Adventures in Blogging...

Did You Know?

-77% of internet users read blogs

-75% of bloggers have college degrees

-68% of bloggers have been blogging for at least 2 years

-72% of bloggers blog to share their expertise

-70% of bloggers use personal satisfaction as the indicator of their blog’s success

-More than 133 million blogs have been indexed since 2002

Adapted from: Phil Bradley

Learning About Blogging & RSS

I really didn’t understand how BIG blogging has become, until I read the statistics above.  Blogging is an incredibly popular tool for promotion, reflection, collaboration, sharing and thinking.  I have learned that the reasons people blog are varied, and the assortment of blogs out there are equally diverse.  One can literally find a blog on anything they wish.  Bloggers and blog readers represent people from all walks of life and from all corners of the world. 

Before starting this course, my experience with blogging was limited.  I was excited at the prospect of creating my first blog for this course – however I was a little shy about posting my thinking online for anyone to see.  Being new to blogging I read through the chapter on Weblogs in, “Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms” and was given a good background to get me started with blogging.  I took Richardson’s advice and decided to use “Blogger” – as you can tell...  I found Blogger to be user-friendly and straight-forward.  Many blog templates are available to users, and these templates can be customised with ease.

As I became more comfortable with Blogger, I began to explore how to enhance my blog posts by embedding images, videos and podcasts and personalizing my blog with some widgets.  Having had no experience with blogging and no one to guide me through the process of adding such elements, I went to good-old Google and searched out what I needed.  I was so pleased to find numerous sites with easy-to-follow information on enhancing Blogger.  I found it easiest to learn these skills through video tutorials which walk you through the process screen-by-screen.  Since information on blogging technology etc. is so readily available, I found myself more inclined to experiment and take risks – and I’m so happy I did!

The most challenging aspect for me as I began to blog was finding my (hopefully engaging) voice while effectively relaying my ideas.  The blogs I enjoy reading most are both witty and informative – not one or the other.  In my blog posts I aim to express my ideas in an interesting and engaging manner – I’m finding this is easier said than done.  After reflecting on the process of my blogging experience thus far, I realise that finding your blogging voice is a process.  I have noticed my blog posts have changed and evolved even in the short time I have been blogging.  I appreciated this article called, “How to Find Your Blogging Voice – 8 Tips for Bloggers” as it reminded me perfection is not the goal of blogging and that your blogging voice should change and evolve over time.  That being said, I am happy with my developing blogger voice and continue to experiment with it. 

Blogging has required me to reflect on my own learning and thinking.  Due to the fact that my blog is updated frequently I have begun to see some patterns in my thinking emerge.  Reflecting on this, I see the value in regular blogging as it provides a concrete way to explore one’s thinking.  Comparing my earlier posts to more recent ones I am able to see how my ideas have been confirmed, have evolved and have been challenged.

The collaborative nature of blogging has proved to be a great motivation for me.  I love to see what comments others have to say about my posts.  I find that once another person has commented on my blog whether in agreement or disagreement, I want to discuss more with them.  Even more, their comments get me thinking, reflecting and exploring more.

Before this course I had never thought to subscribe to blogs, let alone heard of RSS.  I have a good friend who blogs about fashion (link) and my sister-in-law (link) created a baby blog after the birth of her daughter.  These were the only blogs I had ever purposely read.  I remember searching Google for blogs to use in my Inquiry Learning course this past summer and being more than frustrated!  As suggested in the course outline I got a “Google Reader” account and subscribed to the suggested blogs.  I appreciate the convenience of having all the blogs I am following together in one place.  In the past I had added links to blogs I want to follow on my favourites bar.  There were 2 problems with this method: 1. it cluttered my favourites bar and 2. I never knew when each blog was updated.  Google reader has solved these problems and allows me to go back and search out the blogs I’m following for specific terms.  This search feature has been very helpful when I have been researching each of the Web 2.0 tools for this course.  Google Reader has made it easy to follow multiple blogs and given me an convienent way to go back and read previous entries. 

How Does it Fit In?  Blogging, my Personal Life & Learning

Blogging certainly has a place in my personal life and learning and I see it having a place for the rest of my life.  The blogosphere is a vast and every growing place, full of never ending possibilities.  I believe the blogs that I will be reading and creating over my lifetime will change depending on where I am.  Blogging is a flexible and evolving literacy I look forward to exploring in various aspects of my life.

In my personal life, I enjoy reading the blogs my friends and family create to share their passions and goings-on.  As I mentioned earlier, my sister-in-law has created a baby blog where she posts pictures of my nieces and annotates them with little stories about what they’ve been up to.  Her blog was created purely out of convenience, but has evolved into an online scrapbook of her kid’s lives thus far.  She has every intention of continuing on with her blogging and has started to include posts on their house renovations and other non-kid related topics.  A good friend of mine has started to blog about fashion and has really found her passion in doing so.  After a successful first year of her blog, she has decided to go back to school to study journalism and has already gotten some freelance writing work through her blog.  The journey she has taken through blogging helped her nail down her passion.

