EDUC 439/639 Social Networking - Fall 2012

Pig farmers, electricians, plumbers, bridge painters, jam makers, blacksmiths, brewers, coal miners, carpenters, crab fisherman, oil drillers…they all tell me the same thing over and over, again and again - our country has become emotionally disconnected from an essential part of our workforce. We are no longer impressed with cheap electricity, paved roads, and indoor plumbing. We take our infrastructure for granted, and the people who build it.

"Below you'll see a guide to who is using social media (pretty much everyone is aware of it) to which actual social networks they prefer. Surprising Info Most teachers don't use Twitter. They opt for Facebook and YouTube by a large amount LinkedIn is preferred over both wikis and Twitter Just about every social network can play a pivotal role in education, so it's time to start learning about all of them!"

"it's important to turn off our computers and do things in the real world."

"The truth is, if you want a decent job that will lead to a decent life today you have to work harder, regularly reinvent yourself, obtain at least some form of postsecondary education, make sure that you're engaged in lifelong learning and play by the rules. That's not a bumper sticker, but we terribly mislead people by saying otherwise."

"As the "credit for prior learning" movement gains traction, it will be progressively easier for students not only to learn in nontraditional ways, but to accumulate credits for what they've learned."

"When kids are playing, they are in the discovery mode and there is little or no self-regulation happening. Children need to develop a set of cognitive skills so they can think deeper about their learning."

""For some people, [the] path to college is so easy that they can get out into life and they've never really been challenged," he tells NPR's David Greene. "I think they get into their 20s and 30s and they really feel lost - they feel like they never had those character-building experiences as adolescents, as kids, that really make a difference when they get to adulthood.""

"If there's a reason you haven't killed yourself by now, it's probably because you recently saw an animated GIF. But where do they come from? Where do they go? Can you make your own?"

Love it thanks.

"Cyberbullying occurs when a child, teen, or preteen, uses some form of digital technology to threaten, stalk, harass, humiliate, or target another person in the same age group. In most cases, the bully and victim usually know each other from school or they live in the same neighborhood. "

iSafe has some great lessons about cyberbullying and is free for all DE public schools.

"In a fascinating article in Scientific American, teachers Jody Passanisi and Shara Peters make the case that, while kids today have a seemingly innate facility with technology, they are quick to become impatient and discouraged when faced with complex tasks involving digital tools"

Great quote: "Just because a child jumps at the opportunity to program a TV to record his or her favorite shows does not mean that he or she will approach a classroom learning tool with the same zeal."

"Google Docs is an online suite of digital tools that provides teachers with some powerful features to help students develop 21st century writing skills. Since Docs are collaborative and available 24/7, the tool is well-suited for facilitating digital writing workshops that combine peer editing with cooperative grouping and small group fine-tuned writing instruction."

"The fact is, irresponsible social media conduct could potentially ruin your education and negatively impact your career, not to mention hurt others in the process. (And we're not just talking kids, either.) But most of those consequences are preventable, often with just a little foresight."

"The overarching theme now of Learnist and Lore (aside from the first letter of the names) is that these sites are designed to function just like the most popular social networks in the world … except they were built just for teachers and students. To me, that says that it's a very exciting time in edtech as companies are able to finally leverage the resources and data from the Facebooks and Blackboards of the world … then turning this into a very useful new tool that can be completely tailored to the education audience."

"Today it was about a LOOC. Yes that is right, instead of a Massive Open Online Course it is a Little Open Online Course. The University of Maine is experimenting with opening up some courses for free to between 2 and 7 students. These students will be treated as any other student in the class with the same expectations and opportunities to complete assignments and exams if they wish. However, they will not receive credit for their work. They can decide to become a paying student before the normal add/drop period ends."

"For the last few years I've used a website and blog to communicate with students, hold online discussions, offer help and post resources. Maintaining the two different systems wasn't always easy, there were features I wanted, and it was all public. So, this year I decided to use Edmodo with my classes. It has been great already. Edmodo is a free, learning management system that is full featured and easy to use."

60 Second Adventures in Economics is clearly not a replacement for actual lessons in economics, but they could be good introductions or reviews of a lesson.

"The researchers found that the number of Facebook friends and wallposts that individuals have on their profile pages correlates with narcissism. Buffardi said this is consistent with how narcissists behave in the real-world, with numerous yet shallow relationships. Narcissists are also more likely to choose glamorous, self-promoting pictures for their main profile photos, she said, while others are more likely to use snapshots."

"In recent posts I've written about how course instructors can support online learners, how to consider the needs of the learner and guide them through phases of dependency to independence. Yet what is the responsibility of the learner? What role does the online student play in his or her learning? And how can this be communicated to him or her? In this post I discuss learning models that assign responsibility to the learner, how these principles can be applied to online learning, and finally describe how instructors and institutions can hand over responsibility to the student."