HOW TO USE TWITTER IN THE CLASSROOM WITHOUT COMPROMISING YOUR PROFESSIONAL RELATIONSHIP WITH YOUR STUDENTS. By Mike Reading. There has been no shortage of debate around the water cooler in schools across the country about the role of social media in the classroom. Teachers are wondering if social media is just another fad, or if it is a tool that will enable teachers to better connect and communicate with their students? When considering whether social media and, in this case, Twitter, is useful in the classroom, I think it helps to understand that social media is really no different from any other technology.
There will always be early adopters who are quick to embrace new technology and test its usefulness in the educational context. Next, there are those who take the wait-and-see approach. Twitter has been around long enough to have been tested in various educational contexts, and proven to be useful in increasing student engagement and participation in some contexts. Depending on what statistics you look at, on average, less than 30% of those under 25 use Twitter. 1. 2. #ednews – News feed. Teachers Easy Guide to Social Learning. " Learning would be exceedingly laborious, not to mention hazardous, if people had to rely solely on the effects of their own actions to inform them what to do.
Fortunately, most human behaviour is learned observationally through modelling; from observing others one forms an idea of how new behaviours are performed, and on later occasions this coded information serves as a guide for action. " ( Albert Bandura, Social Learning Theory, 1977) Bandura has set the floor for a new conception of learning as a social process where there is interaction and mindful observation as opposed to the mechanistic view of learning advocated by behaviourism. When Bandura started formulating his Social Learning Theory For learning to be successful it has to have a social ingredient in it. This social ingredient requires observation, attention and interaction. Educational Technology and Mobile Learning has compiled a list of some great social learning platforms that educators and teachers can start with.
Teachers' Quick Guide on The Use of Games in Education. Online gaming plays a major part in most of young people's lives. The gaming trend that started off as a sole leisure activity a couple of years ago is now integrated into the mainstream and more and more people are using them on everyday basis.Game developers and business corporations are generating billions of revenues out of their sales .In March 2008, a government-funded report from DCSF indicated that sales of games for the under 12 age group represented nearly three quarters of the total UK games market. 87 % of 5-16 year old have a game's console at home, and the enormous success of the Nintendo Wii has shown that new technologies can reach and hold audiences never expected to enjoy playing online or computer games.
Regardless of the negative features associated with gaming such as frivolity, violence and mindlessness, games do have a growing potential in education. The main Factors behind the raise of Digital Game-Based Learning What makes a learning game ? Seven Ways to Use Twitter in a Classroom | Teachers use Social Media to Enhance Classroom Experience. Social media outlets like Facebook and Twitter are continuing their rise in popularity and there are no signs of this growth stopping soon, as is evidenced by the 42% of high school students who currently use Twitter.
Smart educators who opt to use Twitter in the classroom are sure to see improved student grades as well as creative and positive results in other areas. If you have not entered this realm of social media, it’s easy to pick up on the basics of Twitter and enjoy its benefits for you and your students. Here are seven innovative and motivating ways to bring the world of Twitter into your classroom: 1.
It’s not hard to find subject experts such as historians, mathematicians or authors on Twitter, many of whom would be willing and eager to tweet their expertise with your class. 2. Students’ grades improve when everyone is engaged in monitoring the learning process. 3. 4. Twitter can be a fun and educational trip-tracker. 5. 6. 7. Final thoughts Content provided by U.S. Why Educators Should Spend 15 Minutes a Day on Social Media.
45 Simple Twitter Tips Everyone Should Know About. Are you a tweetin’ teacher? Do you rely on tweets for your extended PLN ? Whether you use the service or not, there’s a whole world of information being shared and you should start taking part. But if you’ve been too nervous or unsure about HOW to actually use Twitter as efficiently as possible… the wait is over. We’ve offered up plenty of tips and tricks for Twitter but never anything like this. It’s an elegantly organized set of infographics detailing the step-by-step process of using Twitter and making it work for you. Here are some of the key questions answered in the set of graphics by Cheryl Lawson below. Key Questions Answered Did you know SEO played a role in your Twitter profile?
View Tips As Slideshow. - 108 Ways to Use Word Clouds in the Classroom...Word Clouds in Education Series: Part 2 - Michael Gorman. 15 Best Practices for Using Twitter. The Top 27 Free Tools to collaborate, hold discussions, and Backchannel with Students. 1- ChannelME ChannelME is a great web tool. It allows its users to browse a particular website simultaneously. They are able to look at the same content of a web page with friends in real time and even chat with each other . 2- Search Team It allows its users to search in small teams and collaborate to find the best search results. 3- Mind42 Mind42 is a great collaborative mind mapping tool . 4-Entri Entri is a free collaborative tool for writing and sharing documents . 5- Bounce It is “ a little application that lets people quickly add feedback to any webpage and toss that back and forth with other people” . 6-Wiggio Wiggio makes group work much more easier as its easy and straightforward design provides everything you need to work productively in your groups. 7-My Simple Surface My Simple Surface is a very simple online whiteboard. 8- Hackpad This is a tool to develop collaborative note-taking and writing outlines. 9- Synchtube Synchtube is a great free service for watching videos. 16- Dweeber.