While I don’t actually know what I’ll be blogging about, I look forward to blogging in the future.  The greatest blogging inspiration I have at the moment is travel.  I love travelling and thus enjoy reading travel blogs.  When I take my next big trip, I would love to start a travel blog.  Not only do travel blogs keep those at home up to date on your adventures, they also become a keepsake from your travels.  When I taught in Abu Dhabi I wrote extensive emails on my adventures and send them to my family and friends back home.  These emails have become my favourite keep-sakes from my trip as they contain all of the little details of my trip that I have begun to forget.  Blogging would have been a more convenient way for me to record my trip adventures.  When I have children I will certainly follow my sister-in-law’s lead and blog about our family activities.  Another passion of mine is cooking and I do think a cooking blog would be a lot of fun – I just don’t have the time right now!

In regards to learning, bloggers have much to teach us.  I intent to keep my Google Reader account active so that I can continue to read the blogs that were suggested for us to follow for this course.  This program has opened my eyes to using alternative sources when conducting research etc.  Before taking my first course in this program I had never thought of using a blog as a reference.  I now see how sophisticated the blogs out there are.  Blogs have an advantage over traditional sources as they can be published instantly, making them some of the most up-to-date sources available.  The hardest part for me will be searching out the best blogs to follow and learn from.  Through Twitter searching the hashtag “#edublogs” I have been directed to a few new and interesting blogs related to education.  I aim to use blogs as a source of professional development and as a resource for research as I journey through this program.  The education related blogs available are vastly diverse and I have been impressed by their  depth and quality. 

Does it Have a Place?  Blogging In Our Schools

Blogging most certainly does have a place in our schools!   Creative educators are creating blogs for student, colleague and parent use.  Not only that, students are creating blogs to share their ideas and showcase their learning.  The fact that blogs are posted for the world to see gives students an authentic audience for their writing and allows them to make connections with others in the global community.  With excellent blogging programs available for free, getting your students and colleagues blogging is easy to do.

Through blogging, school leaders can promote initiatives, professional development and school news.  Teacher/TLs can create blogs to encourage collaboration and idea sharing amongst school staffs.  In the article, “A School Administrators Guide to Blogging: A New Way to Connect With the Community”, author Jerrry Horgan suggests that blogging is a convenient way for administrators to share the great things that are going on in their school/school district to the greater community.  While this article is written with administrators in mind, I believe the same can be said for TLs.  In my local school districts, TL hours are being cut every year regardless of enrolment, and TLs are constantly trying to prove their value to the community and district administrators.  Because TLs are non-enrolling, many classroom teachers, parents and administrators don’t actually understand what TLs do and can do for a school.  Through blogging, TLs could illustrate the integral role they play in enhancing teaching and learning.  The best example of a TLs blog I have found is Buffy Hamilton’s “The Unquiet Library” blog.  Her hard work and value in the school is easy to see on any and all of her posts.  Any colleagues or community members questioning the value of TLs in our schools should be sent to this blog...it’s inspiring to say the least.

Classroom blogs can be an excellent way for teachers to communicate with parents and students.  In our text, Will Richardson mentions how much parents love the transparency of a class blog and suggests that parents (and older students) add the blog to an RSS feed or sign up for automatic notification so that they can keep up with their child’s school life.  Classroom blogs can be used purely for informing parents of school events etc. (K-3) or can be used to post assignment and curriculum information for students and parents (gr. 3-12).  Richardson also comments that having classroom blogs is a handy way for colleagues to keep up with what each other are doing with their classes – helping to promote a culture of collaboration in the school.  A good example to a classroom blog is "Mrs. Verronneau’s Class Blog" (grade 4), from Cordova Bay Elementary, a school in my district.

One of the greatest criticisms of our increasing techie society is that youth are not learning how to communicate effectively, spelling in techie slang and using a max of 140 characters in each piece of writing.  I believe blogging can be the bridge between our students’ desire to work with technology and our desire to teach effective writing to communicate ideas.  Not only that, through blogging and reading blogs, students can practice and see examples of what meaningful and successful writing is.  The BC K – 12 Language Arts curriculum outcomes for Reading & Viewing and Writing & Responding are well addressed through blogging activities:

All BC Students Grades K – 12 are expected to...	Reading & Viewing	Writing & Representing
	-Read and view to comprehend and respond to a variety of grade-appropriate texts. -Use strategies before, during and after reading and viewing to increase comprehension and fluency. -Use reading and viewing to make meaningful connections, and to improve and extend thinking. -Analyse the influence of context through reading and writing. -Use metacognition, self-assess, and set goals for improvement in reading and viewing. -Use the structures and features of text to derive meaning from texts.	-Write and represent to create a variety of meaningful personal, informational and imaginative texts. -Use strategies when writing and representing to increase success at creating meaningful texts. -Use writing and representing to express, extend and analyse thinking. -Explore multiple perspectives through writing and representing. -Use metacognition, self assess, and set goals for improvement in writing and representing. -Use features and conventions of language to enhance meaning and artistry in writing and representing.

