Facebook and Instagram and Snapchat, oh my!

Week 7 is about social networking and all that it entails. I am no novice to social networking - I've been on Facebook since shortly after it was opened up to people with a .edu email address, keep a professional profile on LinkedIn and regularly post on Instagram, to name a few.

But while I access these sites daily, I am apparently no match for Generation Z (who's that, you ask?). Gen Z, roughly those born between 1995-2010, is the first generation who will grow up in a digital world, where technology is ever-present.

Our assignment this week was to write a position paper on social networking - which led me down the path of researching the good, the bad, and the ugly of all things social media.

One of the first sources I found was courtesy of a fellow classmate, which she shared on our class discussion forum. Generation Like examines the phenomenon of teens and how they use social media to promote images of themselves. Thoroughly captivating, and somewhat disturbing, it definitely made me realize the differences in generations. It was particularly interesting for me as both my children fall into Gen Z (though I have a few years at least before they are posting selfies!).

While it is easy to decry the reliance on technology and the shameless self-promotion (this article very much falls on the side of "Social Networking Has Gone Too Far"). I think the author makes some very valid points - it is tough to find redeemable value in Baby Scumbag, after all.

But my ultimate position is that social networking will do more good than evil. Much of the research into Gen Z points to the fact that these kids will be more  globally aware, more environmentally-conscious, and more accepting of different cultures and perspectives as a direct result of the internet and social networks "shrinking" the world. And that, to me, is worth it.

Week 4: Online Organizational Tools (part 2)

The 2nd part of this week's assignment was to experiment with social bookmarking and social reading sites.

Social Bookmarking

For someone who once worked in marketing (for a company with a strong online presence, no less!), I am kind of embarrassed that social bookmarking was a pretty new concept for me. It definitely makes sense, especially the idea of having your bookmarks "follow" you to whatever device you happen to be using vs. being stuck on one machine. So I jumped in to add a few of my favorite sites and see which of the 2 sites we were advised to start with - Delicious and Diigo - might better serve my needs.

Drinking and Tweeting

Just kidding, but had to give a nod to one of my guilty pleasures (RHOBH, anyone?)

In addition to exploring blogs in the classroom, I started to dabble a bit with Twitter this week. I worked in Marketing in my past life, so I'm familiar with it, and would send out tweets on behalf of one of my clients but I've never felt the need to use it for my personal use (a. no one needs more than daily updates on my comings and goings, and Facebook fills that need, and b. I don't need any additional time wasters that would inevitably come from following any celebrities!).

But, in the name of scholarship, I decided to follow a few notable Teacher Librarians, to get a feel for how it could benefit someone professionally. The most useful hashtag I've found so far is #tlchat as it provides perspective from a much wider pool than me trying to figure out who are the most useful people to follow and managing my stream that way.

In doing so, I found this.

And this.

And this.

Suffice it to say, I'm convinced. In just 5 minutes, I found 3 thought-provoking, useful pieces of information that I otherwise would not have found in my daily web use.

Now, I'm still not sending my own tweets but soon. And I'll tell you all about it. 

Week 2: Blogging in the Classroom

Our key focus this week is blogging, and how teachers can use classroom blogs to enhance collaboration, communication, and transparency among students, parents, and really anyone who has an interest in what is going on in the classroom.

One of the most interesting places I visited as part of this week's exploration was the 2013 Edublog Award winners. I particularly liked the winner for the Best Library/Librarian blog, as it's such a great example of the value that a Media Specialist can bring to teachers among all subject areas and grade levels.

We were also asked to experiment with Twitter and how it could be used in a school setting and I came across a classroom blog of a 1st grade teacher in Canada.  In addition to having a very inviting, engaging blog, I thought it was interesting how her students interact with other classrooms across the world using Twitter and Skype (just in January, they've worked with other 1st graders in England and Italy). While they could certainly learn the same concepts without collaborating with the other classes, I think it's so cool that, at age 6, they are "meeting" people from different countries/cultures. It also makes future lessons much more meaningful - for example, if they are learning about Italy in a social studies context, they now have a personal connection that can only make them more interested and invested in the lesson.