Using Social Networking for Teaching and Learning

One motto I have always tried to use is “don’t re-invent the wheel”. As a teacher, we are constantly trying to keep our students engaged in our material with the latest and greatest ways to connect with our students. In this week’s module, we focused on doing research to find educational projects that have social media as a key component.

As a business teacher, I found many ways that other Marketing teachers have integrated social media into their teaching. One of the most common things I found is that many school are teaming up with local businesses and using the power of social media to market their company. Often times, students would have to come up with a marketing plan that would integrate Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube and the business would choose the group that they believed would work best for their company. The students would then follow through on their plan and be a resource for the local businesses. I think this is something I would like to integrate this next year in my advanced marketing classes. Not only does this give the students real-world experience, but it also helps out local small businesses as well. This is also a great opportunity for students to develop relationships with businesses in the community, which can lead to internships and other job opportunities.

Another topic that was common was how schools are using a school wide Twitter hashtag to get feedback from students on a variety of different topics. I definitely would like to start doing this with my leadership class to get feedback on spirit weeks, assemblies, and other activities that we plan.

Overall, this was a great assignment that is very applicable for my upcoming school year. Here is my curated content on educational projects that integrate social media

PLE Diagram

A Professional Learning Environment is like a road. It is constantly under construction while being re-paved, re-routed, and added to.

 

As I viewed many of my classmates diagrams, I noticed many similarities and many differences. Because we are all in an EdTech program, we had very similar content such as Social Media and content creation sites. However, the way in which each diagram was constructed was very different. Some people drew theirs out on whiteboards or paper, while others used advanced photoshop skills to create theirs. When comparing mine to theirs, I find mine in the middle of the road. I used an infographic creator called easel.ly that had the theme of a road. I believe everyone has a different road to their current PLE, and this road is constantly being re-paved and re-routed. As I was creating my PLE, I only put in resources that I currently use (re-paved), even though I could have added resources from when I was younger.

Through the creation of my PLE Diagram, I learned that many different things make up my learning environment and that those things have changed over time. I have many different resources I currently use, but soon those may become obsolete and I will have to re-pave my road and add to it.

 

Twitter Chats and Webinars

For the past three weeks in EdTech 543, we have been exploring the world of Twitter Chats and Live Webinars. Our mission was to “attend” and contribute to four live webinars and four live Twitter chats.

In order to participate in a Twitter chat, you must first find a topic that interests you and determine if there is a set time that topic will be discussed. Once the time has come for the Twitter chat to start, you will search for the hashtag (ie – #EdTechSN) and contribute tweets with that same hashtag. A dashboard application I like to use for participation in Twitter chats and helping manage Twitter is TweetDeck.

For Live Webinars, you watch and listen to a presentation while simultaneously participating in discussion via the webinars chat feature and/or via a specific hashtag on Twitter. These Webinars can be held through a multitude of online platforms such as Blackboard Collaborate. Once again, I like to use TweetDeck to contribute to these webinars.

All the webinars I participated in were for an online global event highlighting teaching and learning through The Future of Education website and used #RSCON5 (Reform Symposium Free Online Conference). This was a new experience for me to both watch a presentation online while participating in discussion via Twitter. I found it to be so much more engaging and allowed me to share my perspective and learning through Twitter. One thing I found quite amazing about contributing to discussion was how my Personal Learning Network expanded because of new followers developed from my tweets referencing #RSCON5. A hashtag can be so powerful.

My experience with Twitter chats was mixed. It was amazing to see the participation level difference among the hashtags. Some were easy to follow, and some were overwhelming. One example was the difference between the #educoach and #edmodochat chats. For the #educoach chat that was focused around Instructional Coaching, I asked a question about what attributes people looked for in an instructional coach and never got an answer. This chat was also easy to follow because hardly anyone participated. On the other hand, the #edmodochat I participated in was quite overwhelming. Even using TweetDeck, it was hard to follow conversations because so many people were posting at the same time. When I asked a question in this chat, I had multiple people respond within a minute, which was pretty amazing.

