside of the classroom which could be motivational. Another thing I recently stumbled upon was an interesting site called "Celly." Celly allows students to turn their mobile phones into interactive response systems. This would be an easy way for students to interact and engage in lessons while doing something they want to do!

I would like to use more social media sites and believe Twitter is very powerful. We just recently talked about the power of Twitter during my last grad class, "Technology Innovations" and here is a great video that demonstrates how one teacher uses Twitter in her classes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCa31FEeA_Q&feature=player_embedded

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Permalink Reply by Angus Chan on March 16, 2012 at 4:44pm

Interesting how schools block or use walled gardens in their approach to using Social Media and Networking. Pros and Cons to this approach. For those under 13, I know there are agreements that prevents children under this age from using public services like Twitter and Facebook, but with those who are older, are we doing them a disservice by not providing them training in the use of social media tools that they are probably using already?

Wesley, I'll have to take a look into Celly - sounds like an interesting project!