My notes from class on March 27, 2012. Created on Noteshelf App. |
I have been using twitter for a few years now. In fact, Kelly shared the idea of a Twitter Birthday, so I looked mine up on twbirthday.com and found out that my 3-year Twitter Birthday is about a month away.
In that time I have participated in several #artsed chats and some #edchat discussions. I have made some connections and have learned a great deal from some amazing educators all over the world. I think the greatest value for me with twitter is in these professional connections. Before I used twitter, I would follow some of these same people on their blogs and began searching through their blog lists to find information. Now that twitter has become more prevalent among educators and education reformers, i rarely check blogs or even Google Reader. Almost everyone posts to twitter when they update their blog or website, so I can easily see when new information is available to read. Twitter also lets me share their posts and give feedback on their ideas.
As for facebook, that will remain my personal space where students and only a few colleagues are invited to access. I don't friend current students, I only friend some former students, and I don't friend very many colleagues. There is a level of trust that I associate with sharing that part of my life and I am happy to keep it that way for the foreseeable future.
Social media had tremendous potential for learning and sharing among teachers. Students are still learning how to use these tools and only a few teachers have seen success in using social media in the classroom. As students and teachers learn how to work together using twitter and other social networking sites, the potential for learning will increase tremendously.
I have had several conversations with students about social media recently. Many of them are just trying out twitter and are drawn to it because not many of their friends use the service and almost none of their parents are on twitter. They are just starting to learn how to use twitter and teachers who choose to use it in their classroom need to make sure they provide training and support for their students and possibly the parents of their students. My greatest take-away from this class was the caution to inform parents if you decide to use social media in your classroom. I think that is great advice and I will be encouraging all of the teachers I work with to follow that rule.