Using Social Media in the Classroom

– Across Disciplines

Laura De La Cruz, MBA/MPA

Dona Ana Community College

Uses of Social Media

Engagement – pull students into learning via a

variety of media

Assessment – determine if students are really

―getting‖ it

Retention – foster a sense of community and create

stronger learning communities

Twitter

Have students tweet imagined conversations

between famous literary characters

Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy

Or between famous people in history

Thomas Jefferson and John Adams

Practice a foreign language via Twitter

Find native speakers on Twitter to follow

Ask students to watch a file and ―live tweet‖ their

own viewing, posting to Twitter whatever came to

mind as they watch the film.

Use as an assessment tool in the class

IN-CLASS

Used for engagement and

assessment of student

learning while in the class

Instructor-driven

Assures involvement

of students present in

class

Used as an assessment

of student learning as

applied outside of the

class

Student-driven

Student involvement

not assured since

students are doing

this on their own

OUTSIDE OF CLASS

Two Ways to Use TwitterIn-Class or Out

This

depends

on your

goal!

In-class it creates a timeline of

information covered in lecture

or discussions

Out of class it creates a

timeline of student activities on

the project

Either Way You Create a Timeline

Stop and ask everyone to ―tweet‖ on a slip of paper

Collect all slips –remind students the tweets are anonymous

Read every tweet out loud

Feel free to jump on any teaching moments that present themselves

Select 2-3 that best represent what was learned

Post on Twitter

In-Class TweetingApproximately every 15-20 Minutes

In-Class TweetingPrinciples of Selling

Watch citizen journalism in action in other countries

http://mashable.com/2013/01/14/twitter-mexico-violence/

Tweet news – have students tweet news reports to

practice communicating succinctly

Facebook

Use Facebook to create a Fan Page for a character

from literature or history

Google+

Google+ has a section specifically for

viewing, managing and editing multimedia

Create lectures for flipped classes

Go to the Hangout and create areas for group work

Pinterest

Start Boards for

Visual Merchandising and Design

Marketing Concepts

Photo Journalism

Geography

Politics

Sociology

Astronomy

Group Boards

Visual Merchandising

Product Marketing

Google Moderator

Create interactive lectures by typing in questions and

letting students vote

Include students in your preparation for

lectures, interviews and hard decisions or work

together to organize feature requests and brainstorm

new ideas.

TodaysMeet

A microblogging site that is free and no account

needed

Create a room, set a time limit, go to work

Great for group discussions

Q&A in the classroom

Role-playing

Skype

Office hours

Language practice with native speakers

Skype lessons, eg:

Join Mark Wood on his Everest adventure

NASA & Humans in Space

Ning

Create your own social network

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CWKADzvCpA

Storify

Storify is a free tool that allows users to tell stories

using social media. Students can pull

tweets, videos, pictures and more into a story on a

subject of their choosing.

Create a multi-media book report

―Reenact‖ a historical event or scene from a book or

movie

Pull together media on a scientific concept

Use Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Google search,

RSS feeds, or enter links directly.

Storify will create icons or embed the media into your

timeline.

You can move things around as you want, and add

intervening blocks of text—headlines, descriptions,

etc.

Delicious

Create reading lists for your classes

Useful for students doing research

Save useful websites

As a history teacher, you might have a tag called, CivilWar.

Each time you find a site about the Civil War that you want

to share with students, you simply tag it as, CivilWar. The

next time you're at school and you want to use a web site

you've located at home, but you don't remember the web

address, you simply go to Delicious.com and search for your

CivilWar tag.

Embed into Ning!

Audacity

Audacity allows you to make free and easy podcasts

and MP3s where students can hear, edit and publish

themselves.

Make an audio/radio advertisement

Practice second language proficiency

Narrate history

Explain math solutions

Jing

A free tool for creating screencasts

Save a single image or movie (add narration) and publish

Great for tutorials

Have students save presentations

Students record themselves doing research

Students record themselves solving problems

Use for introductions in online classes!

Slideshare

No more failed flashdrives

Share PowerPoint presentations

Students can review and comment on other student

presentations

Wikispaces

Creates an area for collaboration

Create a math learning center that includes links to

relevant math sites on the web and links to downloadable

math worksheets

Use as a blog, upload video, provide

announcements, give out homework

50 Ways to Use Wikis

http://www.smartteaching.org/blog/2008/08/50-ways-

to-use-wikis-for-a-more-collaborative-and-interactive-

classroom/

Social Media in the Classroom

Are websites and learning management systems

dead?

Is it now about your Digital Presence?