Social Media in schools

Do you believe that social media is here to stay? I do. I see many applications in business as a way for businesses to connect with customers. In business, it may even evolve into an essential community building tool. But I am not so sure that social media will play as an essential role in community building in education for day to day teaching.

Social media is the technology that makes online community building possible, not the community itself. It allows for the creation of and service to, online communities, where dialogue and interaction among community founders and members are possible. Some examples include but are not limited to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Flickr, YouTube, Wikipedia, Picasa and MySpace.

It is true that electronic communication and social media create new options for extending and enhancing education. However, in surveying my students, they unanimously said that they would prefer going to a class to interact socially and academically with other students. Also, they said that they would want to have content explained to them thoroughly and receive immediate feedback to their work to ensure they are on the right path.


There is no question that a website may be a very important part of your online presence, but it is not a very effective community-building tool. However, a website can become a platform from which you launch and serve your student communities. Think of your website as your classroom where you teach students using social media as the place you guide and push the thinking of students.

There is one critically important thing for a teacher to understand about both of the online student community types: The teacher cannot entirely control community behavior. Members – students and prospects – control the conversation in the community. The teacher can only create and influence the community by establishing and demonstrating school community values.

As an addendum, professional bodies such as the Ontario College of Teachers recently posted a Professional Advisory: Use of Electronic Communication and Social Media. The advisory offers advice to teachers on how best to use electronic communication and social media with students.

Where do you stand? What’s your story?

image via My Crowd

Social Media Accessing the Knowledge About Teaching

How do teachers, collectively, improve the common standard of teaching? How do they build the professional knowledge base for teaching?

Currently and traditionally results of research are first validated, then communicated in research journals to educators who in turn have to figure out how to apply the research themselves in a classroom situation. The model below shows the cycle produced by research.




Lesson Study

The key to lesson study is accumulated in a different way. Lesson study is carried out in a classroom; therefore the problem of applying findings to teaching is eliminated. First teachers describe the lesson to be shared with sufficient detail to other teachers so that they can actually use the lessons. We avoid the barrier of having to communicate in journals or try to apply what we have read. Instead this sharing of lesson can be replicated at different levels and promote discussion at staff meetings to see how students are faring.


The use of technology can greatly enhance knowledge about teaching in that the most useful information that can be shared can include examples of classroom lessons linked to theoretical understanding of teaching. We already have the tools to link together video, audio, images of student work, and commentary by researchers and others into a single integrated database.

Social Media Database:



With the above database:
* Curriculum developers could establish large archives of lessons that are organized around the specific structures of the curricula.
* Teacher groups could work on perfecting lessons, then post results of their study, including a complete video record.
* Other teacher groups could access these archives to inform their practice.

The idea is not new, but it needs to be streamlined more. The use of twitter , facebook and other social media might be the grass roots movement to these larger databases. It might even begin in your own school. If it is I would love to hear about it.

What's your story?

Understanding the Social Media Landscape

Fred Cavazza divides different tools and services and groups them into categories

• Publication tools with blogs (Typepad, Blogger…), wikis (Wikipedia, Wikia, Wetpaint…) and citizen journalism portals (Digg, Newsvine…)
• Sharing tools for videos (YouTube…), pictures (FlickR…), links (del.icio.us, Ma.gnolia…), music (Last.fm, iLike…), slideshows (Slideshare), products reviews (Crowdstorm, Stylehive…) or products feedbacks (Feedback 2.0, GetSatisfaction…)
• Discussions tools like forums (PHPbb, vBulletin, Phorum…), video forums (Seesmic), instant messaging (Yahoo! Messenger, Windows Live Messenger, Meebo…) and VoIP (Skype, Google Talk…)
• Social networks (Facebook, MySpace, Bebo, Hi5, Orkut…), niche social networks (LinkedIn, Boompa…) and tools for creating social networks (Ning)
• Micropublication tools (Twitter, Pownce, Jaiku, Plurk, Adocu…) and alike (twitxr, tweetpeek)
• Social aggregation tools like lifestream (FriendFeed, Socializr, Socialthing!, lifestrea.ms, Profilactic…)
• Platforms for livecast hosting (Justin.tv, BlogTV, Yahoo! Live, UStream…) and there mobile equivalent (Qik, Flixwagon, Kyte, LiveCastr…)
• Virtual worlds (Second Life, Entropia Universe, There…), 3D chats (Habbo, IMVU…) and teens dedicated virtual universes (Stardoll, Club Penguin…)
• Social gaming platforms (ImInLikeWithYou, Doof…), casual gaming portals (Pogo, Cafe, Kongregate…) and social networks enabeled games (Three Rings, SGN)
• MMO (Neopets, Gaia Online, Kart Rider, Drift City, Maple Story) and MMORPG (World of Warcraft, Age of Conan…)

