USING SOCIAL MEDIA AS A CLASSROOM TOOLEmily Boles

Center for Online Learning, Research & Service

University of Illinois Springfield

WHAT IS SOCIAL MEDIA?

Is it Social Networking? Wiki? Blogs? Video Sharing? Photo Sharing? Social Bookmarking?

LET’S BREAK IT DOWN.

Media = an instrument on communication(television, newspaper or radio)

Thus, social media is social (community-based) instrument of communication

Regular media = 1 Way Street Consuming Single or Limited Sources

Social media = Two Way Street Participating Many Voices or Sources

SOCIAL MEDIA IS

Any website that invites interaction with the site and with other members.

TYPES OF SOCIAL MEDIA Social News. (Digg, Reddit)

Vote and rank articles and leave comments

Social Bookmarking. (Delicious, Diigo) Tag & share bookmarks, search other’s bookmarks

Social Networking. (Facebook, LinkedIn, Ning) Add friends, comment on profiles, share media, join groups discussions

Photo/Video/Audio Sharing. (YouTube, Flickr, iTunes) Share photos/videos & comment on user submissions

Wikis. (Wikipedia, PB Wiki, Wikispaces) Create new wiki, add or edit existing wiki/articles

SOCIAL MEDIA IN CLASS

Supports a constructivist learning theoryPeople build knowledge for themselves through experiences

Engages students with content and one anotherResearch in Communities of Inquiry shows that increased levels of interaction lead to higher student satisfaction (Swan, 2004)

Allows students to build a PLE that continues after coursePersonal Learning Environment

Builds communication and technology skillsDesirable skills in the workforce

It’s FUN :-D

MORE POPULAR THAN EMAIL

Two thirds of us now use "member communities"

MC popularity is being boosted by the growing use of mobiles for internet access.

MCs now make up "the fourth most popular category online – ahead of personal email," says Nielsen Online.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/blog/2009/mar/09/nielsen-social-networks

SOCIAL NEWS

Digg http://digg.com/ The largest and most popular social news website on

the internet. Covers all topics including politics, entertainment, technology and general news. Includes a separate video and image section.

Reddit http://www.reddit.com/ Popular social news website with a large user base. Covers a

wide range of news. Includes several topical sections called subreddits, which focus on specific topics like programming, science, politics and business.

News Mixer http://newsmixer.us/ Developed by journalist grad students to see how the

web could be used to support conversations around local news

50 Social News Websites from DoshDosh Bloghttp://www.doshdosh.com/list-of-social-media-news-websites/

SOCIAL BOOKMARKING

Diigo http://diigo.com Group and discussion tool, high/comment the

web, bookmarking http://socialnetworkinginclass.ning.com/page/diig

o-1 Delicious http://delicious.com

Bookmarking, tag clouds to share on other sites

SOCIAL NEWS & BOOKMARKING IN CLASS

Collaborative/Individual Research Projects

Provide resources to your students

Visual method to present topic in LMS

Present content to students in multiple courses through tag clouds

Bring students across disciplines together for a project (bio-ethics, literature and the environment, etc)

SOCIAL NETWORKING

Facebook http://www.facebook.com Friend others, groups, fan pages, integrate with

Bb http://socialnetworkinginclass.ning.com/page/facebook-1

LinkedIn http://linkedin.com Professional social networking; often used by

hiring managers to research candidates

Ning http://ning.com Create a social network around a topic, can be

private http://socialnetworkinginclass.ning.com/page/3405975:Page:206

WIKIS & BLOGS

PB Works http://pbworks.com Free to educators, student accounts do not

require email addresses http://2009ietc.blogspot.com/2009/11/set-up-tips-for-wiki.

html

Wikispaces http://wikispaces.com One free wiki, easy to edit

Blogger http://blogger.com Free. Unlimited blogs. Post comments without

usernames.

