Social Media in Education

OK, I kick it old school.  I get a bit freaked out when I see students in class taking selfies.  Or I get a bit annoyed when my students are constantly on their phone, and trying to hide it from me.  I recently reprimanded a student when I saw her making duckface while taking a selfie...she was supposed to be finishing a test!  But according to Getting Started with Snapchat in Your Classroom, our students are using Snapchat and we should be ok with that.  In fact, we should look for ways to use Snapchat as a learning tool instead of trying to exclude it from our rooms.

Snapchat is essentially a way to tell stories.  So although your story doesn't need to be tightly scripted, there are some things to think about before plunging in.  Think about what you want your story to say, and how you say it.  Make sure to understand what your school or district policies are regarding social media.  And perhaps developing some written guidelines you can share with your students will help you and them have a purpose and a clear direction for usage.  Basically your use of Snapchat in the classroom is the story of your classroom, your way to share information and communicate with others about what's happening with your classes.  When I think about using Snapchat this way, I get less tense and actually it sounds like fun.  

In the article there are five easy ways to try to incorporate Snapchat into your classroom:

1.  as a reminder, for upcoming tests, assignments, activities, etc.;
2.  if you come across some interesting or real-world examples of content;
3.  drawing diagrams or annotations of text;  (This would be awesome for me.  We use text codes for annotating texts, I could Snapchat the text with the text codes I used to annotate.)
4.  as a study session, to share some key information about an upcoming test or assignment;
5.  as professional development - you can see how other super users of Snapchat are using it.


Snapchat can be a very powerful learning tool if you allow your students to take charge of the use of Snapchat in your class.  This is an authentic way to model and teach responsible digital citizenship.  It encompasses the 4 C's of the 21st Century:  Students are using critical thinking in terms of what to post.  Students are communicating with other students and creating content.  Students can collaborate with each other before they post in terms of ideas and pictures.

It's a big "if" though!!  I googled students snapchatting in class, and wow, I came up with some really inappropriate stuff.  If you want your students to use Snapchat in class, you've got to be really careful.  This goes back to having guidelines but also following through and paying close attention to what students are doing.  Maybe one of the jobs in your classroom can be the Snapchatter, and assign students on a rotating basis.  

According to an article on Mashable, (Slightly sensationalistic news, social networking, according to Common Sense Media)  77% of college students use Snapchat on a daily basis.  

As you can see, using Snapchat can help teachers meet students where they are at, but also needs to be carefully monitored so students are using the app for best practices.  I would start off trying Snapchat myself with some of the easy ways above, before I would allow students to take over.  I need to build trust in my classroom and get to a certain comfort level first.   

Let's Have Fun

My students go crazy for Kahoot.  Even after we have played the game twice already, they beg me for more...What is this about?  I don't get it!  Must be the whole "gaming" aspect that interests them.  The immediate feedback, the competition against others, the music - these seem to draw students in.  There are some downsides to Kahoot, one is which you can't track improvement or growth.  So I use Kahoot mostly for reviews and vocabulary quizzes, it's a formative assessment that's fast and easy.  Quizizz and  Quizlet are also fun games for teachers to create multiple-choice questions or use an assessment that's already created by another teacher.  These can be used for pre-assessments or exit tickets as well, valuable and easy-to-digest information for lesson planning for the next day.  Quizlet lets students work as a team to compete.

Hmm, gamification, this is a very trendy topic in education!  Teachers can transform their regular classroom activities into games that usually require creativity, collaboration and play.  There are different ways to dive into this, but teachers need to make sure that their games promote learning and help to deepen student understanding.  Of course don't forget the fun aspects!  Carrie Baughcum is a gamification guru teachers interested in gaming their lessons can learn a lot from.  She's got great advice.  As she explains in http://carriebaughcum.com/my-classroom-gamification-process-part-1/, Carrie started her first year of gaming her classroom with minigames.  She also liked to harness the energy of the beginning of the school year, so she started off the school year with the games.  She centers the games around "themes," - Harry Potter or Star Wars, Monopoly, etc.  In her games the students go on quests, missions and in the Star Wars game, one of the purposes is to become a Jedi warrior.  She believes it helps to start with the theme to get your imagination working and have an easier time with set-up.  Another necessity is clear goals, otherwise your game might lack purpose.  She has two kinds of goals:  base level (which are soft skills - being able to follow directions, being on time, etc.) and advanced level (skills related to becoming an independent learner in terms of  21st century skills).  When students display or use these skills successfully they earn credits, using google forms to keep track.  Students use their credits to get further in the game.  With individual game boards and a leaderboard for the whole class, there is an element of competition.  Carrie also has different levels to becoming a Jedi warrior, added incentives for kids to excel.

