Using Social Media to Extend Teaching Reach

Using Social Medi@ to
Extend our Reach

David Burns
English Language Fellow
5th ELTA Conference – May 2012
Tirana, Albania

English Language Fellow Program
Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/English-Language-Fellow-Program
Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/elfellowprogram

Contact information:
 Name: David Burns
 Email: ELFellowAlbania@gmail.com
 Mobile: 069 549 0927
 Facebook:
www.facebook.com/ELFellow.Albania
 Twitter: @ELFellowAlbania

Warmer Activity!
 Social networking activity you can use in your classes
to get your students up and moving.
 Practices team-building skills, ability to follow
instructions, memory skills, speaking, listening &
writing, the benefits of collaboration, etc.
 Lots of variations on this type of activity.
 Today, I’ll divide you into groups of varying size – the
largest with 8 members and the smallest with only 1
member.

Amendment I
Congress shall make no law respecting an
establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free
exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech,
or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to
assemble, and to petition the Government for a
redress of grievances.
Source: The Constitution of the United States of America

Amendment IV
The right of the people to be secure in their persons,
houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable
searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no
Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause,
supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly
describing the place to be searched, and the persons
or things to be seized.

What this presentation is
and is not about:
 It IS an attempt to give you some useful and practical ideas
on how you can use modern education technology – and
specifically social networking resources – in your
classrooms and to assist your professional development
goals. And it’s a great chance for us to share ideas.
 It is NOT an attempt to promote specific companies or
insinuate that you MUST use these online resources in your
classes or in order to be effective. You are all wise enough
to make mature and responsible choices regarding social
media related to the social, political and religious realities in
your respective host countries.

A major concern when
using social media:

Teacher Education and 21st Century Skills:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0eGHAuV5yLo

Two key skills in today’s
globalized world:
 Non-routine thinking
 Complex communications

Every student in the 21st
Century needs to be able to:
 Critically think
 Problem solve
 Collaborate
 Communicate
 Innovate
 Be globally aware
 Be self-directed
 And be technology literate
…Those are the new outcomes of the 21st Century
Source “Teacher Education and 21st Century Skills” (YouTube video; Pearson Foundation).

Why should we include
technology in the education of
our children?
Here are 10 good reasons:
Source: John Page writing for www.21stCenturyTeacher.com

Reason 1 – Expansion of Time
and Place
 In a typical American high school, a student has access
to a teacher for about 40-50 minutes a day or about 5%
of her waking day, which is shared with 25+ other
students.
 Technology is NO substitute for an inspiring teacher,
however online materials are far more available. 20 x
more available.
 Using the ‘textbook + classroom’ model, the places
where learning can occur are limited. Yet a wireless
laptop can access the teacher’s course materials and
the entire internet from almost anywhere.

Reason 2 – Depth of
Understanding
 Interactive simulations, video chat discussions and
debate, illustrations, etc., can produce a much greater
depth of understanding of a concept.
 Because the students have access to the same online
tools, they can reinforce the ideas by experimenting
with the simulations themselves, any time, any where.

Reason 3 – Learning vs.
Teaching
 Technology allows the tables to be turned. Instead of
teaching (push), students can be given projects that
require them to learn (pull) the necessary material
themselves.
 Key to this is the ability to get the information anytime
and from anywhere (without the need to be in the
physical presence of the teacher).
 This project-based pull approach makes learning far
more interesting and fun for the students.

Reason 4 – New media for self-expression
 In the old days, students could write in a notebook, and
what they wrote was seen only by the teacher.
 Using modern technology students can express
themselves and their creativity in many ways: make
Power Point presentations, record/edit spoken word or
music, create and share digital photograph albums,
make a video, run or contribute to a class newspaper,
run a web-based TV or radio station, do claymation,
create a blog, start a web-site, etc…..

Reason 5 – Collaboration
 A vital skill in the new digital world is the ability to work
collaboratively on projects with others who may not be
physically close.
 Many university projects are undertaken by teams
spread around the world. Students need to be
prepared for this.