Adapted From: BC Integrated Resource Package

Why is getting our students to blog such a great idea?

1.    Blogging teaches hard-to-teach curriculum outcomes.

2.    Blogging engages students and gets them motivated.

3.    Blogging allows students to become published writers, offering them an authentic audience for their writing.

4.    Blogging provides a concrete way for students to reflect on their thinking and learning.

5.    Through blogging students can connect and collaborate with others in their school, community and the world.

Most exciting for students is the prospect of creating their own blogs.  In the text, Richardson refers to research by Eide and Fernette that found blogging initiates creative, intuitive and associational and reflective thinking in addition to promoting social interaction and collaborative learning.  Teacher-blogger D.S. Watts writes that through blogging, “students begin to feel empowered as digital citizens when they control their personalized learning environment.”  One point to be mindful of when getting students to blog, is blogging etiquette, responsibility and safety.  “Tech & Learning” compiled a good list of blogging guidelines – available here.

Student blogging can take many forms, ideas include:

-E-Portfolios: Blogs can be a wonderful place for students to showcase their learning.  Artifacts (images/links/videos etc.) with annotations can be stored on a blog for others to see and comment on.

-Book Reviews: Students can blog about the books they are reading, allowing other students to get ideas for new reading material.  Students could include a "Shelfari" or "LibraryThing" widget on their blog as well.  See an example of a book review blog created by a grade 5 student I taught here.

-Weather Reports: BC students in grade 4 are required to learn about weather patterns.  Why not have them predict the weather using what they have learned and blog their forecasts?  Other students can add their input to others’ predictions through blog comments.  To read more click here.

-Blogging Buddies: Students in the same grade but living in different cities/countries can communicate via blogs.  Teachers can coordinate curriculum to ensure that students have personal learning connections with one another – a wonderful way to expose students to those outside of their communities.  (Idea adapted from “Passport To The World of Kim and Alex” blog).

Not only can students learn through blogging, but they can also read blogs to learn.  As I have stated before, there are blogs available on virtually all topics.  Teachers could choose to have their students follow blogs written on curricular subjects.  Another option is requiring students to find a blog they are interested in related to the area of study.  Here are a few links to unique blogs related to each of the major curricular areas (appropriate for gr. 8-12):

Science: 
The Beauty Brains – The Sci-Fi Gene – Exoplantology

Math:
Mathematics & Multimedia – Let’s Play Math Blog

Social Studies:
The History Blog – World History Blog – Any Travel Blog (See Here)

Language Arts:
Angela Booth’s Writing Blog – The Reading Zone – Poetry Blog

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The blogosphere offers bloggers and blog readers infinite opportunities and possibilities.  Using blogs as a way to learn and to share ideas is a wonderful way to enhance life, learning and teaching.  Explore the blogosphere you never know what you might learn or who you may connect with!

Twitter - 175 Million Strong.

As much as I have tried to deny it, in the past few months I have learned that Twitter is kind of a “Big Deal”!  With 175 million users, I can no longer pretend that Twitter is a passing fad with a few passionate users – it’s here and it’s here to stay!  While under 5 years old, Twitter has become an integral part of today’s modern societies.  Tweets have been known to brake international news, used  to “pop the question” and have even lead to arrests and jail time.  While some claim twitter is the ultimate form of narcissism, my experience and research has taught me that Twitter is whatever you make it.  Narcissistic or not, I am determined to give Twitter a chance – here’s hoping I don’t end up in jail!

Landing in the Twitterverse – Guidebook Handy: Learning About Twitter:

My experience learning about Twitter was much like being dropped in a foreign country and trying to navigate a new culture – complete with new vocabulary and customs.  For myself, the actual technology of Twitter was simple; however learning how to consume and contribute to the Twitterverse was a challenge.  Compared with the other Web 2.0 tools we’ve explored, Twitter has had the most new terms and etiquette for me to become familiar with.  I assumed as with travel, that as one explores the Twitterverse more, its becomes easier to understand.  With this assumption in mind, I decided to jump into the Twitterverse and see if I could navigate this new world on my own...Ok so I wasn’t completely on my own, I had my trusty travel guide (thanks to this week’s Trailfire) to help me along my way... 

The best analogy I found for Twitter was comparing Twitter to a cocktail party.  At the party you are walking around the room and eaves dropping on little snippets of all the conversations.  Some of these conversations may be more interesting and/or relevant to you and you might want to learn more, at which point you can join the discussion.  I had never thought of Twitter as a starting point for a discussion, my previous assumption was that tweets were the beginning and the end of a conversation.  I have learned that some tweets are just that, one-offs, however many are part of a much larger network of conversations, debates and collaborative thinking. 