What I took away from the Twitter chats and Webinar discussions was a whole lot of knowledge on the process . Like most first experiences, I know what I will do differently next time. Most of the knowledge I gained was about the whole real-time chatting and getting used to the multi-tasking of watching a presentation, answering questions, and following hashtags. I really like using TweetDeck and found that it was much easier to use on my computer than just using the Twitter app on my phone. As far as the content is concerned, I learned that we must realize students are not just like we were when we were in school. They are a different generation that thinks differently and has different social norms than we did. In a separate session, they talked about how Gamification has become such a great motivator for today’s generation of student who does not thrive in the traditional classroom. students who In a different webinar, an 18 year old named Paige Woodard talked about her mission to explain the benefits of social media in the classroom. She gave 5 tips for educators:

1. Respect students’ creativity
2. Encourage 21st century resources, tools, and innovation
3. Utilize technology/social media in the classroom for professional purposes
4. Discuss with students what it means to be a digital citizen
5. Facilitate student brainstorming and collaboration with peers and professionals

After being immersed in the world of Twitter chats and backchannel discussions during Webinars, I look forward to my future of interacting and collaborating with others from around the world. It’s amazing to see how the professional development experience has evolved over time. Thank you Twitter.

Developing and Maintaining a Positive Digital Footprint

Your online reputation is your new first impression. No longer are the days where a potential employer or new acquaintance first find out information about you in your initial face-to-face interaction. Your first impression is a Google search away.

A digital footprint is unlike any other footprint known to man. It can be accessed anywhere by anyone, and lasts a lifetime and beyond. One of the unfortunate things about a digital footprint is that the information about you is not always accurate and is often very hard to get rid of.

In order to develop and maintain a positive digital footprint, I recommend the following ten things:

1. Use a search engine such as Google to research information about yourself. Make sure you do multiple searches that includes information from each phase of your life (ie – name & hometown, name & employer, name & school) (Social Networking, n.d)

2. After a general search using Google, log-out of all Social Media sites and search the sites you have a profile on to view what is observable to the public. (Henry, 2012)

3. If you find any information that does not exude the reputation you are looking to have, see what you can do to fix it. This may mean contacting friends or internet sites to get information taken down. (Chandler, 2010)

4. Set strict privacy measures on your social media sites. Only allow your profile to be public if you are only sharing information you want anyone to see. Even if that anyone is an identity thief.  (Shah, 2012)

5. Keep private things private, but assume nothing online is fully private. (Adams, 2013)

6. The internet never forgets. Even though a website may no longer be in service, you can still view cached copies that Google stores long after. (Chandler, 2010)

7. In order for people to find you online, you need to be consistent. Use the same name, email and username in order to continue to build your brand.(Shah, 2012)

8. Buy your domain name. Even if you can’t get your exact name, you can get something close enough that will work. (Henry, 2012)

9. Blog anonymously and vent wisely. If you are going to write unprofessional information online, make sure you are using  (Social Networking & Online Image, n.d)

10. Use the internet to your advantage. Even though things can go wrong, the benefits greatly outweigh the consequences. (Hill, 2014)

Resources

Adams, S. (2013, March 14). 6 Steps To Managing Your Online Reputation. Forbes. Retrieved June 29, 2014, from http://www.forbes.com/sites/susanadams/2013/03/14/6-steps-to-managing-your-online-reputation/

Chandler, N. (2010, October 5). HowStuffWorks “10 Tips for Maintaining a Professional Image Online”. HowStuffWorks. Retrieved June 29, 2014, from http://money.howstuffworks.com/10-tips-for-maintaining-professional-image-online.htm

Henry, A. (2012, November 28). How to Clean Up Your Online Presence and Make a Great First Impression. Lifehacker. Retrieved June 29, 2014, from http://lifehacker.com/5963864/how-to-clean-up-your-online-presence-and-make-a-great-first-impression

Shah, S. (2012, November 8). Build a positive professional online presence – The Times of India. The Times of India. Retrieved June 29, 2014, from http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/relationships/work/Build-a-positive-professional-online-presence/articleshow/11872412.cms

Social Networking. (n.d.). University of Minnesota. Retrieved June 29, 2014, from http://www.cehd.umn.edu/career/networking/social/

Social Networking & Online Image. (n.d.). . Retrieved June 29, 2014, from http://www.up.edu/showimage/show.aspx?file=23633

Creative Expression of CoP’s, PLN’s, and Connectivism

 

 

Connectivism, Personal Learning Networks, and Communities of Practice are all linked together. They all have to do with learning new information from an outside source you are connected to. Connectivism is the umbrella term, while PLN’s and CoP’s fall under this category of making new connections. Because of the development of technology, these connections are now not limited to physical interactions. These connections are the foundation and link of PLN’s, CoP’s, and Connectivism.

