Week 5

One of the things that was discussed this week was social media in the classroom. Social Media is used by almost everybody, and I would bet most students in our classes will use some sort of social media. But should we use it in the classroom? There are plenty of arguments to be made for and against using it, and there really is no right answer, just different opinions. I think it definitely can be useful but we just need to make sure we don't let it take over, and it becomes the only thing we use. We also want to avoid using it just for the sake of using it, if we are just showing YouTube videos and that's it, really we might as well be using a VCR because it is doing the same thing. So after reading some articles online these are some of the ways I think I would like to use social media in the classroom.

- Twitter, this one is great for sharing ideas, and connecting with people. But the coolest thing I found was an idea on live tweeting a field trip. I think that would be awesome, you can tweet whats happening, share photos, and it doesn't have to just be field trips, it could be for presentations or guest speakers too. It would also be a great way to show parents what is happening in the classroom.

- Instagram could be used for photography projects, to share photos and for students to comment on them.

- Using youtube to upload videos, not just watch them. Students could upload and leave comments, the only bad thing here is you could get some students who could leave rude comments, so you would have to find a way to monitor that and try and prevent it.

- Finally, you can use pod casts. I did a podcast assignment with my students using audacity and it is a ton of fun. Instead of having students stand up and do a power point, why not do a podcast. Plus I found my students really enjoyed it because they got to hear all their classmates ones, and most importantly it gave them a chance to be creative.