Posts
This week we looked at how social networking sites can be used in the classroom. I have to say that before reading the classroom text, I was adamantly opposed to "connecting" with my students via any of these methods. My fear was exposing them to online dangers and not being able to monitor and protect them. However, I have softened this viewpoint some.
What I have learned is that there ways to secure and protect the interactions I have with my students using networks like Facebook. I also learned more about the use of Ning as an alternative to Facebook. Being able to create layers to the Facebook account created for classroom use is an attractive option. Ning, however, would give me more control over who can actually participate and how much they participate. Will I use it for my classroom? I am not sure. I already have plans for the Google class page and to expand the use of my virtual classroom on Moodle.
It would be interesting to create a Facebook site for the staff at our building and see how many of the staff would use it and participate in using it. I would this as a way encouraging them to expand and be creative in their embracing social networking as part of their personal learning.
The reason I joined Facebook last summer is that a lot of the teachers in our building were always saying oh, I saw it on facebook. I have to admit though that I go in spurts of checking and not checking it. It has been a great way to connect with some of the teachers I don't see as often. It was a great way for us to use our networks this spring when we were attempting to win a visit from Donald Driver to our school. Through a Goodwill promotion all the items that were donated during April were able to be tracked to the schools that people donated from. We had over 30,000 items donated and won the contest. There is also a site for our teachers at our school, but it rarely gets used or checked. So all in all it has been good, but it could be even better.
ReplyDeleteTracey,
ReplyDeleteI had the same reservations about facebook and other social network sites as you did. I feel that there is some risk with that but there are risks for a lot of things we do in the classroom! The rewards that are possible for it are an attractive piece that we need to use.
If you have a younger staff, I could see them using the facebook page. However, it has been my experience that if you have an older staff, they will not participate much if at all.