The Case For Social Media in Schools
A year after seventh grade teacher Elizabeth Delmatoff started a pilot social media program in her Portland, Oregon classroom, 20% of students school-wide were completing extra assignments for no credit, grades had gone up more than 50%, and chronic absenteeism was reduced by more than a third. For the first time in its history, the school met its adequate yearly progress goal for absenteeism. At a time when many teachers are made wary by reports of predators and bullies online, social media in the classroom is not the most popular proposition. Teachers like Delmatoff, however, are embracing it rather than banning it. They argue that the educational benefits of social media far outweigh the risks, and they worry that schools are missing out on an opportunity to incorporate learning tools the students already know how to use. What started as a Facebook-like forum where Delmatoff posted assignments has grown into a social media component for almost every subject.
100 Incredibly Useful YouTube Channels for Teachers
YouTube has earned a reputation for featuring brain cell-slaughtering fare such as the truly abysmal Fred and playing host to the some of the most depressingly stupid comments this side of Yahoo! News. But for every participant liberally dishing out misspelled racist, sexist and homophobic talking points, there is at least one whose channel genuinely offers something provocative and educational. For teachers hoping to infuse multimedia into their classrooms, YouTube makes for an excellent starting point.
Mashable’s 7 Fantastic Free Social Media Tools
Uncategorized Edu2.0 Connecting personal Facebook accounts between teachers, students, and parents can be problematic for a slew of different reasons. Do students want their teachers knowing they’re watching “Glee” instead of studying for their exam?
Three Ways to Cut, Mix, & Mash YouTube Videos
This post was inspired by a request from a reader for a tool that can be used to mash-up YouTube clips. YouTube is full of great content that can be useful in the classroom (YouTube is also full of nonsense that causes schools to block it). Sometimes you only need to show a part of a video to illustrate a point.
6 Ways Social Media is Changing Education
Uncategorized Flickr: ivanpw By Sara Bernard “The fact that we as educators even have to have discussions on whether or not social media is good for schools is sad,” writes Steve Johnson, a teacher and Edutopia guest blogger. “Social media just IS…..it’s life.”
Creating Blogs and Websites
This page is where you can find resources related to my presentations about creating effective blogs and websites to complement instruction. How to create a Blogger blog. How to turn on comment moderation in Blogger. How to add or subtract contributors to your Blogger blog. How to create an Edublogs blog. How to create a Wordpress.com blog.
Schools and Students Clash Over Use of Technology
Big Ideas Culture Digital Tools Teaching Strategies By Katrina Schwartz When it comes to using technology in school, the tension between what students and parents want and what schools allow is becoming more apparent — and more divisive.
The Best Of: Windows Software
As a Windows user, you have access to countless free applications. Which ones can you trust and which ones are the best? Consult this list for ideas and discover apps you didn’t know existed. We’re continuously seeking out the best Windows software, and places to download them, for all your needs. Most applications recommended here are free and you can quickly find what you need by browsing the listed programs by category.
8 Social Media Sites Just for Kids
Digital Tools Flickr: P i c t u r e Y o u t h By Sara Bernard
The Pitfalls and Promises of Facebook, Social Media, and Kids
Big Ideas Culture Teaching Strategies Flickr:HoyasMeg With more than 500 million Facebook users across the world, it’s hard to refute that the social networking site has profoundly changed the way we communicate and share information.
Should Parents Have the Backdoor Key to Kids’ Facebook Accounts?
Culture M. Markus Concern about children’s safety and privacy online has led to a number of initiatives and programs — by schools, by private companies, and by government entities. These efforts are all aimed at protecting children and teens from what are perceived to be the big dangers on the Internet: sexual predators, advertisers, and bullies, for example, but they’re also at protecting children and teens from themselves.
Children and Media
Texts, Snapchats, Instagram: Translating Teens’ Online Behavior How much surveillance should parents have over their teenagers’ social media lives? Why are kids’ online roles so different from their realities? How does technology change the way teens relate to each other and to adults?
How to Talk About Life Online
Tips for teachers to help students be safe on the Internet. This how-to article accompanies the feature "Social-Networking Sites Draw Teens In." Diane Crockett, a teacher at the Brevig Mission School, in Brevig Mission, Alaska, population 278, decided to tackle social networking as a class topic after she saw some of the MySpace pages created by her 12-year-old daughter's friends. She noticed background graphics showing marijuana leaves, public comments that revealed highly personal information, and photographs of kids in sexy poses.
Meeting of Minds: Cross-Generational Dialogue of the Ethics of Digital Life
Today’s youth inhabit new digital social spaces foreign to most adults. These spaces offer unprecedented opportunities for connection, creativity, and community. At the same time they present challenges that are often either invisible to adults or exaggerated beyond reason.