In another post Carrie lays out all her steps, which are considerable!  As I was listening to her video post, I thought, wow, this is a lot of prep time.  But I think there's a wonderful pay-off.  Students can play the game all year, you can keep it going if you want.  I've never been a gamer, but I remember my son being absolutely mesmerized, when he was younger, by Empire Earth.  He would get cheat codes and play for hours with his cousins, talking about it and sharing ideas.  I don't think he ever got as excited about something in school!  If we can leverage that excitement, interest and competitive spirit with games in our classrooms, we should go for it.

 I found a related book:



This is a collection of chapters written by some of the top educators and gaming professionals to share strategies and activities.  I read a review of the book by Michael Garlin on the EdTech RoundUp:
​It’s an excellent read for any teachers who are looking for ways to spice up their classroom, or for any tech coaches who are looking for ideas to use with the teachers they serve. 

He did have some critiques of the book (wants a more specific focus on how each of the strategies or activities is directly related to literacy, etc.) however he enjoyed the book and thinks it's a worthwhile resource.

My Own Adventure

As you can see, digital literacy encompasses many concepts and skills.  What teacher has time to introduce all these ideas and effectively teach students the ins and outs so that his/her students are truly digitally literate?  But if it's a team effort, something the whole school takes on, then it becomes within the realm of possibility. If it starts early in a student's life, the skills can be reinforced and refined throughout their schooling.

"It is important to understand that information literacy is best addressed at multiple levels in the education process.  Think of reading-comprehension skills that begin pre-K and continue through college lit courses.  The skills are built upon with appropriate instruction at each stage of learning.  This is also the ideal approach to information literacy skills, introducing the skills in the early years, building on them as the student advances through elementary school, and introducing new concepts of knowledge-seeking and analysis through middle school, high school, and post-secondary education."  Averill, Debe, and Nancy Lewis.  "Students and Information Literacy:  High School and Postsecondary Perspectives."  Maine Policy Review 22.1 (2013) : 114-117, http://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/mpr/vol22/iss1/28

It's not difficult to incorporate technology into the lesson plan.   All the research shows that teachers must meet students where they are at; our students are digital natives so it makes sense to use technology to reach them.  Blogs, web pages, email and video chats, Facebook pages, writing, illustrating and publishing stories, weekly discussion questions, etc., there are a million ways to use tech in the classroom. Digital literacy is not confined to the language arts classroom, either.



http://purposefultechnology.weebly.com/how-can-we-embed-digital-literacy-in-the-classroom.html



These literacies match up with the traditional math, science, social science, and humanities classes.  Within all these curriculums there is a place to teach digital literacy, as we want our students to be critical thinkers who can evaluate the validity and reasoning of the information they seek. In every grade level of the Common Core State Standards students are expected to use a variety of digital tools to create and publish their writing.  NETS has 6 categories of technology standards that include all the elements of digital literacy.  These skills are already part of our objectives and learning targets.  But by going digital this is a vast change for any teacher who is not a digital native.  Watch this video to get motivated to work with your students!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mirxkzkxuf4

"The purpose of  media literacy education is to help individuals...develop the habits of inquiry and skills of expression they need to be critical thinkers, effective communicators and active citizens in today's world."
( Media Literacy as Literacy for the Information Age, Renee Hobbs, Ed.D. Temple University, Philadelphia PA.  CRITICAL LITERACY FOR ADOLESCENTS ROSE STATE COLLEGE PROFESSIONAL TRAINING EDUCATION CENTER OKLAHOMA CITY, September 19, 2008  )


This should be the mission statement of my high school.  Times have changed and the purpose of education needs to change as well.  How can we do this?  Bringing in contemporary media and popular culture to our classrooms will deepen engagement and increase motivation, the research shows.  Students learning multimedia production can apply some of the same rhetorical devices and skills as in traditional writing classes.  Media and/or digital literacy can improve reading comprehension. There are questions, still, about digital literacy.  One of the most important is:  What instructional approaches using online sources and popular culture are most effective in improving reading comprehension and writing skills?
Research still needs to be done in this field...

Research findings

"We need a different kind of learning experience."  
(Evans, Julie.  Speak Up 2015 National Results - From Print to Pixel. May 2017
http://www.tomorrow.org/speakup/from-print-to-pixel.html)

Students, educators and parents agree:  in order to prepare students for the future, educational institutions need to make some changes.  This was a theme I inferred over and over again while studying the research.  This article had some relevant infographics, the one I was most interested in was what teachers say about technology use in 2015.  See below:

The infographic discusses 10 important findings for their study:
teachers are using digital content more than ever before; more game-based learning is happening (at least in elementary school); flipped instruction is becoming more popular; teachers' are spending more time in the role of video producer; teachers fear the digital divide is real, so are reluctant to assign internet-based homework; teachers are using texting as a way to communicate; digital reading is more engaging for students but teachers feel it can be more distracting as well; there's a teachers' wish list (top vote getter is using tech to differentiate instruction); teachers want to learn more about technology in school; and teachers are discovering and leveraging the power of social media as a professional development tool for lesson plans and other classroom activities.  These claims were nothing shocking, although the concerns with reading digitally caught my interest.  I went on to look at the next graphic, what students think about digital learning...