Reason 6 – Going Global
 The worldview of the student can be expanded due to
the very low cost (often free) of communicating with
people around the globe.
 One example, the internet permits free video
conferencing which permits interaction in real time with
sister schools in other countries.
 From an educational viewpoint, what can be more
important than understanding other cultures through
collaboration and direct dialog?

Reason 7 – Individual pacing
and sequence
 Students are, of course, all very different. Information
technologies can allow them to break step with the
class and go at a pace and order that better suits that
student.
 Without disrupting class, they can repeat a difficult
lessons and explore what they find interesting.

Reason 8 – Weight
 Three textbooks and binders can weigh over 25 lbs.
 A laptop weighs about 5 lbs and new tablets even less.
 A 40 Gb hard drive can hold over 2 million pages with
illustrations (and all are searchable and updateable).

Reason 9 – Personal
Productivity
 Students need productivity tools for the same reasons we
do: they need to write, read, communicate, organize and
schedule.
 Most of your students will ONLY be aware of technology that
we were not born and raised with: for many, laptops, email,
cell phones, text messaging and internet social media sites
are the ONLY tools they know and use.

Reason 10 – Lower cost
 It is not unusual for a text to cost over $120 at colleges
and universities.
 Through the use of open, free educational tools on the
web, the dependence on expensive paper textbooks
can be reduced.
 Today a decent laptop can cost as low as $99
 Free eBooks are out there and available as ‘public
domain’: see Google Books and their well-stocked
virtual bookshelf Classics Shelf are good examples.

Now for my Top 20 list of
social media* for educators
Sources:
 www.theedublogger.com
 www.edublogs.com
 www.whiteboardblog.co.uk
 www.secondarysolutionsblog.com
*All logos are registered trademarks.

Teacher Lingo
 www.teacherlingo.com
 An educational community to connect teachers from
every level.
 Find teaching resources for your classroom or share
your teacher created resources with the community and
earn extra money.
 Search by subject, grade level, and many categories to
find Lesson Plans, Worksheets, Printables, and even
eBooks.

Diigo: Social Bookmarking
 Online and social information management tool.
 Collect and organize anything: bookmarks, highlights,
notes, screenshots, pictures, audio, bibliography.
 Access anywhere and easily share: PC & Mac,
Android, all browsers, iPad, iPhone
 Basic services are free to tryout: unlimited bookmarks,
1,000 highlights, 30 cached pages.
 Premium plans: $20 a year to $40 a year.

Other popular social
bookmarking sites:
 Reddit
http://www.reddit.com/
 StumbleUpon
http://www.stumbleupon.com/
 Deli.ci.ous
http://delicious.com/

Dropbox
 A free service that lets you bring your photos,
docs, and videos anywhere and share them easily.
 Never email yourself a file again!
 Share documents, PDFs, videos, photos, lesson
plans, etc. from anywhere.
 Free up to 18GB.
 Premium service: $99 a year and beyond.

Other cloud storage options:
 Box
https://www.box.com/
 SugarSync
https://www.sugarsync.com/
 Google cloud storage:
https://developers.google.com/storage/
 Comparison chart of major cloud storage options:
http://www.bestfreecloudstorageproviders.com/

Email
 Class email groups; send homework; links for
follow up and comprehension tasks; updates on
class times and assignment deadlines, etc.
 Respond directly to students’ questions (works
well for shy students) who may be more willing to
ask for clarification via email.

Dipity: Online Timelines
 Create an interactive, visually engaging timeline in
minutes.
 Use dynamic visualization tools to display photos,
videos, news and blogs in chronological order.
 Great for group student projects on any subject or
research topic.
 I’ve used it for U.S. Supreme Court cases and
international law, and biographies of famous people.

Busuu
 Busuu is a free online community for learning
languages.
 Connect for free with native speakers worldwide.
 Enhance your language learning with online social
media options – translating multiple languages in an
open format.
 Great opportunity to have your motivated students
translate texts from Albanian to English, etc.