Another a-ha moment I had was just how big the Twitterverse is!  As I mentioned earlier, Twitter has 175 million users, that’s a lot but I didn’t really process how many it  actually was.  When looking for people to follow, I couldn’t believe how many familiar names I found.  I was also very excited to find many of my favourite celebrities on Twitter.  My personal favourite being Martha Stewart – who I am currently following, who knew Twitter is a "Good Thing"?!  Not only that, I was impressed by the number of well respected leaders in education there were tweeting about education related issues.  I started reading through the tweets of those I’m following and was quickly confused with all of the lingo and symbols.  I did a little research and the most useful twitter vocabulary I learned was:

Hashtag:  Essentially this is a tag.  Users create hashtags to link their tweets on particular topics.  To indicate a hastag, the “#” symbol appears directly before the tag.  For example the hashtag for Social Media would appear:  #SocialMedia.

Tweetup:  A Tweet Up is when a bunch of tweeters (usually with the same interest(s)) who only know each other through Twitter, meet up in real life.

FollowFriday: Follow Friday (FF) is a recommendation for others to follow someone you mentioned in your tweet. 

@reply: This is used to show that your tweet is in reply to another’s users’ tweet.  For example “@JohnDoe, I have read that book too.”

Retweet:  RT@username is used to acknowledge that you have retweeted another user’s tweet.

There is lots of other Twitter vocabulary, however I found these terms/symbols to be the most helpful in reading and comprehending tweets.  If you want to learn more, check out the Twictionary.

After reading a few tweets, I was ready to post one myself.  I was surprised how apprehensive I was to post a tweet so I decided to look up some info on tweeting before actually posting one.  I learned that brevity and accuracy is key when it comes to effective tweeting.  Time.com noted that many tweets have an “unexpected depth” to them – proving that tweeting can report more than what one had for breakfast! While 140 characters is not many, if chosen wisely they can communicate quite a bit of information.  That being said, I didn’t have much to say that day!  I did end up taking the plunge, and was proud to post my first tweet.  

The next day I decided to post a tweet with a link in it to an education related website.  I had found this webpage which had many interactive ebooks – all of which are free!  I included the hashtag #teachers in my post to help ensure my tweet got to as many teachers as possible.  Any parent/teacher working with emergent readers would find this site useful as many of the books have audio included to help early readers through the text.

What did I learn through my experience?  I learned just how massive and complex the Twitterverse is.  I realise that fully understanding Twitter etiquette, language and customs is a process and isn’t something you can “master” as it’s always evolving – much like a country’s culture.  I have learned that exposure to the Twitterverse through consumption and contribution of tweets is my best bet to becoming a more seasoned tweeter.

Tweeting My Life Away: Twitter, My Personal Life & Learning:

Facebook is my preferred method of keeping track of my friends’ lives and goings on and for this reason I don’t intend to use Twitter to keep up with my friends.  Twitter is more useful to me as an information portal.  I have subscribed to the BBC and CBC on Twitter and have been happy to receive news information literally as it is unfolding.  I also appreciate that the news is presented in short-and-sweet tweets, allowing me to get sense of what’s going on in the world in a matter of seconds.  Because these news organizations often include links in their tweets, finding out more about a news story is only a click away.  In the past, I have spent hours on newspaper websites reading through the day’s headlines - however I now start with Twitter for the day’s news and use newspaper websites to supplement the information I get through Twitter.  On a more recreational note, being the foodie I am, I have enjoyed using Twitter to find out information on great recipes and restaurants.  As I mentioned earlier, I am currently following Martha Stewart in addition to other celebrity chefs.  Many of these chefs post links to free seasonal recipes – something I always appreciate.  Some also post restaurant recommendations in their tweets.  I used a tweeted restaurant recommendation on my recent trip to Cape Cod – thanks Giada!  Being able to follow and learn from my favourite celebrity chefs is a fun bonus to being on Twitter!

In regards to my personal learning, Twitter offers many opportunities.  Following educational discussions on Twitter has proven very simple.  Tweets are quick to read and are often responded to instantly – the speed of professional discussions on Twitter is incredibly fast, making following and participating in discussions exciting and easy.  I have enjoyed watching the discussions on education related topics as they “get me thinking” about many issues in today’s schools.  While this information is valuable, I was having trouble using Twitter to find information I needed on specific topics.  I tried searching out a few hashtags and was pleasantly surprised to see how effective this was.  In the summer when I was working on my Inquiry course, I didn’t fully understand how Twitter worked and what the posts I was reading meant.  I saw tweets as the end point, and tried to use the measly 140 characters to get my information.  I now understand that tweets are merely the beginning and the hashtags and links in a given post are the most valuable for information finding.  I was disappointed to read that you can’t actually subscribe to hashtags through Twitter as hashtags are a user created convention – so performing a Twitter search for a specific hashtag is my best bet.  I had considered getting a Tweetdeck account to allow me to follow particular hashtags, however I opted out of it as I had too many hashtags of interest and would feel overwhelmed by the number of tweets I was receiving.  Not only that, at different times I am looking for different information and like being able to search out different hashtags as I want them.  Using Twitter to help me as I work through this TL-DL program will be an adjustment as I am not used to employing social networking sites for academic research.  I do intend to keep up on educational matters via Twitter and also look forward to searching out hashtags to find information when I’m researching.  The great thing about using Twitter for academic purposes is that you are almost always guaranteed the most current information.

