Group items tagged

I read Joel Comm's book Twitter Power and it has been one of my longtime favorites on the topic. Here he talks brutally about the negatives of social media. I admit the topic caught my attention. I"ve just found that if I'm brutal about who I follow and make sure they're real educators, I'm usually pretty happy with my stream. I unfollow junk as soon as it is evident it is junk. Ultimately we all must guard who we follow or we might just find ourselves following the garbage truck.

", new research demonstrates that spending does matter. The authors-C. Kirabo Jackson, associate professor of human development and social policy at Northwestern University, Rucker C. Johnson, associate professor of public policy at University of California, Berkeley, and Claudia Persico, a doctoral candidate in human development and social policy at Northwestern University-show that "increased school spending is linked to improved outcomes for students, and for low-income students in particular…Increasing per-pupil spending yields large improvements in educational attainment, wages, and family income, and reductions in the annual incidence of adult poverty for children from low-income families. As they also show, it matters how the new money is spent-such as on instruction, hiring more teachers, increasing teacher pay, hiring guidance counselors and social workers. Money well-spent "can profoundly shape the life outcomes of economically disadvantaged children and thereby reduce the intergenerational transmission of poverty. Money alone may not lift educational outcomes to desired levels, but our findings confirm that the provision of adequate funding may be critical.""

"Safety Skills Safe is a new programme of practical, activities to develop primary children's skills, self-confidence and safety awareness when using social network sites. Safe brings together the FREE social network for schools, Radiowaves, with leading safety organisations Childnet International and The I in Online. "

Conferences are setting up social networks as a best practice. As these handy sites go mainstream, effective use of such networks seems to be increasingly an important understanding for students as behavior on these sites is very different from the "social" social networks in their personal lives.

Excellent article for conference organizers from David Warlick. He has some great recommendations and links to the works from a conference in California this week. Conferences are setting up social networks as a best practice. As these handy sites go mainstream, effective use of such networks seems to be increasingly an important understanding for students as behavior on these sites is very different from the "social" social networks in their personal lives.

You may want to take a look at this research study for the horizon project research. This study looked at authority in social classification systems by studying delicious.

This research study on authority in social classification systems is one that I'd like to take a look into.

Great listing of Social Networks in Education

Great list of education-based social networks. Some are Ning based, all are categorized.

1. We exist in the service of the communities we work for. 2. We exist to serve the needs and interests of the communities we work for.  3. It's our job to represent our work in ways that support ethical decisions by policymakers and external stakeholders. 4. All educational research is social activism, and all educational researchers are social activists. 

Games lab focussed on socially responsible game design for social change.

Social Studies Central is intended to provide resources with a focus on the Social Studies, to support teachers as they improve their instruction and to help educators engage kids in learning. You will find lesson plans, new web sites, links to standards and assessment advice, technology integration resources and information about workshops and staff development.

Pros and cons about children under 13 using social media.

"In his new book, Adrian Bethune explores different angles of the life of children who are of primary-school age. For example, in a fascinating first chapter, Bethune examines our tribal roots, tapping into our pupils' primitive social instincts and their powerful effects on wellbeing and ability to learn. Citing the work of Louis Cozolino (Click here to view The Social Neuroscience of Education: Optimizing Attachment and Learning in the Classroom by Louis Cozolino on Amazon UK - worthy of a read itself) a tribal classroom embodies tribal qualities including a tribal leader, cooperation, teamwork, equality, fairness, trust and strong personal relationships. Such qualities enable everyone to feel valued and a feeling of a big family, helping secure positive relationships - the role of the teacher in this relationship is to help pupils feel like they belong, which is fundamental to learning. Developing this tribal theme, Bethune the proceeds to share ideas to be implemented in the primary classroom to help cultivate such positive relationships, including the design of a team flag, greetings and endings, teaching social skills, and building humour and games into the setting."

The following are roles teacher play in networked learning environments: 1. Amplifying 2. Curating 3. Wayfinding and socially-driven sensemaking 4. Aggregating 5. Filtering 6. Modelling 7. Persistent presence

Social media potato shapes!

Mashable.com's preview of 5 social networking sites aimed at children, complete with a quick overview of how each protects the privacy of children, tries to maintain a suitably safe environment, and how parents should be involved.

Advice on how to avoid social media gaffes.

FACEBOOK, MySpace, YouTube and Wikipedia are considered valuable educational tools by some who embrace the learning potential of the internet; they are also seen as a massive distraction with no academic benefit by others. Research in Nottingham and Notts suggests split opinions over the internet in the classroom. Some 1,500 interviews with teachers, parents and students nationwide showed the 'net was an integral part of children's personal lives, with 57% of 13 to 18-year-olds in Notts using blogs in their spare time and 58% in Nottingham. More than 60% of Nottingham teens use social networking sites. They are a big feature of leisure time - but now the science version of You Tube, developed by academics at The University of Nottingham, has been honoured in the US this week. The showcase of science videos shares the work of engineers and students online. However just a quarter of teachers use social networking tools in the classroom and their teaching, preferring to leave children to investigate outside school.

"Today's teens are growing up in a world where social media is everywhere. Regardless of whether or not they have access to these technologies or how they engage with them, there is little doubt that social media is playing a significant role in the changing landscape of American youth."

A social networking tool specifically designed for use by teachers with their classes.

Teachers can create an online community for their students. "Share inspiration, ideas, reading, thoughts. Post discussions, deadlines, homework. Instrantly create surveys for students. Keep parents informed of daily projects." "Not only will twiducate.com give your students the web 2.0 skills they need, but also expand their reading, writing, thoughts and ideas beyond the classroom setting."

social networking for schools. Private and secure

""I am smart. But with my PLN, I am brilliant!" So true! The connections we make with those in our PLN help to make us brilliant. I have people in my PLN from all corners of the globe that I know I can call upon when I have a question, need feedback on a project or just to "talk shop." I consider all of these people my colleagues and friends. And it would have been difficult, nigh impossible, to have these kinds of connections and relationships without social media. So if these connections and relationships work so well for our educators, why could they not work for our students? "