Social Networking! In the Media Center?
I can understand that some might be
cautious when it comes to integrating social networking into a media center and
classrooms. I feel that using this vast tool can be a great way that will make
teachers and students want to come into the media center. Students would have
to collaborate with each other to by learning how to make something creative
out of normally boring or lifeless material. We can see this in one of the
article when AASL’s President Sara Kelly Johns remarked that, "Group
collaboration and discussion are becoming more evident in the learning process.
These processes create a community of learners where a student can help lead the educational
process." There are many social networking outlets out there that it
is crazy what could be used in a school setting. Students should be able to use
these outlets to express themselves and how their learning is impacting them.
Allowing students to create blogs gets
them to interact with their classmates, teachers and other school staff because
they are expressing themselves in different ways than ever before. A way to
engage the students is to have them blog, post pictures, describe how things
impacted them, and even allow them to learn more about each other. We can
encourage students to do this in different social networking outlets such as
Blogger, Flicker, or Youtube in ways like showing what they are researching
about, document a field trip they went on by connecting it to school subjects,
do presentations and do reviews about books or movies. We can see this being
promoted in the article by AASL (ALA, 2008) where President Sara Kelly Johns said
that
“teachers and students alike—vets information in wikis, discusses processes in
blogs and uses online instruction and social bookmarking to make students more
accountable for and active in their educational journey.” As educators I know we want
our students to be able to connect with us and become outstanding members of
society once they leave our ‘classroom’ of the media center because they are
our future and we are the instigators to their enhanced learning.
When students use the media center they
normally just go there to mill about, work on homework or class assignments, or
be there for class. By allowing students to access certain social networking domains
we can permit students to be more engaged in their learning by allowing them to
use the different technological tools they have at their fingertips while in
school. In the article by AASL (ALA, 2008) where President Sara Kelly Johns
said that,
“technology
and social skills are essential to the development of 21st Century students in
order for them to be viable members of the working community." Students
need to learn how to be learners and leaders before they go out into the real
world.
Then
we come to one of the biggest problems that might make some educators not want
to use social media in the school, which is the safety of the students and
their information. In the article by Edudemic (2015) states that teachers and
media specialist should, “Review your
school’s social media policy and if necessary, have parents sign consent forms
for posting their child’s work online.” The safety of our students’ personal information is always something that
we have to look out for when wanting to create the different formats of social
media. I have seen schools block different social media sites in their school
system because they think it will distract students and disrupt the learning
process. In the article by Edudemic (2015) states that teachers and media
specialist should, “Please read all
social media platforms’ privacy pages, and ensure that your class feeds are set
to private to protect students’ work.” This is important because students might
not know how public certain social networking sites can be.
I
am not currently teaching or working in the schools at the moment but I have
seen while volunteering in media centers how using social networking works when it comes to
students learning can work and improve how they present themselves to the world
around them. As a library media student I have enjoyed all of the instruction I
have gained with using different social networking domains such as Diggo,
Weebly, Flicker, Prezi, Skitch, Wiki, and Blogger. I will want to help students learn how
to use these In the end it is always up to the school itself in how much they
allow students have access to social networking when they are in the
building.
Resources
ALA.
(2008). AASL’s second longitudinal survey reveals schools’ acceptance of social
networking tools. ALA. Retrieved from: http://www.ala.org/ala/newspresscenter/news/pressreleases2008/june2008/AASLsurvey.cfm
Edudemic.
(2015). “How to use social media as a learning tool in the classroom.” Edudemic. Retrieved from: http://www.edudemic.com/how-to-use-social-media-as-a-learning-tool-in-the-classroom/
I like the idea of private classroom domains that students and teachers can work in. Social networking in this safe space is ideal to just opening up social network use in general in school settings.
ReplyDeleteAnd while our district does have an internet use policy, I do not believe there is a separate social media use policy. I assume that any educational use of social media falls under the internet policy, but I am curious as to what stipulations a social media policy may have that the internet policy does not cover. Many districts will automatically ban social media because student safety is their main concern. As educators, we need find safe, positive ways to incorporate social media without violating any rules set up by the districts we work in.
Thanks for the information about social networking in the media center. We have had some negative feedback from Facebook in our school district and our school in particular, so we have been hesitant to use any kind of social networking. In the future, I am hoping that this negative feedback won't keep us from using this powerful resource. I have started with a kid blog. They students love using this and give feedback and reviews for books on the blog. I have also used Instagram for my classroom. I allowed people to follow the classroom page, but I did not follow anyone. This seemed to keep down the negative and inappropriate materials from the site. When the Instagram page was up, parents and students seemed to enjoy viewing what was going on in the classroom. There were always wonderful comments left about what was happening. I hope to try that out in the media center soon. Our district has been very encouraging about using social media and they have even warned us to expect inappropriate comments. They advise that we can handle those comments as they come and move on. I am glad to see they are not keeping us from using social media even when there are inappropriate comments made. Thanks for your added insight to the topic. I plan to explore this more.
ReplyDeleteNikole,
ReplyDeleteI agree with your point that we need to find safe, positive ways to incorporate social media. I also like Cindy's suggestion of using instagram in the classroom. As a high school teacher, I feel like social media (at least in my area) is one of the only ways parents have to really know what is going on in the school. I know several parents who check out the school Facebook page or class websites, they use the parent portal to check students' grades, attendance, etc. High school seems to be a different world and in our case, parents are often disconnected, so social media is a way to bridge that gap. We also have to expect comments from the public, but we are still encouraged to use it.
Hi Maureen,
ReplyDeleteVery informative blog of social media in the media center. I like how you put a question mark after the title because it is questionable for many. Many as you state wonder how and why it would be used in a school setting. I agree that social media such as blogs, Flicker, and YouTube allow students to be in a more interactive setting. Today’s average student spends ample time in many forms of social media. Allowing some forms of it in a classroom or media center can help them relate topics to real world applications. Students creating accounts and utilizing applications such as Flicker and YouTube allow them to collaborate in ways that will create lasting memories and critical thinking skills. As you point out from the article by AASL, utilizing social media is important to developing social and technical skills to be viable members of the working community.
I am not currently working as a SLMS either, but Maureen made some great points! I have also had a several opportunities to observe while volunteering at SLM centers. I have seen many students working with Prezi and easy bib, also using collaborative Google tools as well! Keeping students PII safe and secure as well as any data they might want to store via the cloud is very hot topic that all schools will continue to face as we continue to grow with technology!
ReplyDeleteSocial networking is a vast tool that can be utilized as another educational tool to have in your tool belt; on the other hand it can also be abused. Mainly the abuse occurs with students, but there have been recent cases where employers viewed personal social media networking sites and made human resource type decisions based on the content viewed.
I do agree with the statement the AASL President made about group collaboration efforts and discussions are becoming more evident in learning processes. Just recently, my son had a group project and they all were tasked to text (using mobile devices) updates and also share documents via google docs.
Check out this link that was posted recently on Twitter on how to improve internal communication at your work environment, using social networks: http://blog.hootsuite.com/popular-social-networks-for-internal-communication/?utm_source=content%20team&utm_medium=owned%20social&utm_campaign=content%20team%20owned%20social%20twitter&hootPostID=c2df5bc932cdc3b904c946e325b9da17