Infographic - Are we Digital Dummies?

Evernote

Great tool for students. My question is who owns the copyright?

Call for Action

In my reading of Getting Started the authors ask the the questions: What do we expect our students to learn? How will we know they have learned? How will respond when students don’t learn?

To answer these questions, we need to build a collaborative culture in schools and organizing teams to develop mission, vision, values and goals. What is the school we are trying to create? What is our purpose? If we are serious about the implementation of collective commitments to move our schools in the intended direction of technology and creativity we need to continuously promote, protect and defend the vision and values.

Let’s explore this a little further: What are we planning for? What are we modelling as a staff to our students (you can’t give what you don’t got)? What do we monitor? What do we celebrate? What are we willing to confront? How are we prepared to allocate time, energy, money? What other questions are driving our school?
It is not about recreating schools but redefining and prioritizing our focus for our respective districts and schools.

To start you on your journey explore the following link:

32 ways to use Google Apps

What’s your story?

Technology: Time, Perspective, Priorities

I read a tweet recently that, I must admit, annoyed me a little. It suggested that teachers are the reason that technology is not advancing as quickly as it ought in the public school system. I would like to submit a different point of view.

In a previous article “Gone Fishing”, I spoke of students having greater equality access to knowledge and more opportunities to be challenged to their highest potential with the use of technology [despite the teacher]. Also, in my article “I don’t have the time” I highlighted that everything we do is measured in seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, grading periods, semesters, or academic years to name a few. Put the two ideas together and it occurs to me it comes down to time, perspective, and priorities.



Time
Teachers are concerned with “engaged time”; inviting students to participate in learning activities; technological or otherwise. If this is true, then how can a teacher be expected to find the time to finish all the “have to’s” participate in board initiated professional development, take additional qualifications, raise a young family, …

even if …
i pads or i phones or
moogle or google or
blogs or gadgets or bing…
That you use is the very best one,
Learning without time is just no fun.


Perspective
Perspective is a powerful tool. Perhaps we need to put aside the “have to’s” and change perspective in the way we define our jobs. Consider Dufour’s story about a young woman who observed three tradesmen at work. Each tradesman was doing the same activity. She went to the first tradesmen and asked what he was doing; he replied “I’m just laying brick”. She went to the second tradesmen and asked what he was doing; he replied “I’m building a wall”. She went to the third tradesmen and asked what he was doing; he replied “I’m building a Cathedral”. Each one had the same task to complete, but three very different perspectives on what he was accomplishing.

Instead of “laying a brick” focus on “building a Cathedral”…

even if …
i pads or i phones or
moogle or google or
blogs or gadgets or bing…
That you use is the very best one,
Learning without perspective is just no fun.



Priorities
Once you have decided to “build a Cathedral” then anything is possible. The Savvy Duck suggests a number of factors when choosing to use hardware or software. Here is his quick list:
• Does it really solve the problem or do I just want to use it?
• How long will it take to integrate and build from?
• Does anyone in the building have any experience using it?
• How much does it cost and are support agreements available?
• What is the licensing scheme?
• How big is the internet community?
• What are the posts like in the support forum (if there is one)?
• How long has it been available?

If you decide in the end that it does meet the criteria to assist your students in their learning, then time no longer becomes an issue. You cannot choose to create more time, but you can choose your focus…

even if …
i pads or i phones or
moogle or google or
blogs or gadgets or bing…
That you use is the very best one,
Learning with priorities is so much fun.

Search and Google

I want to increase the probability of learning in my students, so I assist them to develop skills they need in order to be self-directed / independent learners. I use a search strategy to assist them in the preparation and planning stage before googling. My research projects usually focus on a question to be answered rather than a general topic.

