Social Media

Social media can be defined as a group of Internet-based applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0.  It also allows for the creation and exchange of user-generated content.

There are six different types of social media:

• Collaborative projects like Wikipedia 
•  Blogs and microblogs like Blogger, Tumblr, or Twitter 
• Content communities like YouTube
• Social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace
• Virtual game worlds like World of Warcraft
• Virtual social worlds like Second Life

Within the past ten years, social media has completely revolutionized the way that we live.  As a result, it affects the way that students learn. In a study conducted by the American Library Association in 2008, it was discovered that elementary, middle and high schools are beginning to treat social media tools as an essential part of preparing students for the 21st century. Some key findings included:

• 53% of elementary, middle and high schools use some sort of collaborative tools to aid in instruction.

• 50% of schools use intranet within their school community.

• More than 41% of schools use podcasts.

• 29% of schools use blogs as an instructional platform.

• Although not extensively used, tools like online instruction and social book marking are popular with almost 20% and more than 15% of schools using some form of these tools, respectively.

• Integrating social networking tools into instruction is widely accepted by public and private schools alike.

In ”Social Networking Goes to School,” Michelle Davis relays the following about social media. 

“Just a few years ago, social networking meant little more to educators than the headache of determining whether to penalize students for inappropriate activities captured on Facebook or MySpace. Now, teachers and students have a vast array of social-networking sites and tools--from Ning to VoiceThread and Second Life--to draw on for such serious uses as professional development and project collaboration. Educators who support using social networking for education say it has become so ubiquitous for students--who start using sites like Webkinz and Club Penguin when they are in elementary school--that it just makes sense to engage them this way. Though teachers and students are now pushing learning beyond the borders of the classroom through social networking, that move also comes with hurdles, including the fact that many schools still block access to such sites within their walls.”

Since most public schools in fact block most social media tools, how can educators incorporate them into their curriculum?  Is it necessary for educators to incorporate them?  

To be able to promote and teach 21st century skills, 

using social media tools are necessary for education!

 

Here are some examples of how educators incorporated them into their classrooms and media centers:

• Silvia Rosenthal Tolisano is the 21st-century-learning specialist at the private, K-8 Martin J. Gottlieb Day School in Jacksonville, Fla. In January 2009, Tolisano launched her "Around the World With 80 Schools" project. The goal was to introduce her school's students to peers in countries around the globe. She built a social-networking site using Ning for teachers from all countries who wanted to participate, eventually attracting 300 members. Tolisano set up a meeting between classes using Skype. Students prepared a list of questions like “What's the weather like there?” “How big is your town or city?” “What continent are you on?”   They then chatted with students in Canada, Finland, New Zealand, and Spain, among a long list of others. Tolisano’s students had different jobs to do during the call. One was a photographer, documenting the meet-and-greet. Others placed the location of the class they're talking with on a Google map. Other students served as Twitter "backchannelers," who sent out tweets as the live event was happening. Other classes added "fact checkers," who go back to make sure the information provided is accurate. "It creates a global awareness that there is a wider world out there and that we are not alone," Tolisano says. "They find it's just as easy to collaborate with a class in England as with the class next door.

• At New Milford High School in New Jersey, the school's official Facebook page keeps its 1,100 fans updated on sports events and academic achievements. In addition, students who traveled to Europe for a tour of Holocaust sites blogged daily about their experiences, and received comments from all over the world.  The principal, Eric C. Sheninger, uses Twitter as a way to communicate with parents but also a professional development tool for his teachers.

• Project K-Nect, a grant-funded program that uses smart phones as teaching tools in a handful of North Carolina school districts, allows students to instant-message their peers and teachers with questions on math homework at any time of the day or night. Students can also post questions and answers to school math blogs, where a student struggling with algebra could find several classmates willing to walk him or her through a problem or even post video of the best way to solve it.

• Twitter has become a hot spot for educators to find professional development and resources. One of the most popular types of educator events on Twitter are "EdChats".  The chats are one-hour conversations that take place every Tuesday around a particular topic. The page is the brainchild of several educators.

• Shelly Terrell, who is currently teaching in Germany at the German-American Institute, had her kindergartners create a book in VoiceThread with a kindergarten class in Turkey. The young students drew "pages" and then spoke into a microphone to record parts of the story.