Photos
 Flickr for Education
http://www.flickr.com/groups/33384223@N00/
 Photo essays; presentations; share with parents and
school administration; group projects.
 Great privacy controls.
 Other options: Shutterfly, Picasa, SmugMug, Phanfare,
Snapfish, Zenfolio.
 Top 20 photo sharing sites:
http://web.appstorm.net/roundups/media-roundups/top-20-
photo-storage-and-sharing-sites/

iTunes U
http://www.apple.com/education/itunes-u/

iTunes U
 The free iTunes U app gives students access to all the
materials for your course in a single place.
 Right in the app, they can play video or audio lectures.
Read books and view presentations. See a list of all the
assignments for the course and check them off as
they’re completed.
 And when you send a message or create a new
assignment, students receive a push notification with
the new information

The iTunes U app puts complete courses — and the
world’s largest online catalog of free education
content — on your iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch.

12. Soundcloud
www.soundcloud.com

Soundcloud
 Create, record and share the sounds you create
anywhere to friends, family and the world with
SoundCloud, the world's largest community of sound
creators.
 Find and follow friends to share sounds with each
other. Add comments and likes to everyone’s sounds
too.
 Share your sounds to sites and social networks.
Connect SoundCloud with hundreds of apps to share
everywhere.

Linked in
 Online CV/resume site.
 Promote yourself and your skills and experience to
prospective employers.
 Network with like-minded people by joining professional
Linked in groups.
 Use it in class to demonstrate CV-writing skills, do job
searches, find tips on how to interview, etc.

Wikis
Where to create Wikis:
 Wikispaces www.wikispaces.com (public or private)
 WetPaint www.wetpaint.com (community)
 PBWiki www.pbwiki.com
Editing and Viewing options (public, members only,
administrator only, etc)
 Wikipedia www.wikipedia Great opportunity for research,
fact verification, and open source writing and publish
projects for your students.

Moodle
 Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment
 Moodle is an Open Source Course Management System
(CMS), also known as a Learning Management System
(LMS) or a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE).
 Moodle has become very popular among educators around
the world as a tool for creating web sites for their students.
To work, it needs to be installed on a web server
somewhere, either on one of your own computers or one at
a web hosting company.
Source: www.moodle.org

Ning
www.ning.com
 Ning is an online service provider that provides a set of services
and technology applications that enable users to create their own
Networks utilizing the “Ning Platform“.
 Has a good reputation for its privacy and information gathering
policies. Certified by Truste and complies with EU Safe Harbor
policies (regarding the collection, use and retention of personal
information).
 Shaping the Way We Teach English (U.S. State Dept.)
http://shapingenglish.ning.com/
 English Language Teaching in the Russian Federation
http://elt-russia.ning.com/

7. Pinterest
http://pinterest.com/

Pinterest
 Pinterest is a vision board-styled social photo sharing
website and app where users can create and manage
theme-based image collections.
 Pinterest has an active and dynamic ‘education’
section that is frequently updated by educators around
the world.
 Fastest-growing social media site in USA.
 http://pinterest.com/all/?category=education

Skype
www.skype.com
 Great potential for aiding ESL classroom collaboration
with students and teachers around the world.
 Webinars with different schools in your host country,
region or anywhere in the world.
 Classroom and cultural exchange opportunities.
 Check out Skype in the Classroom (currently listing
21,000 teachers, 1,500 projects, and 600 resources.
http://education.skype.com/

YouTube
 YouTube for Schools initiative:
http://www.youtube.com/schools
 School administration and teachers can log in and
watch any video, but students cannot log in and can
only watch YouTube EDU videos plus videos their
school has added. All comments and related videos are
disabled and search is limited to YouTube EDU videos.
 Has hundreds of playlists of videos that align with
common educational standards, organized by subject
and grade.
 http://www.teachertube.com/

