So I’ve touted
the benefits of social media long enough. The question is: how does one
seamlessly incorporate social media aspects into their lessons without it
seeming awkward or forced? If an activity can be done just as easily on paper
in the conventional way, then trying to cram in a social media element is often
waste of time and energy. However, if specific qualities of social media will
enhance or deepen connections within student learning, then it is an
appropriate often beneficial and dynamic addition to the lesson. Throughout my
inquiry I’ve stumbled upon some awesome lessons and activities that use social
media in an effective and relevant way. Here are just a few of my favorites:
1)
Twitter: Having students set up
Twitter accounts as a character from a novel or prolific historical figure that
they are studying. Each week, the student will have to send out a tweet based
as this character/figure. In addition, students can respond to tweets from
characters/figures created by other students in their class, constructing an
imagined dialogue. Students could also live-tweet a character’s point of view
during a specific scene being taught in class. Use a projector to show the live
tweets. One of my peers also found an imagined Facebook news feed of World War
I from the perspectives of the different nations involved:
(http://www.collegehumor.com/article/6650094/facebook-news-feed-history-of-the-world-world-war-i-to-world-war-ii
)
I found this to be very
entertaining and fun way to make a historical time line. My only caution is
that this example contains some mature language, so I would only recommend this
to older classes that could handle it appropriately. It would be a great
project for a socials class to build a similar timeline (without the curse
words of course!) using Twitter, where it is much easier to set up faux
accounts.
2)
You Tube: Create a private You
Tube channel to upload student-made video projects. The channel could also be
used to amass videos that are relevant to the subject being taught where
students could contribute and browse at their leisure. Gail Casey, a math
teacher from Australia, used You Tube videos to provide context for math
problems and equations – displaying real life use of the subject matter.
3)
Haiku Deck: This is a
downloadable app available for the iPad, so you’ll need to make sure your
school has these devices first. Haiku Deck allows students to quickly create
short presentations using pictures, graphs, and a limited amount of written text
(think twitter version). The presentations are short and sweet and often help
students get to the point and define what’s important. This could be used to
reinforce grammar rules in a language class, or important concepts in other
subject areas. Once made, the presentations can be uploaded to class websites
or tweeted. One of my ideas is to have students create a study guide for an
upcoming test where each student is responsible for a different topic, then
uploading all the presentations to the class website.
4)
Blogging: This is an exciting
twist on the traditional essay, and a way for students to build their online
brand by uploading it to an e-portfolio. Posting a blog on a given or chosen topic
could be part of a weekly assignment AND at the end of the semester, students
will have created an entire Independent Study Unit to display online.
Furthermore, most blogs can be password protected and are private.
5)
Pinterest: Students can create
boards as a character analysis including things such as what their character
would wear, symbols reflecting them, what their interests or past times may be
etc. This is also an extremely useful tool for teachers, allowing them to share
and create boards around teaching strategies and ideas for activities (if
you’ve never done this before I suggest you try it!). For instance, teachers
can search in a specific subject area and find a multitude of ideas posted by
other teachers. You can then collect your favorites by creating your own board
which in turn can be shared with even more teachers! Share the love!
These ideas are just some of many! There
are several ways to incorporate the benefits of social media into a unit or
lesson – the trick is to make sure that it is a relevant and needed addition. All
of these ideas started with teachers experimenting in their own classes – so my
advice: go nuts! (And let us know how it went!)
Please add your ideas in the comment
section below!