With each new advancement there are those who talk about it being a danger and a distraction to students. It has been said about the internet and is now being said about social media. Personally, I believe that social media is a great tool for learning. Classrooms that integrate facebook, facebook like sites, and blogs can be an integral part of the classroom. Studies have shown that classrooms that have integrated social media sites have more engaged students and better homework scores (Kessler, S. 2010. http://mashable.com/2010/09/29/social-media-in-school/). Students take more accountability into their work when they believe that not only the teacher, but their peers and other people could read their post. It also provides an alternative method of communication and expression for the students. Most students do not feel that blog posting is as much work and in some cases, students would do it willingly, even without a grade (Kessler, S. 2010. http://mashable.com/2010/09/29/social-media-in-school/) However, there are certain things to look out for when using social media for school. It is a well known fact that there are predators on the internet and having younger students on facebook actually violates it's terms of use. The safer method is sites like Edmodo or Edublogs that are specifically created to have facebook-esque features, but intended for schools (Kessler, S. 2011. http://mashable.com/2011/12/05/educators-on-facebook/). Of course, even with that, it's important to keep certain etiquette. Teachers friending students is certainly taboo and in some schools it's been banned completely (Poole, B. 2011. http://www.educationworld.com/a_tech/columnists/poole/poole018.shtml).
Facebook does not make someone a better teacher. Simply telling students they will be using social media sites does not automatically shift the perspective to make students more eager to learn. Teachers have to know how to use these tools to excite the students and how to use it properly. (Stewart, S. 2011. http://sarah-stewart.blogspot.co.nz/2011/04/just-to-let-you-knowfacebook-does-not.html) Take for instance, a social studies unit. The teacher could create a page for the revolution and have each student create a post as a participant/observer of a famous battle. Students would be required to create their post in order of the battles happening and the newsfeed would give student an "up to date" of the forming revolution. Another idea is to have students create a blog focusing on a specific poet during a literary unit. Students would use their blog to post the analysis for different poems, their own illustrations drawn digitally, as well as posts that describe the time the poet lived in and some biographical information.
I agree with you when you stated that there are so many things to be careful about when bringing Facebook into instructional lessons. It's too risky in my opinion and schools banning the availability of teachers and students being "friends" on Facebook is for the best interest of both of them.
ReplyDeleteYou brought up a great point about students being more willing to write a blog post as opposed to say an essay. Kids may not feel that they are actually "working" because posting on the internet is what they like to do. This can be especially beneficial for students with disabilities as often writing assignments can be difficult. Posting a blog gives them chance to see what others think about a certain topic as well as models of others' work to follow as an example.
ReplyDeleteI love the idea you gave about the Revolutionary War Facebook posts project, especially keeping it in chronological order. Students would need to keep checking the posts to see when their particular battle is to be posted. In that way students are informed and up to date as the war progresses. Fantastic Idea!
I also believe students would be more apt to do the work through Facebook or another social networking site. I think it is a good way for teachers to "keep up with the times." Its very important for teaching methods to stay relevant.
ReplyDeleteYeah! I love that you said that using FB (or other tech tools, for that matter) doesn't make someone a better teacher. That is so true and we often forget that there is an art and science to teaching and behind all of the bells and whistles of tech-- we need to know WHY we are using it (and if there is truly a benefit as well).
ReplyDeleteYour creative ideas for using it align very nicely to some of the best features of FB. Great job.