Building Social Media for Educators: A Course Review
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Building Social Media for Educators Susan Cash
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Transcript of Building Social Media for Educators: A Course Review
Building Social Mediafor Educators
Susan Cash
My Misconceptions about Social Media
The thought of engaging in social media always seemed shallow, overwhelming, and unfruitful to me. While I used Facebook regularly to keep in touch with family and friends, I shunned the idea of using Twitter. How could tweets from celebrities change my life?
Obviously, they can’t. But I quickly learned that Twitter has more to offer than popular culture and celebrity gossip.
I discovered a thriving network of educators and experts in the fields of technology and education, professionals who are sharing their insights and passions. These tweets can have a tremendous positive impact on my teaching practices and allow me to attain a greater level of expertise as an educator. In essence, the advantages of social media are infinite.
When the internet seems to be shouting out options, it’s hard to know where to begin.
Twitter, my new best friend and #1 Most Useful ToolAfter viewing Julie Smith’s Twitter tutorial for educators on Youtube, I gained the confidenceto create an account and tweet #myfirsttweet.
Why it’s AWESOME:Twitter is the foundation of my PLN; it has opened the door to every
educational discovery I’ve made.Ashley Hurley’s tutorial on TweetDeck showed me how to chat with other
teachers; open communication is a priceless resource for teachers.@cybraryman1 posts a master list of Twitter chats for educators!I can ignore the Twitter noise and focus on education, literature, and
technology by selective following.
Feeling Twitterpated➔ Discovering the right hashtag to use for posts takes a
little bit of time, but I quickly found my niche: #edchat, #teachsmall, #edtech, #medialiteracy, #flipclass, #ning, #litchat.
➔ Limiting Tweets to 140 characters is challenging but fun.➔ When inserting links, there’s no better pal than
TinyURL!It’s sinfully easy!
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Best Bookmarking Tool: I tried working with Delicious, but I found installation to be tedious and confusing, which left me feeling frustrated.
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Next, I tried Diigo. Installation only took a few clicks, and I have been bookmarking ever since!
The Digolet bookmarklet button allowsme to bookmark, highlight, and shareuseful resources I find online.
How I Intend to IncorporateI can share and access bookmarks not only with
department members but also with educators around the world.
Students can join my class group and use Diigo to collaborate on research projects.
Students can use Diigo as the platform for their own PLNs. To Diigo or not to
Diigo… for the love of Pete! Diigo, Hamlet, Diigo!
Another Key Part of My PLN is
Ning is the Thing!The tagline immediately grabbed my attention:
Where English teachers go to help each other.
Why I LOVE this social media platform:It was created for English teachers by an English teacher.Different subgroups allow for specialization within the discipline.I receive immediate responses from tech-savvy educators.It exudes a spirit of generosity and goodwill.It keeps me up-to-date on primary texts and technology.
I’ve already invited my entire department to join, learn, and share!
Thank you, Jim Burke! :)
My Ning Page
My Own Webpage on Wix.com offers free, cloud-based websites!The templates are fresh and interesting, and the drop-drag
method of editing makes customizing a page or site very easy.
I plan to use my Wix page as a course overview and resource site.
Students will create their own Wix pages for a satirical advertising campaign, one of our performative assessments.
Click here to see my page. (susanjude.wix.com/english12)
Other Tools to Enhance My PLNLinkedIn seems to be geared more toward business than education, although I am excited to experience what it has to offer.Feedly allows me to deposit all of the blogs I read in one location. I’m not sure I will use this tool as much as I use Twitter.Pinterest provides ideas and activities for classroom engagement, but again, I find Twitter to be more helpful.
My Feedly Page
Most USELESS Tool:➔When a site expects teachers to pay to use
its services, I immediately stop reading.➔There are so many FREE web tools
available to educators, there’s no need to pay for anything.
➔Glogster gets a “G” from me for being greedy!
My Take on Online Learning★ My misconceptions of social media prevented me from
enhancing my students’ learning as well as my own learning an educator.
★ “Building Social Media for Educators” has opened a doorway of infinite possibilities for me by introducing me to Twitter.
★ I am thrilled to begin a new school year and share my knowledge of Twitter, Diigo, and Ning with my colleagues and students.
★ l look forward to engaging in the continuing conversation of best practices in education, incorporating technology and my passion for literature.
