Social Media in Education

                Social media is the new next big thing.  Except it has been the next big thing for a while now.  The use of sites like Facebook and Twitter has become so ubiquitous that they are now a staple in teen culture.  I even had one of the middle school students in my Church’s youth group tell me that Facebook is the main reason to own an iPhone; not a statement I would agree with.

                I see the potential of social media sites but am not drawn to participate.  A product of my upbringing, I guess I am too old to have the desire properly embedded in me.  However, any educator looking to effectively engage students in the teen and twenty-something range simply cannot afford to overlook social media as an educational tool.

                I simple use of Facebook, for instance, might include creating a class page where the teacher can post announcements to parents and students alike.  Additionally, this is a place where details on assignments can be stored, as well as links to related material.  The big deal, though, is that students can use the Wall feature to work collaboratively on projects or help each other at the same time as they are scratching their social networking itch.  Other benefits include the fact that most students require no instruction in the use of these sites, and “class” discussions can be held in a format with a permanent format (translated gradable), allowing for use as a formative and summative assessment.

Synchronicity, To Be or Not To Be

                I truly enjoy the ability to collaborate online in both my professional and educational lives.  The funny thing is, I tend to have drastically different preferences for each environment, both for the same reason.  I am an impatient person.  I can provide the outward appearance of being patient very well, though on the inside I may be writhing.

                In educational uses, I prefer asynchronous collaboration.  I learn and move through projects in fits and starts, and have found that if I accommodate my own pace a very satisfactory level of efficiency is achieved.  That is, I feel I am getting adequate return on the time I am investing.  At times, occasionally in the middle of a concept or task, I lose focus and begin to struggle, while at other times I manage extended periods of productivity.  I would assume this is fairly normal for everyone.  Synchronous learning would impact MY pace, as well as that of my collaborators, and make us all less efficient.

                At work, I am more focused on the time frame of my task.  The time frame is less flexible and set by someone other than myself so it cannot accommodate my fitful pace.  Frankly, I really don’t want it to; I want to be done.  Concerning work, there is usually more to do than I have time anyway so I just want to keep every process moving as fast as possible.  That can only be achieved through synchronous collaboration such as phone calls, instant messages and net meetings.

Online Resources

                This week I have been tasked to consider and share the web based resources I use in pursuit of my educational goals as well as for tools in my life.  As I consider the task, I am somewhat overwhelmed by the number of online tools I actually use during the day.  I have integrated online connectivity into virtually every facet of my life.  From checking the weather, finding a recipe, to finding a peer reviewed journal article, I require network access.  Therefore, to preface my list, I will say this is a partial listing as the exhaustive enumeration would be, well, exhausting.

                I obviously spend a great deal of time on Liberty’s Black board page (https://www.liberty.edu/) since that is how I go to class.  I also use Their Library link for some referencing as well as ERIC (http://www.eric.ed.gov/),  I have found that the ERIC database is a bit more extensive which occasionally makes the difference between finding the appropriate article or spending four hours researching only to have to rewrite the section. 

                I have found many resources in the education field which I have found repeatedly useful.  Discovery Education (http://www.discoveryeducation.com/) hosts a tremendous list of creative lesson plans that are well organized and engaging for students.  I also end up at The Texas Education Agency website (http://www.tea.state.tx.us/index2.aspx?id=6148)  about once a week.  It houses, among other things, the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills requirements listings by grade and subject. 

                In my personal life, I feel like I live on Google.  I am relocating my family and myself from Texas to Colorado, and have used Google every step of the way to research EVERY facet of the move from school districts (http://www.schooldigger.com/), the house (www.craigslist.org),  climate (http://www.city-data.com/), movers(https://www.movinghelper.com/), utilities (http://www.gjcity.org/), and recreational prospects (http://www.visitgrandjunction.com/).  School Digger provided a tremendous amount of information regarding school rankings and state rankings for subject scores and even teacher salaries.  I use the Weather Channel online (www.weather.com) on my phone every day to help plan my schedule several days out.  I buy virtually nothing without first checking Cnet (http://www.cnet.com/) for reviews, and every relevant online retailer first to ensure I am purchasing the correct product at the correct price.

What Makes a Good Presentation......For Me.

        As a learner, I feel relatively comfortable in my ability to process information from basic textual media and in most cases it is my preferred medium.  I can stop reading for a moment to consider a concept further or keep reading as fits my cognitive ability at the time.  Few presentation types offer the same type of flexibility.

       At the same time, however, I must recognize that the quality of my absorption of new concepts is significantly better when the information is presented in a more engaging format.  In particular, I like presentations which combine audio and video.  Static graphics never seem to stick well in my long term memory, but place an instructor in front of the same graphic as he or she talks about it and points to it and I am likely to remember every word and gesture. 

       In fact, my experiences with instructional presentations lead me to the conclusion that the more complex and multi-layered the presentation the more engaged my mind will be, and the more detailed my subsequent recall of the presentation and the underlying concepts will be.  Without the draw to mentally engage the topic, the information makes only passing acquaintance with my (very) short term memory.