Tweetcher: Twitter and Our Schools:

Twitter can be a wonderful tool for professional development and connecting with like-minded educators.  As school leaders teachers/TLs we need to promote the use of Twitter for professional purposes to our colleagues.  This is a challenge, as many of today’s school staffs have preconceived ideas and negative feelings about Twitter.  I will admit that while I’m a younger teacher in the district, I was not fully buying into Twitter before I learned more about it.  I saw Twitter as a self-indulgent time-waster that added more complication to my already busy life.  The notion that Twitter is just like Facebook status updates is a common and inaccurate misconception.  My exposure to Twitter has helped me to see the depth of the discussions on this site known for its bravity.  When promoting professional Twitter use in our schools, we need to educate our colleagues on the following points:

1.    Tweets are not the extent of a discussion, but rather the beginning.

2.    Useful and current links are often posted via Tweets.

3.    Tweets are short-and-sweet, offering a quick way to get information.

4.    Understanding hashtags and other Twitter conventions helps users to better understand and create tweets.

5.    People are tweeting all the time – information on Twitter is up-to-the-minute.

6.    Twitter can be fun.

Once our colleagues have begun to see the potential of using Twitter for professional development and communication, us school leaders need to lead by example and offer support.  As with this course, suggesting a list of education related people to follow on Twitter would be helpful.  Once staff members begin to follow “experts” they will become more comfortable tweeting themselves.  Staff members could follow one another and continue professional dialogue outside of the school walls.  Particularly useful would be the ability for staffs to stay connected through school breaks such as July and August.  Us teachers are constantly searching out new resources and/or ideas through our breaks, tweeting them to our colleagues would be a convenient way to share our ideas.

Not only can staff members from a given school connect via Twitter, but Twitter makes it just as easy to connect with educators from around the district, province, country and world.  No longer are teachers/TL working in isolation – professionals from around the world can share ideas and inspire one another.  In her article, "Virtual PLC's At Their Best: A Daily Diatribe", Paige Jaeger encourages teacher-librarians to venture into the Twitterverse and follow others.  She also emphasizes just how easy it is to connect with those you work with and others around the world.  She suggests teacher-librarians following INFOlit4U – a great source of PD info!

Using Twitter as an educational tool with Elementary aged students is not practical nor feasible.  That being said, Twitter could be an excellent tool for parent communication.  School/library programs could be promoted through tweets.  Not only that, teachers could tweet reminders about permission forms, special events and/or homework to parents.  This responsible use of Twitter as a tool for parent-teacher communication is a great model for students as they begin to show interest in social networking.  Researchers reported in, “Assessing Middle School Students’ Knowledge of Conduct and Consequences and Their Behaviors Regarding the Use of Social Networking Sites”, states that parents need to take a more active role in promoting responsible internet use.  What better way than modelling the behaviour themselves?

As students move on to middle and high school the potential of using twitter in the classroom is realised.  Cell phones and ipods are commonly in the hands of our middle and high school students and these toys can become tools when using Twitter for educational purposes.  I was astounded to read the following statistic on Liz Kolb’s blog “From Toy to Tool: Cell Phones in Learning”: at schools where cell phones are banned, 58% of teens use them during class anyway.  This is an interesting and astounding number – not only do more than half of our teens have cells phones, they use them constantly!  Fighting cell phone use in our schools is pointless, finding ways to integrate cell phones and similar technologies (i.e. ipods) to enhance learning is a much better way to spend our energy.   Student engagement is bound to improve as we embrace these technologies.  Not only that, Twitter is another way to connect with our students in and outside of school and many students would find the briefness of tweets less intimidating and time consuming than composing and/or reading an email.

Twitter can be an incredible tool for class discussion.  With today’s increasingly large classes, using Twitter as a forum for class discussions is not only fun, but also practical.  Teachers can tweet a discussion question at the beginning of a period and as students settle into their desks, students can tweet their responses.  Tweeting is handy as students are limited to 140 characters and therefore one student can’t dominate the conversation and for those who are having trouble coming up with ideas 140 characters is a manageable amount to share.  Not only does this get the class ready to learn, shy students can share their thoughts in a less personal way.  On a practical note, students absent from class can join in on discussions and/or view them at a later time.  In his article “Teaching with Twitter”, Jeffery R. Young remarks that allowing students to have discussions with the teacher and other students via Twitter changes the dynamics in the class as it gives students an equal voice to the teacher.

Another exciting use for Twitter as a teaching tool is for differentiated learning.  Many of the students most checked out of school are those who are most checked into their ipods and/or cell phones.  These are the students who are at risk of being left behind. Through tweeting, assignment and studying information (i.e. “Hint: check out pg. 34 for tomorrow’s Socials’ test”) could be sent to students.  Teachers could tweet reminders for homework, supplies needed and events for the following day.  This techie form of communication could be all that these students need to get on track.  Not only would they be more engaged, when they see that their teacher is trying to meet them where they’re at, they would be more comfortable asking for clarification via tweets.

