TeachThinkTech

What do you think is the best way to deal with the increasing number of under 13s using social networks like Facebook?

Mon, 06 Jun 2011 11:48:11 -0400

I think you have to acknowledge the interest and work with it. If we know these things do a great job of engaging students, why would we not tap into that to get them more engaged in school and excited about learning?

I don’t think we want to encourage young kids to lie about their age to meet the Facebook terms of service, however. At home, I suggest parents create a “family” account on Facebook that they can use together (where mom or dad is in charge and the kids participate with supervision.) This creates natural opportunities for parents to talk with their kids about safe and appropriate behavior online while still allowing kids to explore and develop their social networking skills. Then, once the child is old enough, if he or she has shown responsibility in using the family account, he or she can get their own account.

I also think it’s worthwhile for schools to explore using one or more of the social networking tools specifically designed with younger students in mind (e.g. Schoology, edmodo, etc.), although you definitely don’t get the “whole wide world” as you would on a non-controlled site. Having “class” accounts on Facebook and Twitter (run by the teacher), however, could be incredibly useful, both for keeping parents more informed and involved and for connecting students with appropriate outside experts, mentors, pen pals, etc. while motivating students by showcasing some of their work and activities for a wider and more authentic audience.

Finally, don’t overlook the potential of wikis and social bookmarking tools. There’s more to the social Web than Facebook. Wikispaces, PBWorks, and Google Apps for Education offer nifty tools customized for educators for facilitating collaborative projects. Diigo, a social bookmarking platform (like Delicious on steroids), also offers a tool that allows teachers to set up accounts for all of his or her students without disclosing their personal info (a must for CIPA compliance) which is fantastic for doing things like organizing online reading groups or book clubs, setting up collaborative research projects, etc. Diigo also has it’s own pretty useful set of social features baked in, including “Easy Blogs,” groups, follows, lists, and so on.

10 Ways for Teachers to Collaborate

Tue, 24 May 2011 23:02:55 -0400

Highlights from a great post from the “What Ed Said” blog.

(Can we please be part of your “online PLN?”)

Amplify’d from whatedsaid.wordpress.com

1. Open the door.

Let go of the idea that you have to teach in ‘your way’ in ‘your space’. Team teach. Invite people in. Share spaces. Learn together.

2. Talk.

Collaborative planning is a constant conversation. (Thanks

3. Be open-minded.

There is more than one way of doing things. Be open to new ways of thinking and new ways of learning. Learning can look different from the way it did when you went to school.

4. Include your students.

Ensure you are part of their learning community rather than boss of the learning. Ask for feedback. Talk about the process of learning. Listen to their voices. It’s their learning.

5. Make learning trans-disciplinary.

Learning takes place when we connect new knowledge or ideas with what we already knew. The more connections, the stronger the learning. Create opportunities for connections across disciplines.

6. Share.

Share your time, your ideas and your expertise. Share tasks and resources between team members. Share responsibility with your students.

7. Focus on the arts.

Work with the art teacher and the music teacher. Use the arts to enrich learning in any subject area.

8.Establish an in-school PLN.

Learn from and with your personal learning network. It might be your grade level team, teachers of the same subject or, best of all, a mixed group. Share practice. Build on each others’ ideas.

9. Establish an online PLN.

Use social media to connect and collaborate with educators anywhere, any time. Get the most out of Twitter. Ask someone to help you get started on building an online network. (I will)

10. Create a global collaboration.

Use Skype or Voicethread to collaborate with a class in another country. Exchange ideas and beliefs. Learn from each other.
Read more at whatedsaid.wordpress.com

See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/a13uu9

What technology tools do you think are essential for helping to keep a teacher organized? *teacher dare day question

Tue, 24 May 2011 21:43:11 -0400

Google Calendar, Diigo for saving and organizing online resources, an RSS reader for following key thinkers, and a smart phone to pull it all together. Also, dedicated planning time!

District Administration: More Ed Leaders See Value of Social Networking

Tue, 24 May 2011 21:04:19 -0400

This article from District Administration reports that most school leaders who have used social networks agree they have great potential to help motivate and engage students, enhance professional development, and expand access to quality resources, experts, and mentors.

We think this is good news, but wonder this: If students, school leaders, and even Uncle Sam all think social networking tools belong in K-12 education, why has their adoption in schools lagged behind the rest of the culture?

What do you think the biggest obstacles are, and what can be done to remove them?

Amplify’d from www.districtadministration.com

Among students surveyed in a National School Boards Association study, 96 percent of those with online access reported using social networking, and half said they use it to discuss schoolwork. Despite this prevalence in everyday life, schools have been hesitant to adopt social networking as an education tool.

