21st Century Skills:
Why we are using social media in the classroom
Education is under-going a much needed revolution. No longer do students simply need the "3-R's", they need the "4 C's": Collaboration, Critical Thinking, Communication and Creativity. Ohio joined the Partnership for 21st century skills in 2009 in an on-going effort to equip students with the skills they need to survive in the world of tomorrow. Students live in the world of Web 2.0, where they are not "looking up" digital content, but they are creating digital content. We all leave a digital footprint. Our goal is to use social media sites like Delicious, FaceBook, Twitter and Flickr; which are used by students everyday in their lives outside of school, in an academic manner and thus create Confident Creators with a sense of digital responsibility. Leaving a positive digital footprint, establishing relationships with students beyond their school district, and creating knowledge through those connections are just a few of the positive impacts gained by using social media in the classroom. Our number one concern is the safety of your students in a digital world. All of the social media tools we use are strictly controlled by Garth and myself. We have a zero tolerance for inappropriate use of technology. Teachers and parents cannot ignore the internet, cell phones, and digital media players in our students/childrens' lives. We need to incorporate and educate students to use these digital tools. The classroom of tomorrow needs to become a reality today. Below is a brief outline of the Web 2.0 tools that we may incorporate in our classrooms. We will send home a "permission slip" to be read and signed by parents prior to using any of the tools listed.
Skype
This is the original collaborative tool Garth and I used. Skype is a free program that allows you to make video phone calls via your computer. It allows our students to see and hear each other. They can build academic relationships while collaborating on projects, sharing information and creating knowledge.
*we invite parents to participate in our classes via skype (Mr. Holman search GarthHolman and Mr. Pennington search MichaelPennington1 in skype-Please mention that you are a parent in your skype request). If you have an interest in history, we would love you to share your passion and knowledge with our students.
*we invite parents to participate in our classes via skype (Mr. Holman search GarthHolman and Mr. Pennington search MichaelPennington1 in skype-Please mention that you are a parent in your skype request). If you have an interest in history, we would love you to share your passion and knowledge with our students.
GoogleDocs
GoogleDocs is an online collaboration tool. Students can create, edit, and collaborate on word documents, PowerPoints, etc. This is a great tool for creating notes, share information between Chardon and Beachwood and store files in a secure environment. The picture to the left is an example of how Mr. Holman's 100 students collaborated on one document. Students created over 50 pages of text in one day!
Diigo and or Delicious
Diigo or Delicious is an online bookmarking tool. No matter what computer or where you are all of your bookmarks can be found and accessed. Delicious lets you "tag" or sort the saved websites so that you can find them easily. Alan November, international technology thinker, said that schools are doing a disservice if students are not taught how to tag information and save it on the web. Delicious allows users to create a network of shared websites with other uses, as well as share tags for new websites on others accounts. See below for the last things tagged by our students in the History with Holman and Pennington group.
Flickr
Flicker is a website that allows you to upload and save digital images and video. You can organize pictures, share them with family and friends or embed them on a website. We have a private Flickr account set up which we will upload pictures of students' work throughout the course of the school year. At the end of the year, we will create mosaic posters for the students that show their experiences as 7th grade students. All pictures and videos are private, not open to the public and only students whom are allowed to be photographed will be included. Using Flickr we can document student work from both schools throughout the school year.
Wikispaces for Education
We will continue to use our student-created digital history textbook which was created through wikispaces for education. The work students have already created on wikispaces has gained national attention from Alan November, Syracuse University, school board members in Michigan and California, and other leaders in education. This was the first collaborative piece between Beachwood and Chardon and we hope to continue to refine the students' work as well as enhancing the content through editing, interviewing experts (college professors) and collaboration with other schools. The methodology behind the online textbook is teaching from a constructionist perspective; students creating knowledge rather than regurgitating facts. This empowers students because they know that their work will live on past the 7th grade and is shared with the world. Creating digital content helps students create a positive digital footprint.
Twitter
Students are no longer trapped by the knowledge of a single textbook and teacher. Twitter allows students to follow experts in almost every academic field. Students can ask questions, have conversations, and engage in critical thinking with scholars around the world. Twitter is not just a tool of movie stars and talk show hosts. College professors, philosophers, and creative thinkers have been corresponding and sharing knowledge for years via Twitter. NASA, Professor John North from UCLA, Oxford University, The Ohio State University, The History Channel, Washington D.C. (capital history) all have Twitter accounts.
Padlet
Cell phones are not required for this class at Beachwood or Chardon. Student who have cell phones will have the opportunity to share information and imagery relevant to class. This may include imagery of historical buildings in their city or seen on vacation, important geographical features that we may talk about in class, or perhaps to post questions about a topic discussed in class. Students will be able to send, via text message, information to our "wall" created using Wiffitti. All information is filtered and ultimatly controlled by Mr. Holman and Mr. Pennington. We will also use Wall Washer which allows students to visit a website to create a digital post-it note to ask questions, respond to critical thinking questions and collaborate with students from other classes and buildings.
Other Social Media that we may use later in the year.
Ning
Ning is a closed, by invite only, social networking site. This site is used by Kent State University, The Ohio Educational Network, Chardon Local Schools, to connect students and teachers.