Keeping up with current events is easy to do via twitter.  If I were teaching middle or high school level Socials and/or Language Arts, I would encourage my students to follow CBC via Twitter.  Students could retweet and remark on news stories, increasing dialogue between students and developing critical thinking skills.  Through use of Twitter, students would be able to keep up with the news of the day quickly and with minimal reading.

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The most powerful opportunity Twitter offers it’s users is the ability to connect.  Whether it be with your favourite celebrity, news channel, student, colleague, expert or friend, Twitter makes it easy for us to share our ideas.  Tweets are fast to create and fast to consume – making Twitter discussions interesting and spirited. While intimidating at first, becoming comfortable and understanding Twitter is easier than one might think.  Twitter is a tool that can be employed for personal learning, professional development, increasing student engagement and recreation.  I look forward to continuing to explore the Twitterverse.

It’s a Small World After All: Thanks to Social Networking...

I remember my first Facebook experience...  An un-techie friend of mine suggested I try it and swore that I would “LOVE” it.  Sceptical as I was, I signed up and was instantly hooked.  Simultaneous to my developing Facebook addiction, I was getting ready to leave for an adventure teaching in the United Arab Emirates.   My time in the UAE away from family and friends and meeting new people from around the world, only solidified my addiction to this ever-popular site.  I posted pictures of my trip for my friends and family to view, and was able to keep them informed as to my adventures and keep up with there’s.  The people I met 3+ years ago on this trip are still my Facebook friends and I enjoy being able to easily keep up with their exciting jet-setting lives over Facebook. 



I now check Facebook everyday – while this might seem obsessive, I really do enjoy and learn from it.  What is it I love so much about Facebook?  Firstly, I’m a super social person and I love to see what others are up to.  Not only that, Facebook provides a casual way to contact others; particularly with those who I don't feel comfortable just calling up.  Perhaps more intriguing is that through Facebook I can discover that my colleague is neighbours with my brother’s girlfriend’s parents!  It’s a small world after all! 

A New Way of Thinking: Learning About Social Networking & Our Schools

I have tried my hand at using a variety of social networking sites namely Facebook, Ning, and LinkedIn.  While they each offer slightly different services and features, once you’ve learned one, you can easily navigate another.  I didn’t spend much time exploring these tools this week for this reason.  Instead I spent my time investigating how these tools can be used in our schools for student learning and for my own professional development. 

Honestly, when I read over our course outline I was astounded to see that we were required to learn about using social networking tools such as Facebook with our students and for professional development.  Like most people, I see social networking as a recreational activity and couldn’t wrap my head around the idea of using it as a learning tool for myself and my students.  That being said, my thoughts have begun to change as we have explored Web 2.0 tools over the past few months in regards to enhancing teaching and learning through technology.  I launched into my learning this week with an open mind and was happy to see that employing social networking tools in education doesn’t mean teachers have to “friend” their students or put up with distracting Farmville requests while trying to teach a lesson.  The teachers I read about this week have tapped into the social networking craze and used it in creative ways to increase learning and no doubt engagement.

Without a Trialfire this week I started by reading Will Richardson’s chapter on social networks in his book “Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms” and I was pleasantly surprised to read that recent studies have found that students are in fact using social networking sites to find information and connect with others from outside their school and/or immediate community.  It is very exciting to realise that students are not only using social networks for time-occupying, but also for learning (whether they realise it or not) - this goes to show that our students possess the skills needed to learn and connect through social networks.  While the academic integrity of this learning is up for debate, students are learning and connecting non-the-less and that’s something us teachers/TLs need to tap into.  Richardson also goes on to state that networked learning, “is committed to a vision of the social that stresses cooperation, interactivity, mutual benefit and social engagement” – could we ask for anything more?  I was still wondering how us teachers/TLs can make the most of learning through social networks?

I learned that if employed properly, Facebook can offer students and teachers a place to connect and share ideas and learning.  This is all well and good, but I still had concerns over safety when using sites such as Facebook in the classroom.  I turned to “The Socially Networked Classroom” by William Kist for advice.  Kist makes some compelling points about internet safety and our students.  Firstly, he reminds us that students can just as easily write a nasty note on paper as they can on another’s Facebook wall and more importantly, since we teach students about internet safety we need to give them the oppertunity to practice these skills in a supervised environment (i.e. school).  I then decided to call up a few friends (many who are teachers) of mine who have school aged children and ask their opinions on using social networking sites such as Facebook in the classroom.  Most of my friends expressed concern over using Facebook for learning due to security issues, and I don’t fault them for this.  What I think they are missing is the fact that Facebook (and other social networking sites) are used in different ways for learning than we use them for in our recreational time.  By using social networking sites in our schools, we can model and teach internet etiquette and safety in an authentic way.   Facebook security features and “tricks” can be employed to maximize student atonomy - a useful guide of Facebook Safety Features is available here.

