Guest Blog: Making the Case for Social Media in Education
It is my hope that when the filters come down, transparent use will allow everyone in the school system - students, teachers, parents, admin - to grow and utilize social media in responsible, productive ways. Let's stop holding sparsely attended workshops about internet safety and start modeling the process of unlocking the power these highly relevant tools hold for both ourselves and our students! BY BETTY RAY Please read the entire article and blog about it here. If you would like to blog about it on Betty Ray's blog please feel free.
15 comments:
I think this is a wonderful example of community service for students to help first time computer users.
It reminds me of two friends of my parents and a friend of ours that needed some computer instruction and my girls offered to assist them with their new computer. Learning is on-going no matter what the age!
Certainly the students of this generation are the experts of computer use, social networking, and navigating the web. It is part of their culture and a must for their future success. Unless you have a child that uses technology or are in a profession that requires it, most people are in the dark when it comes to social media. I think Seaford High School had a brainstorm in using the students to help educate the public. A two-fold experience...the reward of helping others and learning more about yourself at the same time....a win, win experience!
I can't imagine going through the day without the use of my iphone. occasionally i've left home for work, realized i'd left my phone home and made the decision to go back rather than go through the day without it. I run my private swimming business through my phone and text messaging. i take photos and video from my phone, check the weather, google questions i have pop up thru the day, use it as a navigation system, have my grocery list on it, call parents to discuss their child, facebook on it..... the list goes on and on.
why should i not use my cell phone in school or expect students not to?
i was impressed with this article and agree completely.
Wow there was some real powerful stuff in Betty Ray's article. I totally agree with teaching "cybercitizenship". We should switch our focuss and stop blocking and start teaching solid responsible social networking.
I do believe that we need to open up the filters and learn how to better monitor what the students are looking at. The technology that we have in place is not sophisticated enough or up to speed, so it is at this time easier and safer to block it all. We need to continue to educate on cyber-morality. However I don't think that you can completely get rid of cyber-bullying and other violations. We can not continue punish the entire population because of the few rule breakers. The reason our district jumped into the laptop initiative was to keep our students ahead of the curve. We need to continue to to stay ahead of the general population and can only do that by opening all of the doors available to our students.
I think that this is a very interesting and relevant article. We need not fear teaching tools such as iphones which are "real life" applications for our students and have so much to offer them and the classroom. As with other technologies in the past, we need to be proactive and teach appropriate usage, (i.e. the Internet in general) and then we can expect students to use this vast resource. I think it's great that the article was realistic in saying, "there will be inappropriate use by students and staff? yes." This is inevitable as with anything, but we need to learn from those instances and prevail with teaching that aides in our students future.
I totally agree with the article by Betty Ray. We do need to teach "cybercitizenship" and teach users to use the Internet in a responsible manner. To quote the article, "In a world where this type of communication is king amongst our students, we need to stop ignoring anc blocking and start embracing and amplifying." I do understand why people may be nervous about social media, but I as an educator and a parent, would much rather learn with and be able to teach my students and my children appropriate use of the Internet. Again to quote the article, "Every mistake and misstep in social media is a brilliant learning opportunity for all involved."
I agree with the article as well. More and more collaborative, educational opportunities exist online for students; they should be able to access them fully and conveniently. Also, time should be taken routinely to educate students on responsible, appropriate internet use and to guard against potential problems, such as identity theft.
Interesting article. She brings up important points! Social media is all around us! I feel like my life is intertwined with technology and social media. To turn way from this trend and not teach our kids to properly use these informational highways is irresponsible. Just yesterday I saw a youtube video on facebook "KONY" 2012 apparently the entire HS was talking about the same video! This was all through social media. "We must act now to ensure our students are portraying their skills and creativity in a positive way so that they can separate themselves from the pack and create opportunities for themselves that they may otherwise be shut out from." I really agree with what she is saying.
I do like the idea of flipping to the positive as opposed to the negative. Discussing the idea of cyber-citizenship as opposed to cyber-bullying allows students to look at their responsibility online as opposed to how they can use it for bad. I do think the reality is that we do need to connect to their world. However technology needs to be implemented effectively and correctly in order for them to see all of the ways they can use the things they are already using in their daily life.
I think that some great points were made in Betty Ray's article. There is truth to the idea that we need to "guide our students towards responsible use of social media". Whether we address the issue or not, it's something that students have grown up with and use on a daily basis. I think that if we can help students learn to use what's out there appropriately, then we are doing them a service. It's true that with their cellphones, students have unfettered access to all social media. So as the article mentions, we may as well become proactive because it seems inevitable that the filters will be lifted within a few years anyway.
This is very interesting, I think we are all fearful of the filters coming down. Our students are so involved in social media it may be hard to guide them when using these forums in school.
I am a believer in teaching
"cybercitizenship". I think this would be a great way to address the problems our kids face today.
All in all I am not sold on allowing social media in the classroom, for me to implement that aspect of technology there would need to be a structured, relevant lessons that NEEDED the use of social media.
I just read an article that some scholarship committees will look up applicants on-line (facebook, etc) before they make their final decision. It's important for students to understand that what they put out there is out there and can't be taken back. And it can impact them in negative ways.
But I also agree that we can't block students. It is important for them to understand how to be able to focus with a variety of different modes of technology at once and what is appropriate and safe to post and share.
Spending our time and resources on building character and responsibility in our kids is the way to go, I totally agree. It's so much more inspiring and empowering to teach a kid what they CAN do with the tools in front of them instead of limiting them with restrictions.
The idea of all the filters going down with the students in schools is definitely a scary one. But we must remember that many of our students are home without filters right now. At least in the schools we can try to teach kids the right way to access information and prevent potentially harmful interactions. When thought of in that light it seems safer than left to their own devices (pun intended) at home.
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