Twitter
 Twitter is a social network formed around shared
interests. Twitter has LOTS of TESL and ELT-related
members, many of whom are experts in their field.
 Excellent professional resource for networking,
research, teaching, learning, news, updates,
collaborations, sharing, etc.
 The ultimate guide to using Twitter in the classroom:
http://edudemic.com/2011/09/twitter-in-education/

3. Blogs (edublogs,
blogspot, etc)

Blogs
 Edublogs: 10 ways to use your edublog to teach
http://edublogs.org/10-ways-to-use-your-edublog-to-teach/
 Facilitate online discussions and collaboration. Create a
class publication that students can easily publish to and you
can easily edit.
 Anything that you post to your blog will instantly be
accessible by your students from school and from home.
What’s more, you can easily manage who gets to access
them through passwords and privacy measures.
 Share lesson plans, stay in touch with parents, integrate
video, podcasts and other media, and get your students
blogging (make writing tasks fun and interactive).

Google for Teachers
 Google docs
 Google books
 Lesson plan search
 Classroom videos
 Training and development
 Connect with other teachers: blogs, groups, and with
Google+
 Competitions, scholarships, conferences, Google apps,
college tips, etc.

Facebook
 Love it or hate it, Facebook is probably where most of
your students (and a majority of teachers) spend a lot
of their time while online – go to where your audience
is and speak to them in their language.
 U.S. Embassies, RELO’s, American Corners, State
Department, and most USG offices are using FB to
actively and directly engage American citizens and host
country citizens.
 How do you use Facebook in your classes? How can
you use FB? Should you use FB? Privacy? Options?
Benefits?

Facebook
 Groups (open or closed – join group).
 Fan page (like)
 Friend page (add friend)
 Pretty good privacy options and non-tracking
options.

What else?
 Movie and music-making projects
 Photo essays on any topic.
 Social games online: Spelling bees, Jeapordy!, Trivia
Pursuit, Scrabble, and most card games have online
versions.
 Mock trials, debates, campaigns.
 Create a news broadcast with script, production and video.
 Meet-ups – get together in your city with like-minded folk on
any topic.

Recommendations:
 In the 21st Century, 1st impressions are made digitally –
electronically.
 Elect a permanent member or board officer to your teachers
organization or school who is in charge of 21st century
marketing – VP for Social Media.
 Brand your organization promising and then delivering
quality – constant, relevant and quality information.
 Conferences and retreats are great! But limited to only a
few times a year – social media outreach is now 24/7 for
students, teachers, businesses, groups, etc.

How to contact me:
 www.facebook.com/ELFellow.Albania
@ELFellowAlbania
 ELFellow.Albania@gmail.com
 + 355 69 549 0927

A farewell story…
…but when we awaken in the morning, why do we wake UP?
At a meeting, why does a topic come UP? Why do we speak UP,
and why are the candidates UP for election, and why do bad
businesses go belly UP?
Why is it UP to the secretary to write UP a report? We call UP our
friends, brighten UP a room, polish UP the silver, warm UP the
leftovers and clean UP the kitchen and put UP with things we
don’t like.
We lock UP the house and fix UP the old car while giving a
thumbs UP to something we like.
People stir UP trouble, line UP to buy tickets, work UP an
appetite, and think UP excuses. A thief sticks UP a bank….

Up, Up and Away
To be dressed is one thing, but to be dressed UP is special!
A drain must be opened UP because it is stopped UP. We open UP a
store in the morning but then we close it UP at night. We seem to be
pretty mixed UP about the word UP!
When it threatens to rain, we say it is clouding UP. When the sun
comes out we say it is clearing UP. When it rains, the earth soaks it
UP. When it does not rain for awhile, things dry UP.
If you are UP to it, you and your students might try building UP a list
of the many ways UP is used. It will take UP a lot of your time, but if
you don't give UP, you may wind UP with a hundred or more.
One could go on & on, but I'll wrap this UP for now because my time
is UP!

Using Social Media to Extend Teaching Reach

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