Social Media in the Classroom

     Well, another week gone by in the education department.  Starting to find some motivation for this term, but it's still been the one of the tougher terms to get going in.  What can I say?  I'm just looking forward to getting out of the classroom and into the classroom.  Yup, that's my best shot at an education joke...  I could just hear the thud when that one hit the floor.  Oh well, I stand by it!

     On Tuesday's internet for educators class we were luck enough to have Mr. John Finch (MB Ed, LwICT) come and visit us once again.  We had a chance to discuss the uses of social networks in the classroom and to try and go out into the digital world to discover some examples to help us in our future teaching careers. 

     We came across our usual; youtube, teachertube, twitter, etc. examples.  Others found some more in depth websites that gave ideas on how to use the social network in the classroom.  I think that this could be a bit of work to get going, but it's a fantastic idea to communicate to the students in a way to which they are accustomed.  I like the idea that, as a teacher, I would only have to get the ball rolling.  The usefulness and upkeep can easily be completed by the students.  They could use this application to share ideas and answer each others questions.  Ideally, I would like my role to be only that of ensuring that any information shared on the network is in fact accurate.

     Of course, the irony has been discussed and will hopefully be addressed as time goes on.  How do you engage the students in this form of communication when a large group of the school divisions block out social networking sites?  Well, hopefully, as a new generation of teachers slowly and constantly enters the profession, I can easily forsee this question becoming one of the past.  As a teaching community, we just have to keep pushing on the positives of the program.  We'll break through!