Connectivism

Connectivism Is a proposed learning theory by George Siemens and Stephen Downes that centers around learners constantly making new connections. It is said to be a learning theory for the digital age and Downes believes that knowledge is distributed across a network of connections, and therefore that learning consists of the ability to construct and traverse those networks” (Downes, 2007). However, some believe this “theory” is a tool to be used in the learning process instead of as a standalone learning theory. (Duke, 2013)
Regardless of Connectivism being a theory or not, it is something that is relevant for the digital age. Because of the development of technology, the increase in making new connections is at our fingertips. I believe that Communities of Practice, and Personal Learning Network’s fall under the category of Connectivism.

Communities of Practice

According to Jean Lave and Etienne Wenger, Communities of Practice (CoP) are a group of people that share a common interest, where all members contribute and put into practice the resources that are shared (Lave, 1998)

With the development of social media, communities of practice have no limit. Before the internet, learners would form these groups with people they had immediate face-to-face access to. This was the only way to communicate and share information. However, communication has evolved. There are now no restrictions to who is in your community.

Personal Learning Network

A Personal Learning Network is much like a CoP in that it is a group of people that someone associates with in order to learn more information about a certain topic. The great thing about PLN’s is that the learner can design their PLN to meet their needs and technology capabilities.

References

Communities of Practice (Lave and Wenger) | Learning Theories. (n.d.). Learning Theories RSS. Retrieved June 23, 2014, from http://www.learning-theories.com/communities-of-practice-lave-and-wenger.html

Downes, S. (2007, February 3). Half an Hour. : What Connectivism Is. Retrieved June 23, 2014, from http://halfanhour.blogspot.com/2007/02/what-connectivism-is.html

Duke, B., Harper, G., & Johnston, M. (n.d.). Connectivism as a learning theory for the digital age. . Retrieved June 20, 2014, from https://www.hetl.org/wp-content/uploads/gravity_forms/2-298b245759ca2b0fab82a867d719cbae/2013/01/Connectivism-hand-out.pdf

Morrison, D. (2013, January 22). How to Create a Robust and Meaningful Personal Learning Network [PLN]. online learning insights. Retrieved June 23, 2014, from http://onlinelearninginsights.wordpress.com/2013/01/22/how-to-create-a-robust-and-meaningful-personal-learning-network-pln/

EdTech 543 Initial Post

EdTech 543 – Social Network Learning

One of the first things we had to do for this course is create profiles for Facebook, Twitter, and Diigo. This was not an issue for me, as I have already had personal accounts for Facebook and Twitter, and had to create a Diigo profile from a previous EdTech course. The only platform I do not use unless I have to is Diigo. I just have never been a big fan of it. Although that could be because I have not spent very much time trying to seek all the benefits of it.

Currently, I have a Facebook group for my Leadership class that I use on a weekly basis. This is great because Facebook is one of the few platforms to have a closed group (unlike Twitter). I am also in charge of the twitter feed of our high school baseball team.

In this course, I hope to enhance my use of Twitter in my teaching. I think it is a tool that 90% or more of my students have, and I need to utilize it more.

EdTech 503 – Module 7 Reflection

For this module, we focused on formative and summative evaluation. This evaluation refers to the instructional design product we are creating, which may contain some formative and summative assessments that will inform us on the design product. The three groups we created evaluation for are one-to-one, small group, and field trial.

For one-to-one evaluations, the designer has a few of it’s target audience try out the instructional materials. The main purpose of this is to find any major problems with the instruction. This could entail missing directions, mislabeled illustrations, typographical errors, or any other thing that may be confusing. The designer would then revise the instructional materials.

For the small group evaluation, the designer will be checking how effective the revisions are from the one-to-one evaluations. This small group would also be a time where the instructor would allow the students to work on their own, and only step in when students cannot solve without assistance. If any flaws are found again, the designer would revise the instructional materials. 

For the field trial, the designer would meet with around 30 students to determine the efficacy of the revisions made during the small-group evaluation and to mainly determine if the instruction can be implemented as designed.

I really enjoyed working on the evaluations this week, as I believe they are an important component to a successful instructional design project. It’s great to get feedback and be able to revise your product before you finalize it. I like to relate this to a company that creates a new product has a trial run in a few stores before doing a full-scale production for all their stores nationwide. Like Chipotle, offering breakfast in a few airport locations before deciding they were not going to offer this at all locations, dang it.

