Ooooh, social media in the classroom! I can think of many teachers who cringe at the idea. These teachers don't want social media anywhere near their classroom. They see it as a "weapon of mass distraction" and look to confiscate mobile devices at every turn. It's true, social media and mobile devices can be a "weapon of mass distraction." But, students are on social media so much, why not catch them while they're online? Why not make their social media experience a learning experience? I am not advocating students being allowed to surf social media "willy nilly" during class. What I am advocating is teachers creating classroom social media accounts, separate from personal accounts. As teacher, you be the judge and find moments in class where students can be allowed to surf social media in search of your academic, class-related posts. If you manage the classroom correctly, social media can be a valuable tool in terms of student engagement.
Here's an example from my classroom experience. I divided my room into nine table groups. I created Twitter and Instagram accounts for each group. I never gave the students the login information. I logged them in (on classroom desktops) on the times I had students use them and logged them out at the end of the lesson. I used Twitter as a method of instant response and as extension of learning. For instant response, table groups reflected upon lecture points and reading, and from there, they were instructed to Tweet a short summary with hashtag. As an extension, the table groups would reflect upon lecture and reading and be tasked with Tweeting images, videos and or articles that best reflect their recent learning. As students became comfortable with this, they would walk into class excited, asking me if we would be tweeting today. As student Tweets were submitted, I projected my classroom Twitter feed on my Promethean Board. I created a Twitter list of the student accounts so I was able to focus on only the student Tweets. As a class, we reviewed the student Tweets which spurred further discussion. Students were given the opportunity to justify and clarify their ideas, and it gave me the opportunity to find points that needed to be re-taught.
Twitter, Instagram and Facebook can also be used to reach students outside the classroom. With each new concept covered in class, I would post as many images as possible related to those concepts to Instagram. I formed a social media "daisy chain" that connected Instagram to Twitter to Facebook. You can easily connect your Facebook (create one for your class) account to your Twitter account. When you do this, every Tweet gets automatically posted to Facebook. You can easily connect your Twitter account to your Instagram (create one for your class) account. With this, every picture posted to Instagram gets posted to Twitter, and if you've linked Twitter and Facebook, it goes to Facebook as well. One post will go to three accounts. If students are on at least one of these accounts, they can see your posts.
Instagram "Daisy Chain"
Initial Instagram Post
Instagram post on Twitter (posted as link)
Instagram post on Facebook (from connected Twitter account)
Social media posts don't always have to be pictures. It can also be articles, links to articles, YouTube videos or simple text posts. In this case, Instagram will not be useful. Instagram is purely an image sharing site. To share things other than images, you can create a "daisy chain" beginning with Google+. If you are a Google Apps for Education School (GAFE), your Gmail account includes Google+. For those who don't know Google+, it is Google's social media. It is similar to Facebook. You can connect your Google+ to Twitter easily using a service called ManageFlitter. You sign up free with your Google account and then add your Twitter login. This will allow all Google+ posts to be posted automatically on Twitter (there is usually a delay of a few minutes). If you've already connected Twitter and Facebook, those same Google+ posts will be posted to Facebook as well. Here you have another situation with one post going to three social media accounts.
Google+ "Daisy Chain" using ManageFlitter
Initial Google+ Post
Google+ Post on Twitter
Google+ Post on Facebook (from connected Twitter account)
Some of you are thinking, how can I grade this? What I have done is create an electronic communication requirement for my class. On a weekly, basis, students must communicate with me electronically. They are able to meet this requirement by commenting with facts, ideas and insights what they learned in class on posts on Facebook, Twitter and or Instagram. Repeat comments are not accepted. This requires students to look through the comments and make sure they are not repeated. For students who are not on social media, they can send email to meet the requirement.
Managing various accounts can be cumbersome. Hootsuite is a great way to manage, for free, up to three social media accounts. I use the free version to see Facebook, Instagram and Twitter posts for my class. Go to the Hootsuite website, create a free account, then follow the easy instructions to connect your classroom Facebook, Instagram and Twitter accounts. Hootsuite allows you to see all three accounts, and post, from the same screen. It is very handy. You can customize the columns to show a variety of elements of your different accounts. For Twitter, I like to create a column for specific hashtags and for lists of specific followers (student accounts).
I hope this has been helpful. I you have any questions, comments or ideas to help improve this process, feel free to contact me.
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