SOCIAL NETWORKING & WIKIS/BLOGSIN CLASS Service Learning – build a site for local group or to

bring awareness to cause Project presentations E-portfolios of student work Extension of LMS. Meet students where they are Collect resources (websites, annotated bibs, model

assignments) for course Collaborate with colleagues on professional projects Group projects, essays and reports Space for free writing or journaling Students work collaboratively to create a

compendium of terms and concepts for the course to use as a study guide

Less formal discussions

PHOTO/VIDEO/AUDIO SHARING SITES

Flickr http://flickr.com Share and collect images

YouTube http://youtube.com Share and view/comment on videos

iTunes/iTunes U http://www.apple.com/itunes/ Share, consume, rate podcasts

PHOTO/VIDEO/AUDIO SHARING IN CLASS

Appeal to Different Learning Styles

Teach students to create multimedia

Assign students to present a course topic to class

Interviews with video/audio

GOOGLE WAVE – INTEGRATED PLATFORM

A wave is equal parts conversation and document. People can communicate and work

together with richly formatted text, photos, videos, maps, and more.

A wave is shared. Any participant can reply anywhere in the message, edit the content and add

participants at any point in the process. Then playback lets anyone rewind the wave to see who said

what and when.

A wave is live. With live transmission as you type, participants on a wave can have faster conversations,

see edits and interact with extensions in real-time. http://wave.google.com/about.html

CHOOSING SOCIAL MEDIA

ASSURE MODEL (HEINRICH, 1999)

Procedural guide when introducing technology into lesson planning.

Ensures media use is appropriate to task & audience

Help instructors prevent time wasting activities

Can illustrate misapplication or incorrect preparation for technology.

ASSURE MODEL, CONTINUED Analyze Learners. Who will be using the technology? What skill or

experience do they have with web based tools? Are learning styles important? Will the users have ready access to the web? When? How?

State Objectives. What are the goals of the experience? Considering these goals, what Web 2.0 tool best supports the learning objectives/tasks? What purpose, performance, or task is to be assigned? What type of communication? What type of information gathering? What Quality/ Quantity measures should be included?

Select Media. Should the interaction be public or private? Do we need a record or archive of the events? What type of controls are necessary? Is the information subject to comment? Copyright?

Utilize Media. If it was a classroom, this would be where you state what you need to do to set up the projector for all to see and hear, the preparation needed for the technology, etc. For web-based tools the questions are more complex. Do students need to create individual accounts? Do we want to register this material as part of our school? Do we need file storage space to store video or audio files before uploading? Do we need a microphone, web camera, or speakers?

Require Learner Participation. How will you make sure that participants are attentive to the objectives?

Evaluation and Revise. How did this work? What do the participants say about the media and methods used? Did the media enhanced the lesson or distracted from it?

6 STEP DESIGN PLAN (RHONE, 1995) How does technology connect with curriculum,

time frames, learning styles How to assess content knowledge, technology

skills Planning, practice, reflection

essential components technology integration.

1. Identify concepts or objective.2. Plan the performance tasks linking the instruction and activity

with the performance assessment3. Choose a technology supporting the integrated curriculum

theme and/or to the objectives.4. Allow time to work with the technology using appropriate

tasks, equipment, or manipulative.5. Allow time to reflect/record or share products.6. Allow time for explanation and sharing.

HELP YOUR STUDENTS SUCCEED

Clear instructions/tutorials

Time to explore the tool(s)

Include time for peer review/drafts/feedback

Ask them what they thought/how to improve

http://mashable.com/2010/04/15/reduce-social-media-distractions/

SOCIAL MEDIA RESOURCES

The Use of Social Media in Higher Education for Marketing and Communications: A Guide for Professionals in Higher Educationhttp://doteduguru.com/id423-social-media-uses-higher-education-marketing-communication.html

Educause08: Social Media and Educationhttp://www.slideshare.net/intellagirl/educause08-social-media-and-education-presentation

Classroom 2.0 – Web 2.0 and Social Media in Educationhttp://www.classroom20.com/

HUMOROUS VIDEOS

Crazy Little Thing The Webhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x96KP1wfbpY

Social Media Blueshttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9T37q9Lx6sw