Some surprises for me here:
86% of 9-12th graders have personal access to mobile devices.  My students have chromebooks, but often request to use their phones for activities.  I always ask them, how can you see anything on your phone?  But the graphics have improved and texts and images are pretty clear.  I do still have one or two students who don't have phones.  And according to this study smartphones are the #1 choice for accessing social media.  Another surprise:  47% of this age group are tweeting.  I've asked my students if they tweet and they say no, but we have done one or two assignments where I've asked them to use twitter (summaries, character development, reflection, etc.).  Not surprising:  students are also using youtube for online videos in helping them with homework, just like adults do when we need/want to learn something.  Students are also asking for more games because of the belief that games help them learn difficult concepts more easily.  Girls want to learn to code as a class or after-school activity, 64% of girls 3-5th grade and 50% 6-8th grade.  

Moving on to the parent perspective, to me, parents were waayyy supportive of ed tech.  85% of parents believe that the effective use of tech is important, and their top concern is the variation of tech use between teachers.  Parents are also in favor of blended learning (55%); the traditional classroom came in second (42%).  I need an effective way to text parents so my phone number doesn't show up (is that Remind?) because 55% of parents would like their child's teacher to communicate with them via text.   And this is really good news:  64% of parents say they would pay an extra technology fee to support digital learning expenses.  Maybe part of that fee could be used for teachers to have the time for professional development and support to learn how to use all this tech!

I looked at one other research resource because I'm fascinated by the differences between ereading and print reading.  If I was getting a Ph.D. in reading I would definitely think about this field for my dissertation.  Research is coming out but more needs to be done.  Children, Teens, and Reading a Common Sense Media Research Brief 2014 asked some compelling questions that could be the basis of my research:
1.  How does ereading affect the amount that children and youth read?
2.  Does ereading affect how children read?
3.  Do electronic books improve literacy in early childhood?
4.  Does reading on a screen affect comprehension and retention, either positively or negatively?  

Another important area for research this study mentions is the extent and impact of "short form" online reading (tweets, SMS texts, emails, etc.).  According to this report, the use of tech in recent years has already changed the nature of reading.  We could leverage this to promote reading achievement, reduce disparities and achievement gaps, and reignite a love for reading by young people.   

Digital Spaces Map

One thing I learned from my digital spaces map is that I use tech pretty much equally in my personal and professional lives as a visitor.  I really thought it was going to swing professional, but I see I use it almost as much personally.  I think that comes from having an ipad on my bedside table, so any time I want to see how the Cubs or White Sox are doing, or I want to shop, or plug my headphones in, I use that.  There are plenty of websites I go on for school: Aspen is to take attendance every day, TalentEd is for evaluations and goal setting.  Reading Plus is an online reading program I use in my blended learning reading classes.  This is a fantastic site where students read leveled nonfiction and work on their comprehension and vocabulary.  (In fact I will be attending a blended learning conference this summer in Huntley, IL.  My district is piloting a blended learning program in the fall, and I want to be a part of that.  Since my students already do a lot of online learning, I should learn more.  Although I think it's kinda funny, every time I ask someone about blended learning and what it is, I get different answers.)

Anyways I use Hapara so I can see what websites and tabs my students have open on their chromebooks, and I can see when we take the STAR reading tests every month whether they are trying to google answers.  Youtube we watch because I often use it to get my students' attention as an introduction to something new.  Or as a wrap-up of things we have finished.

One area where I would like to increase my online practice is definitely the professional resident side.  I will do this by attending more twitter chats (there's one in 40 minutes I want to join:  a Twitter chat that will explore facilitation for inquiry in a #PBL classroom and school.) . I'm also thinking of using TodaysMeet with my classes. I frequently have students who leave school for 3-4 weeks to visit their native countries, or I have students who are out for a day or two. "What did I miss?" can be an issue. So students, on a rotating basis, will be the notetaker and write down what we did in class and any other important information for the day. I use to do this with a class notebook, but using the online tool will be easier. I'm pretty sure TodaysMeet can be used as a backchannel during discussions as well. And students can use it at home or at school and communicate with me and the rest of the class. Encouraging students to be more of a resident in their classwork sounds like a good goal too. Students should be engaging and interacting with others, collaborating and being active in joining discussions and sharing ideas. We've got the whole world to collaborate with, not just the 15 other students in the classroom.