 In regards to my professional development and social networking sites, this wasn’t such a paradigm shift for me.  I was introduced to LinkedIn by Mack Male through the Illuminate session we had earlier in the course and signed up shortly thereafter.  LinkedIn is a professional social media site which allows users to connect based on academic and/or professional interests.  After creating a profile I was astounded to see how many people from my school district were already on LinkedIn.  From Educational Assistants to the Director of HR, there were many familiar names that came up for my district.  This was an eye opening experience for me as I didn’t fully realise just how linked in (pun intended) to social media my colleagues were.  After creating my contact list I joined a few groups: Technology in Education; Elementary Education and University of Victoria Alumni.  I’ve been following the discussions on these groups and am impressed by the amount of “action” each topic gets!   In hopes of learning more about this week’s topic, I posted my first discussion topic asking for other’s thoughts and ideas in regards to using social networking sites in our schools. 

While I did get a few responses, after reading up a bit I learned that the discussion forums aren’t really for asking questions so much as stimulating discussions from an interesting link etc.  I then came across the “Answers” page on LinkedIn and posted a question about Web 2.0 and engaging students. 

The other questions and answers that people had posted were both interesting and meaningful.  I enjoyed scrolling through them as I appreciated the info others were offering.

As I began to research and reflect on the idea of using social networking sites for my own professional development and the learning of my students, my thinking changed.  Facebook and similar sites are getting a negative reputation thanks to the many frivolous applications they have (i.e. Mafia Wars).  Smart, modern and creative educators aren’t letting this digital clutter get in the way of these tools learning and connecting potential.  Through cleaver manipulation (for lack of a better word) of these tools wonderfully rich and engaging learning opportunities are being created.  

Not a Hard Sell: Social Networking, My Life & Learning

As I mentioned in my introduction, Facebook is a favourite “tool” of mine to feed my need for connections with people and my obsession for knowing what others are up to.  I don’t see myself deleting my Facebook profile anytime soon.  It’s a fun and handy way to connect, re-connect, plan events, promote initiatives, share photos and send messages – all of which I have done in the past month through my Facebook account.  For these reasons I like Facebook as it’s convenient and amusing (and also very time consuming)!  Having not had a LinkedIn account for too long, I didn’t realise that there were LinkedIn groups of a less-professional nature (i.e. Equestrian Enthusiasts, which I signed up for) and appreciate being a member of.   The nice thing about LinkedIn is that the groups and discussions have a more “mature” tone to them than most Facebook groups.  When needing to get “real” information, LinkedIn is a much better bet than (my beloved) Facebook.

In regards to my personal professional learning I haven’t found Facebook much of a help considering that the extent of what I learn through Facebook involves who is pregnant and who is moving to Nepal to live with monks!  While fascinating, the information I get through Facebook doesn’t help me progress professionally.  I will say that I appreciate how Facebook has allowed me to stay in contact with my classmates from my BEd cohort.  We all live in various cities around Canada but enjoy keeping each other informed as to our latest teaching acquisitions.  The casual, collegial support our Facebook communication gives us is a welcome boost to an often challenging profession.

LinkedIn is a site I see myself using far more for my professional learning.  LinkedIn users are able to post links to articles, blogs, websites, and/or videos etc. that they think would be of interest to others in the group.  I was thrilled that my Elementary Education group discussion directed me to this article about helping students find the main idea in a paragraph as that was exactly the lesson a teacher I was in for requested I teach!  The nature of technology advancements makes the Technology in Education group particularly “active” and the group is literally buzzing with discussions.  One very “hot” discussion was around the article “18 Technologies Changing Education For Ever” which I found relevant to this course.   It’s interesting to see how others around the world who are involved in education interpret this article. 

I will continue to check in with my LinkedIn groups as I appreciate the professionalism and collegial dialogue that is the standard on LinkedIn.  While I didn’t find searching through the Discussions and Answers pages very useful for researching purposes, I do appreciate that I can keep up-to-date on matters of education by checking into my LinkedIn account.  More than anything, sites such as LinkedIn get users thinking and connecting.  Through use of LinkedIn, I can keep up with the current debates, initiatives and resources related to teaching and learning.

Social Networking, Teaching & Learning

Social networking sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn can help to foster a feeling of community and promote professional development amongst school staffs.  TLs can take on a leadership role in promoting the use of these sites to colleagues.  While some staff members may be sceptical about the quality of such sites, I believe with adequate explanation and leading-by-example, most staff members would begin to see the positive aspects of these sites.

