Social networking is a great way to get your students involved in discussing school related topics in a method that they can relate to, understand, and enjoy using. Social media started out as a fun way to connect with friends, but it has evolved to become so much more. It has become a powerful tool for educators to open up a world of possibilities and connections to our students. Social networking tools like; Facebook, Twitter even Skype are connecting students to learning opportunities in new and exciting ways. It is also part of their everyday life so it would silly to ignore it in the classroom.
There are so many ways to use the different social networking sites in the classroom, many activities can cross grade levels and subject areas. It just takes a little creativity! I found a great blog on OnlineUniversities.com with some awesome ideas for classroom applications of social media tools. OnlineUniversities also had a great article about the impacts of using social networking in the classroom its worth checking out! It had some great ideas of different social networking options that you could use in the classroom like Brainify. http://www.onlineuniversities.com/blog/2010/05/100-inspiring-ways-to-use-social-media-in-the-classroom/
The first idea on this site really jumped out at me. It has the students create facebook accounts for characters in a novel study. I would take it a step further as a writing assignment and have the students email each other (or post on the walls) as if they were the characters talking about events occurring in the novel. You could connect it with art and have the students sketch their characters, scan the drawings and use them as their profile pictures.
Even sites like Today’sMeet can be used as a discussion forum while working on another project in class, kind of a background commentary to another lesson. This way you can view all the students comments, but it is more casual then an essay or writing an entire blog entry.
I think using social media in any way we can is a great idea. Students use it so much already, rather than fight it we should embrace it.
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