Many students are now on Facebook everyday for hours at a time. I am finding that this is the best way to reach out to them and to get them to think and converse about topics of study. I have a personal facebook account and a separate teacher facebook account. I used my teacher account (Biobarras) regularly with my students last year. I posted articles for students to read and discuss on FB and in the classroom. I also used it to make announcements such as post-lesson thoughts or assignmens reminders. I used Facebook to post review questions for the students to converse about. I found that students also regularly sent me questions that arose during homework assignments or after class, etc. Students might also use Facebook to create and post video project creations as well. Facebook, when used appropriately is a fabulous way to increase professional communication with teachers and students. I cannot emphasize the words professional communication enough. The students need to understand that when they "friend" a teacher and a teacher "friends" a student on Facebook that they will only post appropriate comments. The principal of the school that I teach at strongly discouraged the use of Facebook to communicate among teachers and students due to the possibility of inappropriate comments.
I have not joined Twitter yet, but do see the potential in increasing communication with others in the education field this year. I agree with the comment from @melaniemcbride that "Surrounding yourself with other smart people on Twitter is like a mental shot of expresso." I also like the idea of using Twitter for back-channeling during lecture or presentatons. The presenter can use the comments as constructive criticism and the students can feel more at ease when asking questions. I have learned from my use of Facebook that many students are much more at ease asking questions in an electronic format.
Joined the Library2Play2 group!
For your blog post, describe your experiences with Facebook and Twitter. Give suggestions as to how these resouces could aid students in and out of the classroom. Give ideas for using back-channeling at school.
P.S. Join the group below that Wonder Weiss created for all of us...another useful feature of FB.
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