Siphoning the Fumes of Teen Culture: How to Co-opt Students’ Favorite Social Media Tools In 1763, a royal decree was issued from Great Britain to the North American colonists: Do not?do not!?expand west of the Appalachian Mountains. The colonists resented the proclamation, inferring that the British were trying to contain them along the Atlantic Seaboard where control and taxation could be more easily imposed. The King believed his proclamation to be motivated by good intentions, protecting colonists from instigating any more costly wars with Native Americans, for one. But nothing could stop the westward expansion fever. In 2011, social media is the new frontier. What is Social Media? Social media refers to the online tools that promote easy transmission of ideas and conversations. "This means that I don't define YouTube videos as social media. Social media can contain conversations long and short, critical or casual, studied or whimsical. Doing the "Social" Part of Social Media Requires Intellectual Dexterity Comparing Old Media and New Media 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.
Podcasts In Education Although the concept of streaming media has been around almost as long as the Internet itself, and Podcasts specifically since 2000, the use of Podcasts in education has recently experienced a growth spurt around the world. Education is not generally known for its quick adoption of new technologies. There are still districts that don’t have a presence on the Internet, although I would be surprised to find some that don’t communicate electronically. However, Podcasts are quickly gaining popularity in the educational environment. This article will discuss what Podcasts are, why and how they are used in education, and the basics of creating Podcasts. What is a Podcast? I won’t take much space here to try and give a full history and description of a Podcast. A Podcast can be defined as a media file that is freely available for download from the Internet automatically with software that can handle RSS feeds. Education as a Consumer Podcasts should have a planned presence in your classroom.
The Definitive Guide to Cell Phone No-No's I went to New York City last weekend, and noticed all the people on cell phones while waiting for their planes in the airport. OK, there’s not much to do in these waiting lounges so why not call people up? But it got worse when we were loading onto the plane and someone stood right in the middle of everyone else and spoke loudly into their cell phone. Everyone around looked annoyed but it make no impact on the person in conversation. Annoying cell phone usage is becoming a scourge of our society, and it’s not just for arrogant executives anymore. Before we get to the guide and all your helpful suggestions, let’s take a step back and think about the dire consequences of using your cell phone at inappropriate times. My wife was sitting at a red light when a jerk talking on his hands-free cell phone going at 50 MPH rear-ended my wife because he was not paying attention to the road. So now let’s get to that list of no-no’s for talking on cell phones. Rules for Cell Phone Usage Your Rants
How One School Uses Social Media To Empower Parents And Students Kristin Magette, Communications Director at Eudora School District in Eudora, Kansas, recently shared how Eudora Public Schools had set out to create a “digital-friendly school district.” The interview tells a great story about how they created a highly effective social media program used to better communicate with parents and enrich student learning. A key part of the initiative was the introduction of a district-wide social media program. In the four part interview embedded below, Kristin discusses in more depth how and why the district embraced social media so aggressively, how concerns over the adoption of social media were overcome, effective rollout of the program, training and guidelines that were implemented, the appointment of select teachers as “social ambassadors,” and growth and management of the district’s online communities. The complete interview is available as an audio podcast on both SoundCloud and iTunes . Part One Part Two Part Three Part Four
Day 2 futures education course – Trends @ Dave’s Educational Blo Would love your feedback on the list of trends created by my students. I have had a strictly advisory role in the creation of them… in the “i fight but don’t win” kinda way. A pretty solid first day from my perspective. I started the day by creating a powerpoint of their responses from day one showing them (if they didn’t know) that with all their ideas combined, we could teach a course. community. as. curriculum. Trends These trends are the meat of the whole exercise. Intro to trends… what are we looking for in the first place? Brainstorm no. 1. Insert-able exercise Future of Singapore in 2015. What is actually different and what is superficially different? Brainstorm no. 2 Is the list relevant? Interlude and brainstorm 3. a walk on the wild side. We watched the apple video from 1987. Reviewed list with the group We added numbers to the trends… a painful process that forced us to demarcate between explanations, thoughts, reasonings and trends.
How Social Media Improved An Entire School District A few days ago, we shared a video interview with Kristin Magette, Communications Director at Eudora School District in Eudora, Kansas, who shared how Eudora Public Schools had set out to create a “digital-friendly school district.” Kristin also shared some thoughts on social media and their digital friendly school district in a guest post for the folks who helped them plan out and set up these services. We thought that she offered some excellent insight, and her guest post includes a few links to the district’s social media efforts so that you can see for yourselves what they’ve been working on. Facebook, Twitter, YouTube. At school, they make us nervous. Wrong. We live in the digital world. Whether it’s young children watching online videos to laugh and learn, adolescents navigating friendships, or parents looking for updates on a lock-down, they’re using social media. Using social media, video and blogs as teaching tools.
The 11 Rules of Social Media Etiquette Since social media is, well, a social medium, it’s important that users understand the proper ways to behave online. No, just because you’re behind a computer monitor in your mom’s basement doesn’t mean all social etiquette goes out the window. It’s quite the opposite—following proper social media etiquette is a key to being successful online (and to making sure you don’t make a complete idiot out of yourself.) 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 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. What started as a Facebook-like forum where Delmatoff posted assignments has grown into a social media component for almost every subject. 1. In the early 1990s, the Internet was the topic of a similar debate in schools. Almost three-fourths of 7th through 12th graders have at least one social media profile, according to a recent survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation. 2.
Why Social Media Curriculum is Critical in Schools - 140 Charact I am presenting at The 140 Characters Conference in New York City on April 20th. This event is the largest worldwide gathering of people interested in the effects of the real-time Internet on business, education, and “we” the people. Some of the other speakers include Ann Curry, NBC News (@AnnCurry), Chris Lehmann, Principal of the Science Leadership Academy, (@chrislehmann), Donny Deustch (@Donny_Deutsch), Ivanka Trump (@IvankaTrump), and MC Hammer (@MCHammer). I will be a part of the Twitter and Education panel and joined by @mbteach, @kjarret, @shellterrell with @parentella moderating. 1) Teaching Kids how to manage their Digital Footprint2) Why social media curriculum is critical in schools3) Technology usage to enhance collaboration and development In anticipation of the conference I'm writing about each topic. Why Social Media Curriculum is Critical in Schools The other important piece to this equation is educating parents, guardians, families.