EdTech 503 Module 6 Reflection

One thing that is always a challenge in teaching is finding the right motivation for students. Often times, integrating technology into a lesson can enhance the learners to be motivated. However, if the assignment is poorly designed, no amount of technology will be able to keep students motivated over the long-run. As we continued to work on our Instructional Design project this week, we looked into how to motivate learners. One model that we have used is Dr. John Keller’s ARCS Model. In this model, Dr. Keller breaks down motivation into four categories: Attention, Relevance, Confidence, Satisfaction.
The first thing a lesson must do is grab the student’s attention. This can be done through a variety of different things ranging from a video clip, to a loud noise.
The second this a lesson must do is be relevant. The learner has to find a reason to want to learn the material you are presenting them.
The third thing a lesson must do is instill confidence in the learner. In order to help this confidence, the teacher must provide clear expectations and acceptable work examples.
The fourth thing a lesson must do is be satisfying. The student needs to feel good about the work they have accomplished.

This week has been great for my current and future work. I have already started evaluating the lessons I am currently teaching, and realizing I am not meeting the four parts to the ARCS Model. I feel like I need to do a better job of grabbing my student’s attention. I often times just get going into a new unit without providing some type of information or intro that piques their interest. Most of all, I think this week was a great eye-opener for me. It has provided me with a template to create lessons in the future not only for myself, but for other educators.

EdTech 503 Module 4 Reflection

This week we had the opportunity to complete the second phase of our case analysis. In the first phase, we conducted a case analysis of our desire and created a VoiceThread on our assessment. Classmates then responded to our assessments and gave us feedback from a key stakeholder’s perspective. For my case analysis, I chose a case that focuses on a high school setting where a technology coordinator received a $20,000 grant to improve teacher skills and knowledge in providing new environments for learning. The main problem is that not everyone is on the same page with how to use the funds.  Suzanne would like to use funds for teacher tech training for technology integration but her principal and curriculum coordinator would like funds focused on content areas and state-mandated tests.

After receiving feedback from classmates, it made me realize that I had not thought of all perspectives when conducting the case analysis. The main perspective I thought through things was from the technology coordinator (which is the perspective I can most relate to) and I forgot to see things from other people’s point of view. 
The one perspective I chose to give all of my feedback to classmates from was a principal. I believe this also gave me further insight into the perspective of another key stakeholder and allowed me to dive in deeper to this case analysis. 

Once again this week, I gained further perspective in the instructional design field. These assignments have challenged my default setting and have made me think outside the box. As the activities director at my school, I am given the task of helping coordinate all extra-curricular activities that take place. While doing this, part of my pre-activity checklist is to think about different perspectives (teachers, administration, students, community) and then evaluate if the activity we are putting on is in the best interest of those different perspectives. My goal is to first and foremost provide activities for students, but I must think about how it will affect the other key stakeholders as well. Through this case analysis, it has given me further wisdom and experience in this assessment.  

EdTech 503 Module 3 Reflection

This week we have been working on creating a flowchart and starting to think of questions for our needs assessment of our ID Project. This has been a great task that really makes you think about the overall goal you have for the learner and what steps are needed in order for the learner to be successful at achieving the goal. In Ross Perkins Adobe Connect “Learning Objectives” presentation, he mentions that learning is represented by change. If learning is going to take place, we need to make sure that we use the information from our needs assessment and focus on learning objectives the learner has not mastered. When doing this, we must make sure our flowchart is broken down into steps that are manageable so that this change can occur.

Through the Module Discussion, I have been able to give feedback to fellow students and help them in evaluating their flowchart, goals, type of learning, and learning objectives. By doing this, I have not only been able to see flaws in other projects, but also see great examples of an ID project. Even though we have been focusing on projects other than our own, I have actually thought of many different ways I can improve my ID Project through evaluating others’. On the other hand, I have received some great feedback on my initial ID Project post. The feedback that has benefited me the most is on the learning objectives. After looking at feedback others have received, I wish the flowchart creator, LucidChart was a tool that did not require a log-in in order to view. I believe this has been a deterrent for some students that do not currently have a LucidChart account.

I have actually really enjoyed creating the flowchart for my ID Project.I think it’s because I tend to be pretty detail oriented in my everyday job, and this week I have really had to think about each step. As I was teaching this past week, the students were required to create a presentation and present it to the class. After I received many questions from students as the project was underway, I began to think that my instructional objectives must not have been clear enough and I assumed too much information about their prior knowledge. I really like how this project has begun to change my thought process as I teach.