Social Media...In Education??

When you see the words social media, you instantly think of Facebook, Twitter, and blogs. How could those things ever be useful in a classroom setting? But you may be surprised how many opportunities social media can be used in a classroom! Students can be writing blogs, commenting on each others work to help improve writing, having on going discussions on a Ning, or creating wikis (websites that host information)! The opportunities are endless.

I am sure the next idea that popped into your head is internet safety. And rightfully so! With third graders social media needs to look VERY different than it would at a high school level. Students will be working on a private, controlled area. I have created an edmodo site that allows students to join in a group with me. This group lets us post updates, chat online about topics, post resources, links, homework, and more. It's almost like a Facebook for school. As students join this, they will need to be approved by me. All comments and posts will be moderated and held to the same standards as our in class expectations. I hope you will check out the link below to join the edmodo and start exploring with your student!

Join my edmodo:
https://edmo.do/j/j7yp7r


If you want to know more about social media in the classroom setting, how other teachers are using it, or see how edmodo lines up with current thinking about social media in the classroom, check out the link below! Its a two page article talking about various types of social media and their uses in education!

Article:
http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ991339.pdf