With the use of a problematic situation I heighten students’ curiosity and engage them to want to do more. As the students begin the task that is set before them, I assist the students to make connections and monitor their understanding. Finally, when it comes near the end of the task for the summative report, I engage the students in a reflection.

Specifically students:

1) Select a specific topic of interest to study
2) Establish what students know, think they know, and want to know about the topic. I usually have them think-pair-share to stimulate ideas. Then they record their ideas into categories. Students soon discover they know more than they realize and boost their confidence.
3) Ask questions to raise curiosity and challenge students by asking for more specific information when they share about their topic.
4) Read resource material, including google searches, to verify what they know and think they know, to answer questions, and raise new questions.
5) Come together like scholars; to review their findings.
6) Have large group discussion to share their findings, and to identify unanswered questions as well as new questions for further research.

When students feel overwhelmed I use this search and google technique.

What’s your story?

photo credit CBC

Gone fishing...

Teaching information in a variety of contexts gives students greater equality in access to knowledge and more opportunities to be challenged to their highest potential. The old adage holds true: “Give a student a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach him how to fish and he will eat for a lifetime." We already know education gives children the most critical building blocks to adulthood and self-sufficiency. In this scenario the student gets to be in the moment, HEAR the water slap against the boat; SMELL the water and the natural odours of the out-of doors; FEEL the tug of the fish on the line, the splash of the fish in the boat; SEE the size of the fish as it tries to flop back in the water; and finally TASTE the delicious fish as it is cooked over a camp fire.

Lessons incorporating cross-curricular studies , discovery science, role play, games, physical activity, art, music, or drama have the advantage of stimulating the brain (Thesen, Jonas, Calvert, and Ostenbauer 2004). Naturally a teacher is not expected to simulate every sense simultaneously. Rather teachers should engage all learning styles, thus drawing all students into the topic; whatever the subject.

If teaching a student to fish is multisensory, by all accounts would suggest an increased number of synapses and dendrites stimulated during the activity and would support the theory of multisensory input and the effect on the brain. Therefore, if greater brain stimulation promotes the growth of synapses and dendrites, and more areas are stimulated when information is passed through multiple senses, then multisensory presentation of lesson material could stimulate the growth of more brain connections and lead to better information storage.

So what? Since multisensory inputs more than one specific sensory receptor of the brain, then multisensory strategies may increase subsequent access of the cross-referenced memories for use on tests and build future relational memories.

Now if I could just teach the fish to bite…

What’s your story?

photo by spottedsparrow (Julia)

References: Thesen,T, Jonas, V., Calvert, G., & Osterbauer, R. (2004). Neoroimaging of multisensory processing in vision, audition, touch, and olfaction. Cognitive Processing

Creating student portfolios

What should be included in a student portfolio? Ask the student and let her help decide.

Portfolio assessment provides a variety of means to document and assess student work. A student portfolio is similar to one of an artist. An artist carries a portfolio to show prospective clients examples of her best work.

In student portfolios students might choose to add
a) peer observation and evaluation;
b) evidence of self reflection, self knowledge, self evaluation;
c) items that tell a story of the journey of the year;
d) teacher observations;
e) things that show growth and change (eg extra-curricular, interests, attitudes);
f) items that demonstrate "my best work done to date";
g) information from parents;
h) items that indicate transfer of learning;
i) evidence of progress toward year's goal;
j) ...

Portfolios are performance based assessments that match assessments in the "real world". Students receive immediate feedback, gain confidence by acknowledgements of their strengths, and gain insight into how to improvement.

Why not ask students to be present for parent-teacher conferences and have them conference with their parents about their portfolios?

What's your story?

Photo credit Rick Harrison

Kick start motivation

I often speak about motivating students. But, teachers are the greatest “givers” of time, knowledge, and experience. But you can’t give what you don’s got. Foremost, to motivate students we must be motivated to improving ourselves. Without this desire, it is like the Toronto Maple Leafs wanting to win the Stanley Cup at the beginning of the season; then can’t find the will, the time, or the energy to work at that goal. The bottom line: we must push ourselves to get better. No one else can work at our motivation.