Survey research confirms, however, that interest in harnessing social networking for educational purposes is high. As reported in School Principals and Social Networking in Education: Practices, Policies and Realities in 2010, a national survey of 1,200 principals, teachers and librarians found that most agreed that social networking sites can help educators share information and resources, create professional learning communities and improve schoolwide communications with students and staff. Those who had used social networks were more positive about potential benefits than those who had not. In an online discussion with 12 of the principals surveyed, most said, “social networking and online collaboration tools would make a substantive change in students’ educational experience.” They said these tools could improve student motivation and engagement, help students develop a more social/collaborative view of learning and create a connection to real-life learning.

Social networking could become a vital part of the education environment if implemented effectively. In a 2008 study of high school students in the Midwest, researcher Christine Greenhow discovered that social networking expanded the students’ abilities to perform work by “actually practicing the kinds of 21st-century skills we want them to develop to be successful today.”

While some informal surveys suggest that students who spend the most time social networking have lower grades, causation has been difficult to establish. Meanwhile, a 2009 study by the British Council counters that students in the United Kingdom tend to learn more effectively in a social setting and recommends that teachers do three things to capitalize on this finding:

• Determine which social networking sites students like to use.

• Make students aware of free learning opportunities available via social networking sites like Second Life and Facebook.

• Show students how to set up their own blogs using free sites like WordPress.

The authors of a MacArthur Foundation white paper observe that social networking is most effective when educators can “link learners with others who might share their interests or … encourage students to publish works … [for] a larger audience.” The technology offers unique opportunities for collaboration not only among teachers and students but also scientists, business leaders, artists and others from around the world. Social networking can be used to improve team-building skills or to create communities of students, teachers and/or others to discuss a specific subject—much the same way that people get together on Facebook to discuss stamp collecting or a musician.

In the meantime, the U.S. Department of Education’s National Education Technology Plan 2010 calls for “revolutionary transformation rather than evolutionary tinkering.” The plan encourages all states and districts to experiment with social networks and other Web 2.0 technologies “both within and across education institutions” to expand collaborative learning opportunities for students and to create communities of practice among K12 teachers.
Read more at www.districtadministration.com

See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/a13us1

Risks and rewards of social tech in the classroom

Sun, 22 May 2011 16:05:55 -0400

The Huffington Post explores the risks and benefits of encouraging use of social media in K-12 learning.

Amplify’d from www.huffingtonpost.com

Social Networking In Schools: Educators Debate The Merits Of Technology In Classrooms
Read more at www.huffingtonpost.com

See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/a13ov3

Stats on Tech in the Lives of Teens

Thu, 19 May 2011 19:50:44 -0400

Stats on Tech in the Lives of Teens:

Pew Internet has an updated report with some interesting facts about when, where, and how students are using technology.

A couple of points that caught our eye. First, well over 90% of teens access the internet at home, and most of those students have cable or DSL connections. However, lower income teens are more likely to access the web using their phones.

Second, almost 1/3 of teens send 100 text messages or more per day. (Wow!) Amazingly, all this texting time doesn’t seem to come at the expense of other forms of communication, as heavy texters say they still make voice calls.

The third stat that may surprise some is that adults over 30 are now slightly more likely to have Facebook accounts than “young adults.” (Which Pew classifies as 18-29 and I classify as “anyone my age or younger.”) This reinforces our sense that Facebook is a potentially powerful parent outreach tool that schools can no longer afford to ignore.

As for Twitter? It’s usage is growing, but it’s still a niche player among teens, with only 8% reporting that they tweet. Compare that with the staggering 80% of teens who report owning a home gaming console.

Hit the link below for the full presentation. What stats surprised you most?

"Mean World Syndrome" and Technophobia

Mon, 16 May 2011 23:04:00 -0400

"Mean World Syndrome" and Technophobia:

Pamela Rutledge counters over-hyped (and under informed) fears about the dangers of technology use in this great blog post for the Media Psychology Research Center with a dose of reality and links to solid new research.

Key points: Yes, students need guidance and limits online as in the physical world. However, the online world is comprised of more than YouTube videos of singing dogs and serial killers stalking your children. (Don’t think we don’t like the singing dog videos, though. We do, in moderation. It’s the dancing cat videos that are really dangerous.) There is such a thing as “too much of a good thing,” but that truth doesn’t make that good thing a bad thing.

The Brain: Memories Are Crucial for Looking Into the Future You need a...

Tue, 03 May 2011 21:46:10 -0400

The Brain: Memories Are Crucial for Looking Into the Future You need a...:

aminotes:

The Brain: Memories Are Crucial for Looking Into the Future

You need a base to build the future

“The past and future may seem like different worlds, yet the two are intimately intertwined in our minds. In recent studies on mental time travel, neuroscientists found that we use many…

If Schools Was Like Facebook

Mon, 02 May 2011 19:23:26 -0400

I’m messing around with my new SlideRocket account. Here’s my first stab at using it — a talk for an online mini course we’re teaching this spring. What do you think? What ideas would you add? Suggestions welcome over on our Facebook page.