Facebook use in particular has the potential to be met with some resistance from staffs so we TLs really need to illustrate the value of being on Facebook.  My opinion is that Facebook is most useful for school staffs to connect and get to know one another.  Not only that, Facebook can offer a casual and friendly support network for colleagues to communicate, particularly in larger schools where staffs have little opportunity to connect.  A Facebook group could be created for a given schools’ staff in which reminders, updates and friendly messages could be relayed.  I found this “Paris Elementary’s GREAT Staff” group a particularly good example of a friendly, supportive and informative Facebook group for a school staff.  In our Illuminate session, Mack Male made the point of stating the importance of including what he calls “mundane updates” frequently on our social media network profiles.  He argues that these “mundane updates” humanize your online profile making you that much more relatable.  I agree with Mack on this point as (contrary to popular belief), teachers are humans first and we need to see our school staffs as people before co-workers.  Who knows, by learning a bit about one another’s lives outside of school we might actually begin to like each other...just kidding, I love my colleagues!

I believe using LinkedIn to promote professional development in our schools would be an easier “sell” to most staffs than using Facebook.  TLs would have to provide a short in-service for staffs outlining the professional learning potential offered through LinkedIn and the basics around using the site.  Those staff members not so keen on using Facebook due to privacy issues, would likely be more comfortable using LinkedIn as it’s a less personal service and focuses more on professional learning and connections.  Furthermore, the more grown-up atmosphere on LinkedIn is appreciated by those who find the frequent Farmville requests and “poking” annoying on Facebook.  A LinkedIn group could be created for school staff to share ideas, resources and useful links.  TLs could also encourage staff members to join certain groups related to the schools' goals/needs and/or teachers’ personal interests.  LinkedIn is a wonderful social network for those not totally comfortable with posting personal information online, making it a good choice for people new to social networking. 

Social networking sites are increasingly becoming the way of the world.  Facebook is the social network of choice for the vast majority of us and is the choice of our students.  For this reason I have chosen to exclusively examine how Facebook can be employed in our schools to engage students and enhance learning.  I see the argument for employing Facebook in our schools as 2-fold:

1.    Meeting Students Where There At:  Interestingly enough, I found an article on Proquest titled, “Facebook HELL?” by Woody Evans published in “Searcher” in which he strongly disagreed with the argument that we need to meet students where they’re at (i.e. on Facebook).   Evans argues that librarians shouldn’t jump on the band wagon with the latest technology craze (Facebook) as our real concern is, “about teaching sound principles of information finding, use, and evaluation.”  I think Evans has missed the point - why not meet our students where they’re at while teaching about library skills and promoting literacy?

2.   Connecting With Others:   As with all Web 2.0 tools, Facebook allows users to connect.  Not only can students connect with one another within a given class/school; but parents and community members can become involved in learning too.  Even more exciting is the potential of connecting with others from around the world – sure to be an exciting opportunity for students.

Having spent some time learning about the how and why teachers are employing social networking sites such as Facebook into their teaching, I was interested to examine a few examples of Facebook use in today’s classrooms.  (One important note: Facebook requires users to be over the age of 13 to create a profile so these ideas are intended for students 13 and over...)

Blogger Stephen Abram referred some interesting statistics about library promotion and Facebook in a recent post.  A survey conducted in July of 2010 revealed that about 25% of 18-24 year olds used Facebook to find out about library programs offered in their communities.  He went on to say that 50% of this age group uses the “likes” feature of Facebook to show their support for services in their community (i.e. libraries).  What better way to promote our library programs than on Facebook?  It’s free, wide reaching, allows users to show their support and is easy to update and keep current.  Buffy Hamilton (AKA “The Unquiet Librarian) understands the convenience and effectiveness of having a library Facebook page.  The Unquiet Library Facebook page not only promotes library use and literacy, but also showcases student work and provides useful information.  A library Facebook page is a great way to allow students to feel a part of the library culture, not to mention that the mere fact that having a Facebook page makes the library super cool!

In the text, Richardson discusses how teacher Jim Meredith used Facebook as a forum for class discussions – which turned out to be a huge success.  Meredith found that shy students spoke up online and that the class community was increasingly positive and supportive.  Renita Edmonds is another teacher using Facebook to extend her classroom.  Not only do her students use the class Facebook page as a discussion forum, but also as a portal to information on class work, tests, assignments and homework support.  The peer-to-peer teaching and learning that naturally occurs when using a Facebook page such as Edmonds’ is a wonderfully exciting by-product of learning through social networking sites.  It is our hope as educators that this supportive online environment transfers to the physical classroom and to our communities.

No doubt the most powerful aspect of using Facebook with students is the connections that they can make however; the mere idea of using Facebook for school work is an exciting prospect for all kids.  A couple years back when I was teaching grade 6, I noticed that my students had a keen interest in Facebook.  For a fun assignment, I had my students create a paper Facebook profile of themselves in grade 6 as well as a profile of themselves at 30.  We put the profiles into a time capsule which they are to open on their 30^th Birthday.  My students LOVED this assignment primarily because it involved Facebook.  I can only imagine how engaged and thrilled students would be if they were actually using Facebook for learning!

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Employing social networking sites such as LinkedIn and Facebook into teaching and professional development seems natural and is effective.  Students and increasingly school staffs, are already using these sites for recreation and with simple guidance can be shown how to use them for learning.  The best part of these sites being their ability to bring users together...  It is a small world after all!