Blog Post 5 - Social Media

I am new to social media. Up until a few months ago, I was barely aware of the changes that were occurring on the Internet. The sad part was that I knew more than most of the other teachers at the school. What I have learned over the past few months has changed the way that I look at teaching.

Social media is about creating things online and sharing them with other people. There are many remarkable tools online that can be used for this very purpose.

Here is a video about some ways that social media is being used in educational settings.






Sarah Robbins (2008) says that all communication is educational. Social media gives students a way to communicate their ideas. My Facebook is covered with the different ideas that some of my former students have had or a link to something that someone else has done.

One of the problems with social media is the debate between copyright infringement and fair use policy. It seems that teachers and students may have gotten some help. Watch this video from the Center for Social Media.




The complete report is available at http://www.centerforsocialmedia.org/resources/publications/code_for_media_literacy_education/
As is mentioned in the video, if social is used, it is important that we discuss Fair Use with the students and other teachers so that they understand what they can and cannot use.

I have created a website on Ning.com for use in my classroom. It is a very safe site to use because it offers more restrictions than Facebook and allows for blogs, pictures and the ability to upload videos. I want the students to start creating and engaging verses just regurgitating information on a test and then forgetting it. Social media can help reach a generation that is getting information faster than ever and then taking that information, putting their fingerprint on it, and sharing it with the world (or at least their friends).

Arciaga, T., Moraga, S., Seeley, A., Scott, J., Ye, X (2008). Social media and education. [Video File] posted to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bYbIM5Pehg

Center for Social Media. (2008). The code of best practices in fair use for media literacy education. Retrieved from Center for Social Media website: http://www.centerforsocialmedia.org/resources/publications/code_for_media_literacy_education/

Center for Social Media (2008). Fair use for media literacy education. [Video File] posted to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TO96CpCGE0

Robbins, S. (2008). Educause08: Social media and education. Retrieved August 19, 2009, from Slideshare.net website: http://www.slideshare.net/intellagirl/educause08-social-media-and-education-presentation