Group items tagged

Once teachers decide how they’re going to use Facebook, they need to follow through in a way that takes class participation on the social network seriously. Junco’s research suggests that social media efforts in the classroom are most effective when they are mandatory and impact grades.

recommend using Groups and Pages to communicate with students:

Groups: Members of groups do not need to be Facebook friends, but each person in the group receives a message when any member posts to the group. Groups can be either “open,” “closed,” or “secret.” Phillips, Baird and Fogg recommend that teachers create closed groups, which means that the content of the group is private. Be aware that the list of group members will still be public unless you choose the “secret” option.

Put simply, project-based curriculum emphasizes learning through doing classroom projects that address a specific issue or challenge. Students typically carry out the projects in groups, and teachers guide them along

Tina Barseghian Editor of MindShift, a website about the future of learning Posted: January 7, 2011 02:48 PM BIO Become a Fan Get Email Alerts Bloggers' Index Napa New Tech High: 5 Reasons This is the School of the Future Amazing Inspiring Funny Scary Hot Crazy Important Weird Read More: Computer Tech School , Education Technology , Napa New Tech High , New Tech High Napa , New Tech Network , New Technology High , School Computer , Tech School , Tech Schools , Education News share this story 11481122 Get Education Alerts Sign Up Submit this story digg reddit stumble What does the high school of the future look like? It's one that emphasizes useful, relevant skills that can be applied

At Napa New Tech, you'll hear very little lecturing and see few teacher-led activities. For this school, the decision to use project-based curriculum was based not only on what topics students should learn, but also what skills they should acquire in school.

“It’s the kids’ fault if they are distracted and earn horrible grades.”

“We know there is no education in social networking,” said Ken Sanders, the principal of a middle school in Michigan that has one of the firmest bans: students can work only on computers provided by the school, and cellphones are banned, too, since smartphones can’t be blocked on schools’ systems. “Kids should be in school to learn, so we have a system that blocks all personal access,” he said.