Twitter, PLEs and PLNs. Thought I would share some bits of my thesis on Twitter, PLN’s and PLE’s as others might find it useful. What is a PLN? For all of the conversation occurring among educators about PLNs, there has been surprisingly little academic research on PLNs (Couros, 2010, p. 123). With many educators using this term to describe their own informal learning habits, it is important for educational researchers to investigate exactly what this concept means to those who are using it as a term to describe a learning activity A Personal Learning Network (PLN) is a network of people you connect with for the specific purpose of learning (Tobin, 1998). These people may assist you in your learning by acting as a guide, direct you to learning opportunities, and assist you with finding answers to questions (Tobin, 1998).
Digenti (1999) defines a PLN as: Couros (2010) echoes Digentis notion that a PLN is defined by the relationships among the individuals when he states that: References Lalonde, C. (2011). Tobin, D. What Teachers Should Now about 21st Century Students. Technology has radically transformed the notion of teaching and learning.
New teaching methods have emerged and others faded away and as John Dewy once said " if we teach today as we taught yesterday, we rob our children of tomorrow. " Let's face it, we are living in a digitally focused world. Think about how many cell phones and iPods you confiscate each week . It is a fact universally acknowledged now that teenagers are those who use technology the most and any attempt to shun them away from using their digital tools will certainly come to a wall. We seriously need to adapt our teaching strategies to the new vicissitudes created by technology and particularly the increasing surge in the use of mobile devices.
As a teacher, you might be trying to improve your teaching practices to fit the 21st century educational paradigm. 10 Excellent Alternatives to PowerPoint. PowerPoint is absolutely one of the most popular presentation tool out there .I bet that the first presentation you have ever made was via PowerPoint, well at least that was the case with mine .There are, however, several other presentation tools that we can use as an alternative to PowerPoint and guess what ?
They are way easier and simpler especially for use in education. I have handpicked some of such tools for you to check but you can also check this extensive list of some of the best presentation tools for teachers to explore more options. 1- Prezentit This is one of my favourite tools for creating presentations.It does not require any software download and all you need is a web browser. Przentit also lets you work on your presentation in real time and you can download your finished work or share it with others. 2- Sliderocket Sliderocket is a great presentation tool that lets users easily create, collaborate and share stunning media-rich presentations. 3- SlideSix 4- Vuvox 5- Keynote. 5 Tips for Teachers Getting Started on Twitter « About Teaching. Teachers – The 10 Stages of Twitter. Stage 1 Sign up to twitter following persuasion/pestering by colleagues.
Follow Stephen Fry, a famous sportsman/popstar and a news channel. Read a few tweets, don’t understand what the fuss is about and mock anyone who uses twitter. Stage 2 Overhear colleagues chatting about twitter and a great article they found. Promise to give it a go again and follow two or three recommendations. Stage 3 Think about posting first tweet. Stage 4 Upon realising you have no followers ask colleagues how to get them?
Stage 5 Have a mini twitter conversation with colleague, even retweet a couple of statements. Stage 6 Practise a couple of tweets that include @names and hashtags. Stage 7 Retweet any link you find interesting as people might read them. Stage 8 Thank colleagues for introducing you to twitter, impressed with the knowledge you have gleaned and your growing number of followers. Stage 9 Reflect that twitter is an incredibly positive place and everyone is full of praise. Like this: Like Loading... Twitter for Administrators, Teachers, and Students. The 2012 A-Z List Of Educational Twitter Hashtags. We got so many additions and updates to our 2011 list we thought it was time to bring you the most up-to-date list for 2012.
So, without further ado, here’s the 2012 A-Z list of educational Twitter hashtags. We went through all the comments on the 2011 version , wrote down all the Twitter and Facebook updates, and compiled this list over the course of several months. What follows is our best effort to bring you the biggest and baddest list of hashtags. I’m sure we still missed some as new hashtags seemingly pop up every day. First, some background to get you up to speed on what the heck a hashtag is. First, What’s A Hashtag? Whether you’re a new or seasoned Twitter user, you likely come across confusing hashtags that probably look like a bunch of nonsense. The # symbol, called a hashtag, is used to mark keyword or topic in a Tweet.
For example, the popular #edchat hashtag is used by thousands of users every Tuesday. How To Hide Your Hashtag Chat From Followers Sources Technology. Top 10 Educational Technology Hashtags for Educators. Twitter is a real treasure trove of educational resources for teachers and educators. It is one of my favourite web tools to stay updated about what is going on in the field of educational technology. It goes without saying that everyone of you has got a Twitter account but the question is do you really benefit from Twitter as should be ? By implication, my question is referring to educational and professional development benefits. Yes you might be following hundreds of bloggers and educators ; yet still unable to sift through the tsunami of tweets you have everyday.Tweeting is an art which you should master and the key to the mastery of this art is hashtags. Hashtag is a great way for users to locate and keep track of particular information within the massive tweets.
