My initial thoughts and pre-reading ideas:
When I first completed the prior learning survey, the definition I gave for social media was: “apps, websites, technologies that allow you to connect with friends and the world about a variety of topics from personal to
professional and even world related.” My understanding of social media does not really extend past the twitter
and facebook (and a tiny bit of LinkedIn) worlds and these worlds are mostly personal, with very little professional connections (well for Facebook at least). With Twitter it is about a 50-50 personal and professional use ratio. I have always been interested in the possibility of using social media with my students but I am always so afraid of the privacy issues. Right now I use an online, password protected classroom via Canvas by
Instructure with my students and I actually just released a consent form to be agreed to by my students in relation to keeping the feelings of others in mind and not bullying as well as not posting anything that their parents would not let them (even though it is password protected). With that being said, Facebook or Twitter with my students seems still very farfetched for me.
After reading the resources provided:
In “Welcome to the Social Web” by Julia Hengstler, I found it interesting that Pinterest was listed as a social media site. I use Pinterest all the time (mostly for card making ideas and food / dessert ideas) but I never
thought of it as a social media tool and I really never thought that it would be a social media tool that can be used in the classroom! This is something that intrigues me a little but at the same time makes me question how valuable it would actually be. This is how I still feel about a lot of social media in terms of using it with my students. I realise that we have just started to scratch the surface of social media but if I am being completely honest then I would have to say it is going to take a lot of convincing to have me use it with my students.
Also noted in “Welcome to the Social Web” Julia quotes: “In order to protect staff, it is strongly recommended
that separate professional accounts, pages or profiles should be used when communicating with pupils or the wider school community” (Kent County Council, 2011, p. 8). Because of this recommendation, if I am to create a separate professional account, this would create twice the work (in a matter of speaking) and I would need to make sure that it is something that would in fact benefit my students before taking it on. As a mother of two young girls, a teacher of multiple grades and all subject areas in an online distance learning setting and completing this program, I have found that I have to really be subjective to what I decide to use and what I decide to hold off on until I have more time to pursue it. Using the Tool Selection and Risk Assessment Questions posed by Julia, I think that this will be a great way to access what I might have time for and what might have to wait for a later date.
Another worry of mine after reading about the social media sites from Wikipedia is the fact that I was completely overlooking some of the negatives that I would also have to deal with when working with my students in this setting. Wikipedia states: “Due to the increase in social media websites, there seems to be a positive correlation between the usage of such media with cyber-bullying, online sexual predators, and the
decrease in face-to-face interactions. Social media may expose children to images of alcohol, tobacco, and
sexual behaviors.” This is also a reason why I have a lot of parents that would take some convincing to use social media sites in the classroom as many of my students have been bullied in some form in the brick and mortar schools which caused them to switch to distance learning as well as the fact that I teach at a Christian school and some values of the families may prevent them from allowing their children to use social media.
References:
Julia Hengstler. (2012). Welcome to the Social Web.
https://d2l.viu.ca/content/enforced/37848-OLTD_OLTD506_W70_F2013/foundations_boundaries/Social%20Media%20Overview%202013.pdf?_&d2lSessionVal=YaGkjZCxJwtjwBXASe4bsDQhs&ou=37848
Kent County Council. (2011). Using Social Media and Technology in Educational Settings. http://microsites2.segfl.org.uk/library/1318938291/kia_resource.pdf
Social Media.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_media
When I first completed the prior learning survey, the definition I gave for social media was: “apps, websites, technologies that allow you to connect with friends and the world about a variety of topics from personal to
professional and even world related.” My understanding of social media does not really extend past the twitter
and facebook (and a tiny bit of LinkedIn) worlds and these worlds are mostly personal, with very little professional connections (well for Facebook at least). With Twitter it is about a 50-50 personal and professional use ratio. I have always been interested in the possibility of using social media with my students but I am always so afraid of the privacy issues. Right now I use an online, password protected classroom via Canvas by
Instructure with my students and I actually just released a consent form to be agreed to by my students in relation to keeping the feelings of others in mind and not bullying as well as not posting anything that their parents would not let them (even though it is password protected). With that being said, Facebook or Twitter with my students seems still very farfetched for me.
After reading the resources provided:
In “Welcome to the Social Web” by Julia Hengstler, I found it interesting that Pinterest was listed as a social media site. I use Pinterest all the time (mostly for card making ideas and food / dessert ideas) but I never
thought of it as a social media tool and I really never thought that it would be a social media tool that can be used in the classroom! This is something that intrigues me a little but at the same time makes me question how valuable it would actually be. This is how I still feel about a lot of social media in terms of using it with my students. I realise that we have just started to scratch the surface of social media but if I am being completely honest then I would have to say it is going to take a lot of convincing to have me use it with my students.
Also noted in “Welcome to the Social Web” Julia quotes: “In order to protect staff, it is strongly recommended
that separate professional accounts, pages or profiles should be used when communicating with pupils or the wider school community” (Kent County Council, 2011, p. 8). Because of this recommendation, if I am to create a separate professional account, this would create twice the work (in a matter of speaking) and I would need to make sure that it is something that would in fact benefit my students before taking it on. As a mother of two young girls, a teacher of multiple grades and all subject areas in an online distance learning setting and completing this program, I have found that I have to really be subjective to what I decide to use and what I decide to hold off on until I have more time to pursue it. Using the Tool Selection and Risk Assessment Questions posed by Julia, I think that this will be a great way to access what I might have time for and what might have to wait for a later date.
Another worry of mine after reading about the social media sites from Wikipedia is the fact that I was completely overlooking some of the negatives that I would also have to deal with when working with my students in this setting. Wikipedia states: “Due to the increase in social media websites, there seems to be a positive correlation between the usage of such media with cyber-bullying, online sexual predators, and the
decrease in face-to-face interactions. Social media may expose children to images of alcohol, tobacco, and
sexual behaviors.” This is also a reason why I have a lot of parents that would take some convincing to use social media sites in the classroom as many of my students have been bullied in some form in the brick and mortar schools which caused them to switch to distance learning as well as the fact that I teach at a Christian school and some values of the families may prevent them from allowing their children to use social media.
References:
Julia Hengstler. (2012). Welcome to the Social Web.
https://d2l.viu.ca/content/enforced/37848-OLTD_OLTD506_W70_F2013/foundations_boundaries/Social%20Media%20Overview%202013.pdf?_&d2lSessionVal=YaGkjZCxJwtjwBXASe4bsDQhs&ou=37848
Kent County Council. (2011). Using Social Media and Technology in Educational Settings. http://microsites2.segfl.org.uk/library/1318938291/kia_resource.pdf
Social Media.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_media