Today in class we talked about using social networking sites, such as FaceBook, in the classroom. After discussing the pros and cons I still feel torn between whether or not I think it would be a useful tool to use. Here's my thinking: Some of the pros that I can not ignore are that parents are most likely already on Facebook so they can easily check up on their students without remembering another username or password. Another pro is that students are already familiar with using Facebook so it isn't a tool that would require a lot of pre-teaching. Another pro to using Facebook is that the teacher could set up security that would prohibit people not in the class from joining the group; this would help keep conversations safe and on topic.
One of the cons I thought of during our discussion was the stigma Facebook has a just a social networking site. Would students really want to go on it for homework and class discussions? Another con I thought of was the fact that cyber bullying has become a larger issue in the past years and this would bring the possibility of students getting bullied even closer to school. As Haley mentioned in class, some school don't seem to have a set plan when it comes to addressing cyber bullying so that would concern me as a teacher. Lastly, I feel like a blog or a wiki would allow a much cleaner look and more academic feel to a discussion or online group board (but this may not attract students' interest as much).
Basically, I would have a hard time deciding whether or not to use Facebook in my classroom.
Podcasts on the other hand are AWESOME! It has been quick to learn and easy to accomplish the podcast assignments in both CI 201 and in this class. I can see many, many ways teachers and students could use podcast in the classroom and at home. I also like the fact that students and teachers can go out and gain more knowledge from other educators by finding informational podcasts. Students would enjoy linking with a school in another city, state, or country and swapping podcasts--it could be the new aged Pen Pal!
The enhanced podcast we created in class was easy to do and was fun. It could be used as a fluency activity, a review of a science lesson or even as a poetry project! There are a plethora of uses for podcasts in class!
Podcasts are a nice little tool that sometimes gets over-shadowed by other technologies. Social networking is a hard decision - it is something that you need to be comfortable with. I do think you make a good point, are we invading the social space of students by making them use facebook for academic purposes?
ReplyDeleteI never thought of that before! I think actually yes, if I was a student being forced to use facebook for school, I would feel like my space was being invaded.
DeleteI really enjoyed learning about podcasting again too! It's been a while since we created our podcasts in CI 201, and even then I don't remember discussing all the great things they are able to bring to the classroom. Just for fun, I went to my CI 201 website and listened to my My City Podcast, it was very entertaining. =) What a great way to share and gain information from experts all over the world!
ReplyDelete