W6: Chat 3- Social Media in the Classroom

Chat3: @dcouture Great points, yet I do think that a tool can extend past just being a tool. I think the inclusion or exclusion of tools and information says something. It reminds me of Marshall McLuhan's famous quote, "the medium is the message". Unfortunately, I am not sure which technology would be most effective in the classroom as without a connection or understanding of the students needs both academically and socially, it is hard to assess.

Chat 3: I have used moodle with great success in my photography classes, as a way to submit digital files easily but also allowing discussion between students. From the reading, it wouldn't work on a intranet setting, but if they could find a similar program that will allow them the same technology tools it would be a great way to introduce students to technology, and digital citizenship.

Chat 3: Very interesting questions. A tool remains a tool, in that they can all be useful in a classroom setting, what changes the outcome is the manner and the moment in which it is used. In Emily's class I believe that each social media tool should be introduced one at a time, to ensure the proper implementation of each in an effective manner, and to evaluate whether or not it has the desired outcome in the community. We need to consider the following: Would the impact of social media in a small hamlet be different to that in an agglomeration?

Chat #3: I think my students would have an easy transition to using social media in the classroom, particularly in chat windows and message boards. Many are already using these in their personal lives. Unfortunately, FOIPPA (Freedom of Information Protection of Privacy Act) forbids students in Elementary from having any identifiable information stored outside of Canada. This eliminates YouTube and most social media accounts. Since students are also legally supposed to be age 13 to have email and (14 to have Facebook), setting them up with accounts that require an email address are also impossible. Cloud saving is also not allowed as this information is also stored outside of Canada. In my district the tech dept. is very adamant about enforcing these rules. However, as the use of social media in the classroom grows, I can also predict FOIPPA changes ahead. At that time, it will be exciting to explore these possibilities.

Chat 3: I think Social Media can be a really useful teaching tool. I think it can be really useful to encourage discussion, especially with students who are generally quiet during class discussions. As several people have mentioned the importance of privacy and having either secure areas or optional activities. I also like the collaboration factor of social media, it changes the way students interact with each other and the material. Emily’s class could benefit from social media collaboration with the intranet solution because they will still be able to collaborate with each other and as Maureen mentions it will help them to become comfortable with navigation of social media communication and the skills needed to become good digital citizens.

Thanks for your comments. With students able to post or share their thoughts or writing via social media, do you think that this may negatively impact developing skills in oral presentation and public speaking? If they rarely have the opportunity to present or talk to a large group how would this skill be developed?

Chat 3: Like Michael, I think that collaborative document/presentation tools are really useful for encouraging contributions to group work and for interactivity such as surveys. A benefit of these types of tools is that the sharing/privacy settings tend to be very straightforward to set up. These types of tools might be a great way to increase Emily's class' comfort in creating digital content. As many of my classmates have stated here, privacy, and students' online presence should remain top of mind. In the context of post secondary education in my own province, students cannot be asked to sign up with any type of third party online provider for the purposes of educational assessment - this should certainly be the case for younger students who are still learning about how to properly craft their online identities.

Chat 3: for my purposes, as the librarian in a K-7 school, I need to use social media sites that can be closed to the public such as classroom twitter accounts, student blogs with no names attached and Edmodo. I also encourage chat through MinecraftEdu, but it is a secure server that I run. The public can not join in the conversation and I can see all 30 students and their conversations. In this way I can support my students in Digital Citizenship. I do have a private YouTube channel where I can post videos the students make, so they can share them with their families. Even though these are set to private I remove the videos after the families indicate they have seen them. I worry about my students having an online presence and do not want my classroom activities to have a negative impact on that presence. I like the proposed solution of a secure message board and may set one up in my school for students to post to without worrying about people outside of our school seeing their comments. I think this is a great way for Emily to build community in her classroom and school.

Chat 3: I think the social media tools really depend on the purpose of the activity. For example, collaborative document frameworks are effective ways of conducting peer reviews, as opposed to the traditional method of "Pass your paper to the person behind you." Wikis are useful when creating group projects and reports. Instant messaging can be a good way of keeping track of group work between classes, though not necessarily in class. Private Facebook groups can also serve a similar purpose. My main concern is the one raised by Craig in the reflection discussion, that "teachers can inadvertently put students at risk by insisting on participation in an application like Twitter. When the intended purpose is over, those who may not otherwise have chosen to do join are now exposed to trolls, marketers and unsolicited viewers well past the life of the course." I think public-facing use of social media in class, especially for minors, should be optional rather than required, that temporary accounts should be explored as a viable option, and that students who opt in to public-facing social media use during class should nonetheless retain control of their data in some way and have the ability to ensure their contributions are removed from public-facing positions once the class is over.

Chat 3: I think with the right expectations and parameters set for students, any social media tool can be used a classroom setting. I think for Emily’s example the most useful would be some type of platform that allowed the students to show their work socially to help establish an online community. Students could take photos of their work and post them on Flickr or Twitter including similar hashtags. Since Internet access is limited they would be able to add and share their contributions in a short amount of time. Students could then comment and give feedback on each other’s work. Additionally, using some type of blog would be my other suggestion as it provides students the opportunity to establish their digital presence online while practicing digital citizenship. Blogging allows students to expand their ideas collaboratively and also use their own background knowledge to answer questions and build upon the answers of their classmates.