The TES ICT Guide was published this week and I've got a piece included on social media in schools. It’s already got some positive feedback that I am really pleased about. I’ve copied the article below into this post or you can read it over on the TES web pages – as always any feedback is very welcome.
BETT 2010 - Twit to woo: how to harness social media
News | Published in The TES on 8 January, 2010
There's no time to waste in bringing the social media revolution into
the classroom, argues Ollie Bray, a deputy headteacher and national
adviser for emerging technologies at Learning and Teaching Scotland
Stephen
Fry recently used Twitter to spark a backlash against Jan Moir's Daily
Mail article on Stephen Gately's death. He has also used it to announce
the demise of his TV programme Kingdom and reveal that he was stuck in
a lift.
Barack Obama became the first US president to run a campaign with an integrated web and social-media element.
Twitter, Facebook, MySpace and other social media are shaping the daily news agenda for newspapers and news websites.
But can social media have a place in the classroom? You bet.
So what is it? Social media includes online tools such as blogs, podcasts, wikis, YouTube, Bebo and Facebook.
There
are literally hundreds of social-media tools available on the web, and
many of these are already being used by students at home to network,
collaborate and learn. By their very nature, these resources are highly
engaging for children and if used appropriately present powerful
opportunities for teachers.
Why use social media in the classroom?
There
are lots of ways that schools can use social media to enhance learning
but perhaps the most obvious is how they can be used to share pupils'
work.
All teachers know the impact of a good classroom display,
yet how many people have a detailed look at children's work on the
walls of a classroom or corridor? The people who really want to look at
displays are those personally connected to the children - parents,
family and family friends. Yet how often do we let these people into
our schools? The web allows us to create a worldwide wall display to
exhibit and showcase work to a huge audience.
Blog to provide audiences for students' work
East
Lothian Council in Scotland was one of the first UK councils to install
a WordPress multi-user blogging platform, making it available for all
its 46 schools.
Blogs provide a very quick way to publish content
to the web and are very easy to use. If you can send an email and add
an attachment, you'll be happy writing a blog.
At Law Primary
School, staff wanted to be more innovative in their use of ICT. They
created a blog to provide information on school life and to encourage a
regular dialogue between families, pupils and teachers. Pupils in the
upper primary exhibit work and give an account of their achievements in
activities in which they have participated.
The blog also helps
parents keep in contact with children who take part in the P7
residential trip and let them know about their daily activities.
When
the school was recently inspected, the report said:
"The development
and use of the blog has helped to promote pupils' language, ICT and
independent learning skills. It has also proved to be a highly
effective way of highlighting and celebrating pupils' achievements."
Law
also has a blog for its student council
(edubuzz.org/blogs/lawschoolcouncil) and pupils upload a weekly audio
file giving an update on school life. Such files can include podcasts.
Wiki for cross-curricular collaboration
Wikis are web pages that can be easily edited, the most famous of which is Wikipedia, the world's largest encyclopedia.
When
Tom Rae took over as the head of Tynecastle High School in Edinburgh,
he noticed the school's Wikipedia entry was outdated and short on hard
facts. As he was not sure how to update it, he set his senior students
the task of doing it. In just under a week, a group of more than 10
students had researched and rewritten it. They became the first
Tynecastle students to be published in Wikipedia. How empowering is
that?
YouTube and live video streaming
Saltash.net
Community School in Cornwall has really embraced the idea of social
media and online audiences. As well as having their own YouTube
channel, which features lesson resources, videos and extracurricular
material, they regularly use Twitcam (an online tool that lets you turn
your Twitter account into a video stream) to broadcast in real time
from the school's livestock enclosure.
Musselburgh Grammar School
in Scotland has used twitcam to broadcast a show to classrooms,
associated primaries and parents at home. Taking part in activities
such as these are important in their own right and simultaneously
instil a sense of confidence and responsibility in children. Also,
because the pupils know the footage is going to be displayed online or
broadcast live, they seem to take more pride in their work.
Gather live data with Twitter
Social-media
tools such as Twitter also allow teachers to gather "real data" quickly
and efficiently. Last February, I was asked to cover a Year 1 class. It
was snowing and there were lots of questions about it. One pupil wanted
to know why it was snowing and where else it was snowing in the world.
I sent a message out via Twitter asking my personal learning network
whether it was snowing in their country. Within 10 minutes, we had more
than 20 replies from Scotland, England, Wales, Ireland and the US.
Armed
with my iPhone, I asked one of the children to plot the responses on a
Google Map. We then imported this into Google Earth and overlaid the
cloud-cover layer. A great discussion ensued about clouds and weather
fronts. What made the lesson special was its social nature - the
children were amazed by the number of people willing to share
information from around the globe.
Be social
Some school
leaders remain wary of using these and other powerful social media
tools in the classroom. But as long as they are used appropriately,
wikis, blogs, Twitter and the like present no significant risk.
Indeed,
many would argue that schools should be making more use of these
resources, not only because of their powerful learning applications but
also so the school can teach children how to use them in safe and
responsible ways.
The latter is hard to do with school firewalls.
The Child Exploitation and Online Protection Agency's Think U Know
(thinkyouknow.co.uk) website provides advice on using social-networking
sites responsibly. Applications such as www.securus-software.com are
also available.
THE SOCIAL-MEDIA TOOLBOX
- Twitter - a micro-blogging platform for swapping experiences and ideas (www.twitter.com)
TRY IT YOURSELF!
Blogs
Does
your school or class have a regularly updated website? If not, why not
set one up for the whole school or a year group or class? It's easy to
do, using blogging tools such as WordPress, Blogger or TypePad.
You could start by creating a blog for a school trip, so parents can keep in touch and leave comments while you're away.
Wikis
Does your school have a Wikipedia entry? Is it a real reflection of your school? Could it be improved?
Anyone
can edit Wikipedia. You could use it as a powerful learning opportunity
and get your school published in the largest encyclopedia in the world.
Social-media savvy schools and councils:
LINKS AND FURTHER READING
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