Know the topic you are interested in and look for its corresponding hashtag and try to continually check it for updates. Below is a list of top educational technology hashtags I have meticulously handpicked for you. All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten: How to Use Twitter From Kindergarten to College. 6.14.12 | As Twitter continues to make more inroads into academic spaces, two recent articles demonstrate its use across the educational spectrum. Both stories—a New York Times SchoolBook inside-look at a tweeting class of kindergarteners, and a ProfHacker column at The Chronicle of Higher Education on Twitter’s use in college classrooms—show not only how educators are using Twitter and social media for a great variety of tasks, but how educators are very aware of how to use them responsibly. At Public School 150, a technologically sophisticated elementary school in TriBeCa, kindergarten teacher Jennifer Aaron engages her class in a group tweeting effort three times a week.
Family members of the 2012 class were encouraged to follow her private account, @JensClass, and to respond to student tweets. In the video above, Aaron explains how it works: Here’s how an edited message appeared, cut down to fit within the 140-character limit: “We added more days in school stickers. Save the Date: Wed. August 8th – EdmodoCon 2012. Back-to-School Subdomain Best Practices. 20 Ways to Use Edmodo | Help Center. Connectedness as the Standard. I am extremely excited that August is Connected Educator month. In my opinion, being a connected learner, leader, and/or educator is no longer an option. My personal and professional journey in this area is well documented and something that I regularly present on. When I think back to my life as an educator prior to becoming connected, I can honestly say that I was isolated, naive, and definitely not as well rounded as I am today. Image by Silvia Rosenthal Tolisano- www.langwitches.org/blog based on image (CC) by Alec Couros- /educationaltechnology.ca/couros/799 We become the epicenter of our learning and determine what, where, and when we want to learn.
Your PLN will provide you with the seeds of change, but is up to you to plant, take care of, and cultivate them in order to witness their growth and development into transformative culture elements. What do you think are some of the benefits of becoming connected that I might not have touched on? The Connected Educator. CLASSROOM 21 | by Greg Limperis {*style:<b> August marks the </b>*} U.S. Department of Education’s month-long celebration of the connected educator.
What exactly does that mean to you, to me, and to millions of students we educate daily in this world? Well, years ago, I began teaching students before I even knew I wanted to be an educator. Growing up I was a Boy Scout and later on earned my Eagle Scout status. For sure, I was growing my connections, but my connections were limited. Little did I know that, at the time, I was increasing my connections but still limited to the here and now.
Nonetheless, it was amazing that this urge forward, this desire to learn from others and share, connect and collaborate brought me to my first real job. During this time, one of those connections suggested to me that I might return to school to become an educator. Upon completing my master’s degree in education, I began working as a teacher in a classroom situation that felt foreign. Like this: The Connected Educators Book Club. Educators Guide to the use of Pinterest in Education. Pinterest as a bookmarking tool. Four Ways to Use Pinterest in Education. 3 Ways To Use Pinterest In The Classroom. Rethinking Professional Development to reach ALL Teachers. Creating a PLN. PLN Starter Kit. How I use social media for my professional development. The Current State Of Social Networks.
5 steps to building social media presence from scratch. Social Media in the Classroom? Absolutely! — Scheiss Weekly. A Teacher’s Guide To Social Media [INFOGRAPHIC] Using Social Media in Schools: Risks, Opportunities and Benefits. Social Media: Guidelines for School Administrators. July: The Ultimate Planning Period. Evolving Role of the Teacher. 11 Reasons Teachers Aren't Using Technology #edchat #edtech. Ten Ideas for Teaching Teachers Technology. ED Tech Cheat Sheet Every Educator Should Know about. 40 Ways Education Technology Will Be Used In The Future. Six Tips for Teachers: How to Maximize Shared Resources. Envisioning the Future of Education Technology. The 25 Best Teaching and Learning Websites of 2012.
Search Tips and Tricks Every 21ST Century Teacher Should Be Aware of. All the Web 2.0 Tools you'll ever need in one blog post! 20 Google Tools for Today’s Classrooms. Top 3 Ways to Interact with Students Outside the Classroom. What Teachers Need to Know about BYOD ( Bring Your Own Device ) Trend in Education. Mobile Learning Finds (Apple iOS) (weekly) It's Time to Disrupt the System - Getting Smart by Alison Anderson - The 21 Signs you are A 21st Century Teacher. The problem with 21st-century education. Study: '21st Century Learning' Demands Mix of Abilities - Inside School Research. 21st Century Icebreakers: 10 Ways To Get To Know Your Students with Technology.