Earlier, we talked about a few great resources for educators that are available for free online. These services were more focused on education and catering to their needs for creating internal social networking platforms, open-source blackboards and conferencing applications. They were great resources but they all required some amount of set-up and involved a bit of a learning curve to get used to them.
Today we are just going to share some ideas that help educators bring social networks into classrooms, utilizing some of the services that we all use. Ranging from Twitter to Skype we will share 8 ways that they can be used in the classroom.
Create a Twitter Account
Using Twitter for Teacher – Student communication allows for short and quick messages exchange. This is useful for students and teachers to ask questions and might be a great resource for the teacher in the preparation of her class notes allowing her to know which areas to focus on.
Do you remember the first time you pinched an iPhone? Do you remember how efficient, simple and ingenious being able to do that felt? Now try to imagine what you can do to a computer if all your 10 digits are released from the 30 year old shackles of the mouse.
With Apple’s introduction of the new Mighty Magic Mouse, they are exploring the multi-touch frontier for computers and so far it looks promising. 10/GUI takes things to a totally different level. This idea is so logical, so simple, so natural that it’s one of those things that people will be saying to themselves “why didn’t I think of that?“. Hopefully we will be able to see it become a reality soon.
Do you think that such types of new Human-Computer Interfaces will become mainstream in the future?
How is social media affecting the old, traditional yet long-loved media channel: the television? Is social media slowly pushing television to its grave? How is social media able to encourage less television viewing and promote more Internet usage simultaneously?
Personally Speaking…
Television dead?
Allow me to begin this post by presenting you with a short personal experience of mine which will, in turn, help you realize how I thought about this topic and where my ideas are coming from in addition to where they are headed!
I have been a mildly heavy Internet user for the past two years or so. A year ago, my interests in reading, writing and going out started changing: I started spending more time on Facebook and less time for going out and seeing friends. Since March 2009, I think I became an “Internet addict”, replacing most outings and TV time with Internet use, especially social media related sites and channels! I can recall that the last time I actually sat down and watched anything on TV was late March of this year!
With this little story in mind, let’s take a deeper look on how social media is discretely replacing the role of our beloved television!
What are the advantages and disadvantages of small scale communities vs. larger more popular ones? Is bigger always better? How does communication differ amongst larger social media channels as opposed to smaller yet more specialized ones?
Come to think about it, it’s true what they say: “sometimes less is more“! Allow me to further explain.
During our ordinary lives, we are always faced with situations that make us wonder: Do we reallyneed many friends or just a few true close ones? Do we need fame or simply a good reputation? Do we need many meals a day or only a few healthy ones? This applies to everything we do offline and online as well!
Earlier on this week, while doing some usual research on the web, I came across the video sharing channel, Vimeo, which is very much similar to Youtube yet on a smaller scale. The first idea that popped to my mind was trying to figure out the reasons why Vimeo is not as popular as Youtube, treating the situation as a problem. After some research, I was able to find out that maybe, just maybe, this smaller number of users is there for a reason: specialization! Although Vimeo and Youtube have a lot in common, Vimeo’s competitive edge probably lies in its ability to create a more intact and integrated chain of users who make up communities that know each other by face and name and who interact with each other on a more personal level than any large social media channel can possibly provide!
But the buck doesn’t stop there!
There are many other social media channels for which this theory can perfectly apply, namely: the infamous social bookmarking sites Reddit and Mixx vs. Digg.
Got 69 points and 25 comments on Mixx, but not even noticed on Digg!
Let me break it down to you in simple points to bullet-proof my argument…
Yesterday evening, I had a very interesting conversation with a parent who joined Facebook after the persistence of his friends. He spoke of his two sons’ reactions when he requested to add them as friends on Facebook by saying “My older son did not hesitate to add me but my younger one felt as if I wanted to stalk him!” He then spoke of how Facebook, in a way, was able to bring him closer to his older son who lives abroad through looking at his posted pictures and status updates.
Parents: Always stay within arms reach
This got me thinking….
How do social media tools, channels and platforms affect parenting habits? Is social media widening or narrowing down the generation gap between parents and children? Are parents able to obtain more advice on good parenting habits through social media than any time before?
Parenting is hard as it is!
Aside from the regular day to day behaviors that parents are required to teach their children and the values they need to instill in them, nowadays, parenting seems to have become an even more complex task with the added responsibility of teaching children how to behave online and how to use social media venues! In order to do that properly, parents need to actually sign up and take time to try out those venues adding more pressure on the parents and their time management approach in efforts to acquire greater skills and knowledge about how social media can influence their children!
Another added responsibility that parents now have due to social media is having the ability to direct children towards the best utilization of those platforms in order to develop a passion in a certain field and use social media to grow this passion and promote it later on. The old “hit the books” saying is not sufficient anymore!
Moreover, and since children “are inherently and intuitively curious naturalists… sponges for knowledge, absorbing, retaining and using new information at astounding rates”, parents should be aware now, more than ever, of their own behaviors throughout their daily conduct inside the house, with others and even through their use of the Internet and social media channels.
Social media paving the way for better parenting….
In a more positive outlook on this matter, and with disregard to the pressures social media can impose on parents, there seems to be a bright light down this web 2.0 tunnel! Many parents seem to have learned how to better connect and deal with their kids through their use of social media, getting them closer to their children and portraying them as “cool technology savvy parents”.
Furthermore, many new social media sites and services such as ParentDish – a site that offers advice, news, opinions and reviews for moms and dads who want to be informed, educated parents – and WeezKids – a family friendly social media channel – are emerging in order to enhance the overall parent-child online and offline experience. Another example is Educating Kids and Parents about Social Media from Clearcast Digital Media.
Finally, and as you can see, there is no clear cut line between the added value social media brings into the parenting equation and the pressures social media can impose on parent-child relationships but at least after reading this post, you can formulate your own opinion of how to deal with this issue.
