21st Century Classroom Infographic

21st Century Classroom infographic

Google Classroom

Classroom is a new tool in Google Apps for Education that helps teachers create and organise assignments quickly, provide feedback efficiently and communicate easily with their classes.

This video shows how the tool works for teachers and students. In this video, you will learn how to set up classes and add students, create assignments, and review student work.

Social Media as a means to engage Students

found image @ Wordstream

Social media has become an essential part of most people’s everyday lives, from checking Facebook and Twitter to posting blogs, Pinterest listings, and uploading YouTube videos.

However, and with smartphones making it easier than ever to spend time on social media networks, in what ways can these networks be leveraged to engage and build a foundation for future student learning? While the potential of distraction is there, the right social media teaching strategies can lead to creative learning, and a productive approach to making social media part of ongoing professional development.

There is already evidence that teachers are using social media as part of teaching strategies, with the aim of encouraging students to view social networks as less of a pleasurable distraction, and more as something that can be used in projects and for personal expression in a medium they prefer. Steven Anderson has recently proposed a comprehensive set of general approaches to integrating social media into the classroom, and focuses on the need to carefully review existing teaching strategies and understandings of social media before making changes.

Some possible strategies for teachers to use social media have been outlined by Adam Renfro who emphasizes the cost effectiveness of using free social networks and the value of incorporating “real-world experiences into your classroom,” as well as the ability to encourage collaboration between students. Renfro notes several examples of where different social networks can be combined, from a specialized Twitter account for students to post comments on class projects and news stories using hashtags to creating a class Facebook page. In addition, Renfro points to YouTube as a way to both create new teaching material, and to spread videos across different social networking sites.

For students, social networks arguably provide a mix of creative expression and group work through tasks like contributing to a blog, designing websites, uploading video presentations, and creating Facebook pages for class projects. Katie Lepi has offered a range of recent examples of successful social media in practice, from a high school using Twitter to communicate with their principal, to another school that has built an alumni database, through to a middle school in the U.S. that uses blogs, whiteboard, and texting, while employing apps to monitor late arrivals.

Perhaps the key benefit emphasized across studies of social media in schools is the way that using these networks provides creativity and real-world experience. Students that use social media from an early age learn to view it as more than just a distraction, and as something that they use to learn and produce content in a setting that they are familiar with and challenged by. In 2010, Sarah Kessler made a strong argument for schools using social media with students from a young age, suggesting that schools that ban it end up failing to encourage responsibility and understanding of its positives. Kessler also argues that students become more engaged through producing online content read by more than just a teacher. In this way, Kessler argues that gaining online collaboration and networking skills can feed into future employability, where students have experience of working together on projects.

It’s important, then, to view social media as something that is not going away, and that should be used productively, rather than devalued in schools. Doing so can mean that students moving into the workplace know how to use social media as an important tool, rather than a distraction. Indeed, Jack Wallen suggests that social networking in work can actually boost productivity through business pages, Twitter feeds, and LinkedIn profiles that allow workers to stay in touch with professional networks. As a result, it’s important that schools find ways to integrate social media into and beyond the classroom to build future professional skills.

Source: Rob James @ Teach Thought

Blogs as a teaching tool

As the Internet becomes an increasingly pervasive and persistent influence in people's lives, the phenomenon of the blog stands out as a fine example of the way in which the Web enables individual participation in the marketplace of ideas.

Teachers have picked up on the creative use of this Internet technology and put the blog to work in the classroom. Even though newer and more appealing Web 2.0 technologies are on the move, education blogs can still be a powerful and effective tool for students and teachers alike.

What is a blog?

A blog (sometimes referred to as a weblog) is a Web publishing tool that allows authors to quickly and easily self-publish text, artwork, links to other blogs or Web sites, and a whole array of other content.

Blogs are set-up like conventional Web sites, with navigation links, and other standard Web site features. Blogs have one standard characteristic, however: the posting. Blog postings are text entries, similar to a diary or journal, which include a posting date and may include comments by people other than the author, photos, links, or other digital media.

Postings are often short and frequently updated. They appear in reverse chronological order and can include archived entries.

Blogs work well for students because they can be worked on at virtually any time, in any place with an Internet-enabled computer. Hence, they can be used to create a classroom that extends beyond the boundaries of the school yard.

User-Friendly Technology

Blogs are surprisingly easy to use. They require minimum technical knowledge and are quickly and easily created and maintained. Unlike many traditional Web sites, they are flexible in design and can be changed relatively easily. Best of all, students will find them convenient and accessible via home or library computers.

Educational Benefits of Blogs

In addition to providing teachers with an excellent tool for communicating with students, there are numerous educational benefits of blogs. Blogs are:

• Highly motivating to students, especially those who otherwise might not become participant in the classroom;
• Excellent opportunities for students to read and write;
• Effective forums for collaboration and discussion;
• Powerful tools to enable scaffolded learning or mentoring to occur.

Using the Blog in the Classroom

As an educational tool, blogs may be integrated in a multi-faceted manner to accommodate all learners. Blogs can serve at least four basic functions.

1. Classroom Management (blogs may serve as a portal to foster a community of learners; they can be used to inform students of class requirements, post handouts, notices, and homework assignments, or act as a question and answer board);
   
   
2. Collaboration (blogs provide a space where teachers and students can work to further develop writing or other skills with the advantage of an instant audience. Teachers can offer instructional tips, and students can practice and benefit from peer review. They also make online mentoring possible);
   
   
3. Discussions (a class blog opens the opportunity for students to discuss topics outside of the classroom. With a blog, every person has an equal opportunity to share their thoughts and opinions. Students have time to be reactive to one another and reflective);
   
   
4. Student Portfolios (blogs present, organize, and protect student work as digital portfolios. As older entries are archived, developing skills and progress may be analyzed more conveniently. Additionally, as students realize their efforts will be published, they are typically more motivated to produce better writing).

Safety issues

Take the necessary steps to secure parental permission before using the blog in a participatory manner.

Blogs may be viewed publicly, as any other Web site. Students must be trained on issues regarding access, privacy, security, and free expression. As blogs have no publisher, producer, or editor, students must carefully consider the content of postings to avoid anything defamatory, libelous, or an infringement upon the rights of others.

Source: Teaching Today (abridged and adapted)

Photo credit: Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com via photo pin cc