The growing popularity and the pervasive use of social networking websites among our teens and students is a fact we can no longer ignore. Unfortunately, many school boards still promulgate laws that inhibit access to these platforms in schools and thus missing on huge learning opportunities for students. Instead of forcing an unwarranted ban on these media tools why not embrace them and turn them into learning hubs where our students can thrive academically.
Using social media in education has got such a huge potential and there are a variety of ways teachers and schools can leverage the networked power of these tools to help students achieve better. Here are some of the ideas I highlighted from the graphic below on how to use social media in class:
1- Facebook
- Use Facebook apps and groups like Flashcards and WeRead to make learning and studying easier and more enjoyable.
- Make a Facebook page for your class where you can schedule events, post notes and remind students of assignment due dates.
- Improve communication by allowing students to easily message teachers and other students with questions
- Become a news source by posting status updates or tailor your feed to follow other media and prominent leaders.
2- Twitter
- Track hash tags, memes and current events by setting up specific feeds the entire class can monitor
- Create a feed for your classroom so you can tweet about upcoming assignments, events and class news
- Connect with other classrooms, teachers and parents to increase communication and build community
- Follow other educators' tweets to keep up with the latest teaching trends, get ideas and support one another.
- Post supplementary materials like links to articles and videos so students can continue learning even when class is over
- Search Pinterest for inspiring tips on how to organize and decorate your classroom
- Search, find, pin and organize images, projects, videos, store and more for future lesson plans and projects
- Allow students to use Pinterest for presentations and projects. Later, set up boards to promote students final assignment.
- Use community boards for group projects and brainstorming so multiple users can all save their resources in one place
- Share ideas and collaborate with teachers and students from other classes and schools
YouTube
- Search for on-topic videos that can use in the classroom to bring lessons to life, making them more memorable.
- Record your lessons and post them on YouTube so students can review them whenever they want
- Take your videos to the next level by adding quizzes, annotations and more
- Teach students how to produce and edit video by having them film and upload videos to a class YouTube channel.
- Curate organized playlists so your students can easily find and watch al related and approved videos on a topic
Blogging
- Create a class blog so students can stay up-to-date on upcoming projects, due dates, events and other reminders
- Publish student work on the blog, or have students set up their own blogs as online portfolios
- Encourage students to post on a class blog weekly to develop their own voice and work on their writing
- Post daily or weekly homework assignments on the blog so students who were absent can know what they missed
- Post discussion topics on the blog, give your students a few days to reflect on the topic and comment.
source: http://www.onlinecolleges.net/
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