Teachers want more access to technology, collaboration, tools for differentiation

Sun, 27 Mar 2011 12:39:29 -0400

Teachers want more access to technology, collaboration, tools for differentiation:

Via eClassroom News:

A national survey on college and career readiness and the challenges facing U.S. teachers reveals that educators consider the ability to differentiate instruction for their students as essential for students’ success—and more access to technology will help them do this, they say.

Darling-Hammond: U.S. vs highest-achieving nations in education - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post

Sat, 26 Mar 2011 11:57:40 -0400

Darling-Hammond: U.S. vs highest-achieving nations in education - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post

I am! I'm in the Cleveland area working at Cuyahoga Community College and presenting locally on social media awareness (for students). Positivelypersistentteach is also in the area.

Tue, 22 Mar 2011 10:46:52 -0400

We should engineer a meet-up sometime to plot world domination and/or enjoy a cup of coffee.

New Discussion Features in Google Docs

Fri, 18 Mar 2011 18:02:15 -0400

New Discussion Features in Google Docs:

thingsforteachers:

Today, Google announced an enhancement to the Google Docs commenting system. The enhancement is being called “discussions.” Discussions will allow document collaborators to have threaded conversations in the margins of a document. By including the @ symbol before a collaborator’s name you can reply directly to that person. Another option in discussions is the option to be notified via email of replies to your comments in Google Docs.

I’m excited about this!

BGSU as in Bowling Green State University? I'm a Kent State native.

Fri, 18 Mar 2011 12:37:25 -0400

Yep! I mainly teach online from home in Columbus. Are you still in Ohio?

Goodbye, VHS

Thu, 17 Mar 2011 17:04:29 -0400

All the instructors at BGSU (where I teach) just received word that the IT department is removing all the VCRs from campus classrooms.

I’m 36, and VHS tapes have been part of the curriculum since I was in preschool. For me, it’s the end of an era in ed tech.

(Does anyone think kids will be watching The Letter People on Blu-Ray 35 years from now?)

Thanks for everything, VHS. Without you, my generation would never have known what foreign people sound like when asking directions to the library, what volcanoes look like when they’re erupting, or what bad dialogue irresponsible teens use right before they contract “social diseases” or die in car accidents. You captured our youths in low resolution and pacified us through countless teacher sick days with repeated showings of the “Back to the Future” trilogy. (Why? We may never know.)

You will be missed.

Your friends,

Generation X

"How can technology make a person better? Only in this way: by providing each person with chances. A..."

Mon, 07 Mar 2011 12:13:35 -0500

“How can technology make a person better? Only in this way: by providing each person with chances. A chance to excel at the unique mixture of talents he or she was born with, a chance to encounter new ideas and new minds, a chance to be different from his or her parents, a chance to create something his or her own.”

- Author Kevin Kelly from What Technology Wants

Study: Digital Media and Youth Civic Engagement

Fri, 04 Mar 2011 05:06:23 -0500

Study: Digital Media and Youth Civic Engagement:

kiwicommons:

Media Awareness Network has recently published a new study titled “From Consumer to Citizen: Digital Media and Youth Civic Engagement.” The study outlines the ways in which youth are…

"…technology alone is not enough… it’s technology married with liberal arts, married with..."

Thu, 03 Mar 2011 18:30:24 -0500

“…technology alone is not enough… it’s technology married with liberal arts, married with the humanities, that yields us the result that makes our hearts sing.”

- Apple’s Steve Jobs at yesterday’s press event unveiling the iPad 2.

Cool animation mapping the online social activity of New York...

Thu, 03 Feb 2011 20:50:00 -0500

Cool animation mapping the online social activity of New York City by Christian Marc Schmidt. It’s kind of like watching a PET scan of Manhattan.

(Note that, if you watch closely, you’ll probably see a few terms zip by in captured Twitter messages that probably aren’t appropriate for K-12 classroom use, so “teacher guidance suggested.”)

By revealing the social networks present within the urban environment, Invisible Cities describes a new kind of city — a city of the mind. It displays geocoded activity from online services such as Twitter and Flickr, both in real-time and in aggregate. Real-time activity is represented as individual nodes that appear whenever a message or images is posted. Aggregate activity is reflected in the underlying terrain: over time, the landscape warps as data is acccrued, creating hills and valleys representing areas with high and low densities of data.

More info about the project is at http://christianmarcschmidt.com/invisiblecities

National Educational Technology Plan: Your Questions Answered

Wed, 02 Feb 2011 14:00:27 -0500

Editor’s Note: Today’s guest blogger is Audrey Watters, is a technology journalist specializing in education technology news. She has read all 100+ pages of the National Education Technology Plan released by the U. S. Department of Education last November, and she has summarized it below. If you have any questions about the plan, please ask them in ..read more..

via #smartr - Brilliant news reader for twitter+iphone