Social Networking: Why You Should and How to Make It Work for YouTim Ito & Simon Cable, Oct. 28, Las Vegas, 2011 ASCD Conference on Teaching and Learning

Social Networking: Today’s Agenda

I. Social Networking: What is it really?

II. Concerns About Social Networking PD Standpoint

III. Reasons to Consider SN (PD)

IV. Concerns About Social Networking (Students/Parents)

V. Reasons to Consider SN (Students/Parents)

VI. Ideas for What to Do Next and Special Guest!

Social Networking: What Is It Really?

Relationships

Change

Information

Concerns About Social Networking (PD)

• “It’s a distraction.” • “There’s no control over staff posts/comments”• “I don’t get It / don’t see the point.” • “I don’t have time.”• “I’ve never had to use it before, so why start now?”• “I’m too plugged in already.” or “I don’t get enough face-to-face time.” • “My school doesn’t allow it.”• “It’s dangerous to post your opinion online.”• Others?

Why You Should Consider Social Networking (PD) Reflect on practice Stay informed Get access to advice, mentors, new ideas – your own PLC Can communicate with large numbers of people at any moment.

(Crowd-sourcing) Instant feedback at any moment (back-channeling) Others?

Concerns About Social Networking (with Students) “It’s a distraction for students.” “We need to protect children -- limit access to unsavory individuals,

groups, chats or content.” “Teachers/educators should not fraternize with students”

(We need to protect students from ourselves) “Social networking teaches/encourages bad grammar and/or poor

writing.” Others?

Why You Should Consider Social Networking (Students/Parents) It’s what they do already, why not harness it Banning sites doesn’t work with mobile phones and other devices. Who better to teach kids social media and networking than teachers? Builds collaborative community for students (share files, documents,

projects, get/give peer feedback). Example: Facebook Summer Reading Discussion groups

Learn about life, culture, and geography in disparate locales (Skype) Feed important information to students and parents on

updates/events/news/disasters (Twitter/Facebook) Students who don’t participate in class might participate online Social networking engages students in learning. Encourages creativity

Ideas for What to Do Next (Social Networking with Students/Parents in Mind) Use Facebook or Twitter to create school page for emergencies or

alerts, class updates, field trip reminders Set up a Google+ account or a Facebook group for your class, have

your students join and create a discussion circle with them. Share pictures, notes, links

Set up a Twitter account and tweet a word of the day, history fact, or timely event. Do a shared group study around a #hashtag (EXAMPLE)

Start a book club and have students tweet reactions to chapters as they go.

Use Polleverywhere to take the pulse of students on which book to read – or to get them engaged (EXAMPLE)

Skype with another classroom or a guest lecturer (EXAMPLE)

More Ideas for What To Do Next (Parents/Students)

Post homework assignments on Twitter Micro-Writing (Twitter): Progressive collaborative writing or problem

solving ‘Lingua Tweeta’ (Twitter): Post a phrase in a foreign language and ask

students to translate Post student projects on YouTube, watch excerpts from experts or

footage of news events, or use video annotations Foursquare/SCVNGR (or other GPS-based) scavenger hunt Create a Wiki around a topic MediaWiki (developer install) or Zoho

(hosted solution) Use Google Earth to study geography

Ideas for What to Do Next (Professional Development)

Join– Join an Educator social network (ASCD EDge, etc.) and then

start/join your own PLN (group) – Join a Ning – Edchat, Curriculum 21, ELL groups– Join Facebook (Find educator groups to join/follow, ASCD,

Edutopia, affiliates, Facebook for Educators)– Join Twitter and Make Connections (Use hashtags --

#commoncore, join in on #edchat or #ellchat) Connect

Put Yourself Out There

Things to Keep in Mind

Do What Works For You or Your Students (There’s no one tool)

Don’t Be Afraid to Dive In The Importance of Forming Relationships