So how do I feed this desire? What if I don’t have the inclination? I would argue that you have to put yourself in situations to view excellence greater than your own. There is nothing like watching the Wayne Gretzky’s of the world to instil in you the desire to be a better hockey player. The same is true for teaching. Look down in the classrooms of your school, read or view articles from some of the well-known authors like Sir Ken Robinson, Michael Fullan, Robert Marzano, Richard Dufour or Damian Cooper to name a few.

Second, find an area that you want focus on what you want to explore and bring into focus. Blog, journal, pen and reflect your accomplishments in the classroom. This includes the highs and the lows. The feelings that you attach to your own experiences represent new learning and the fuel to kick start your motivation.
Take a closer look at what your skilled colleagues are doing. What makes your colleagues so successful? What are her techniques? What are her skills? Invite a trusted colleague to visit your classroom and give you feedback. With permission, videotape your “performance” in front of a class. This allows us to see very clearly our behaviours, our procedures, and our strategies close up and personal. Review your evaluation reports. Seek out one or two concrete suggestions for improvement.

Third prioritize your areas of improvement and measure your progress. Brainstorm your top 10 areas of improvement. Establish a timeline and measure your success. For example, you might want to explore strategies to increase student engagement. Research it, read about it, talk about it, watch it and finally set a deadline for incorporating these strategies.

Most importantly celebrate your success. I believe we often overlook the opportunity to celebrate our growth and achievement. Savouring that success fuels us to keep motivated. Focus on progressing steadily rather than leaping to the next goal. Maintain a belief that nothing in education is beyond your reach!

What is your story?

Coachable, engaged students

I am sure that I would not get much debate that high achievement, regular attendance, appropriate behaviour and graduation rates begin in a classroom. Not just any classroom, but a classroom of students who are coachable, engaged, and have an interest in learning. Yet many remain disengaged.

Currently I am the Coordinator of Fanshawe College’s Fast Forward Program and am working with a handful of students who are committed to changing their condition and making a difference in their own lives. I am charged with the task of assisting them with their situations and helping give them the tools to navigate their own life issues, re-enter the school system and have a respectful voice to advocate for their own needs toward achievement, graduation and pathways to success.

In general, I have learned to motivate my students by exploring one question with them: what one or two changes could we make to improve your achievement in school toward graduation and pathways to success? Then I listen carefully to their responses. My answer: I tweak my modules to meet their needs.

The key is that the students do not adapt to me or my curriculum, but I adapt the learning opportunities and the curriculum to them. I have learned that it is vital that to motivate my students I adjust the curriculum from their point of view. I am responsible to know what makes students tick. To move students to a higher level of achievement, to get them to graduate and on the pathway to success is an adventure.
What’s your story?

Rich Tasks

Here is part of a rich task done by my daughter and some of her friends. At a later date I will post the outline of the project. For now, enjoy her use of the newscast in video format, to fire the debate over the ethical dilemma of cloning. The students use local culture, humour and collective creative imagination.

The Business of Education

For a student, it could be a key to the future.

Key Role of Education-Business Partnerships by Kyra Kester
Role of Business in Education by Alan Baas

Below Apple and the classroom:

The Machine is us/ing us

Today and tomorrow....

Information technology allows us to generate and manipulate knowledge, and to communicate ideas and values quickly, irrespective of geographical distance with the use of tools of the Internet like blogs, groups, readers... . Are we giving our students the ability to define information needs, locate, analyze, organize and present for real audiences?

International Day

Math, writing, reading and other subjects are interwoven in International Day. Grade 9 students, Renée and Megan, share their experiences of this creative course in their school.
What kind of real-world applications are going on in your school?
How are your students engaged?

***Watch for more on International Day***

Digital StoryTelling

Here is a link through WizIQ that can help you get started on Digital Storytelling. This can be added to Podcast 2:

Quiet Treasures: Poised for presentation

Here is an interesting Video to promote conversation around Podcast 2.

Poised for presentation

Why are we so worried about using technology in the classroom? We buy our kids laptops, digital cameras, cell phones... do we see evidence of it in the classroom? Our kids are poised for presentation, but are we denying them opportunity in our schools?