Should Schools Teach Social Media Skills?

Should it be the job of schools to teach the do’s and don’t of social media? Many educators think the answer to that is “yes.” One counselor, using a curriculum created by the non-profit Common Sense Media, talks with his students about “Disinhibition, reputation, anonymity.” He says that teens get right away that disinhibition means acting impulsively, without showing due restraint, in a way that’s aggressive or plays up another personality trait. He also talks about the number of fights that start at school that have their root in things that started online.

Others, though, including Dennis Kelly, president of the United Educators of San Francisco, a local teachers union, says teachers are already drowning in work — especially now with Common Core. While social media is important, Kelly says, so are other things. “It would be very difficult for schools trying to keep up with Instagram, Facebook, all of the apps that exist out there that are essentially market driven.”

The truth is that, while apps come and go, and the contingent issues and yet to emerge problems that come with them are yet to raise their ugly heads, social media is here to stay. The social media world boils over into schools every minute of every school day. Without schools keeping a finger on the pulse of what’s going on in the digital world, teaching online etiquette to students, and discussing the implications of what is going on in the social media world, it is like saying that current events shouldn’t be part of ongoing lessons. School, parents, and teachers have to get serious about talking about what is going on in this parallel universe or risk being seen as irrelevant.

Piaget and B.F. Skinner Tweets

Malbert Smith III, in an Education Week Commentary, wonders what would have happened if great thinkers in education had digital communication available to them. Would they have been able to spread their research and ideas or would modern ways of communication have limited their time to think deeply and engage in continuing observations? Although, Smith says that “our digital toolkits allow us to analyze and publish data faster, connect immediately to scholars about the globe, and disseminate findings instantly”, he suggests, when considering the time we and our students spend engaging in digital communication, that we have become “prisoners” of our devices. If Jean Piaget had tweeted about his children, Smith says, they “would have rebelled with tweets, blogs, and the ultimate rejection: Facebook unfriending.”

Top Ten Tech Skills for Teens

With all that teens are learning as they use digital devices and the Internet, it is difficult to sort through what they actually need to know. Cindy Donaldson in her article on Education.com (August 2013), polled companies in Silicon Valley to find what their leaders thought were skills all teens should master. The skills recommended are typing, word processing, spreadsheets, PowerPoint, eMail, electronic calendars, Netiquette, social networking, basic computer upkeep, using Internet searches properly for research, and use of databases. Other skills suggested are related to blog making, photo processing, and making a Web page. 

It seems to me that using critical and innovative thinking skills, learning to work collaboratively, and adapting to new technologies should be added to the list, because these skills will certainly be needed.

Schoology for Learning Management & More

Schoology, a CODiE Award winner, helps teachers and administrators put easy-to-use tools to work to develop their own educational communities. The system encourages collaboration and integrates nicely with other platforms like Google Apps, Moodle, Blackboard, Turnitin, etc. It allows schools to put all content in one easily accessible place. edshelf reviews call it “Facebook-like in appearance and navigation” and an “unbelievable classroom tool”.  Schoology includes different levels of pricing and is free for basic management and administrative features. A limited admin plan is free for schools and includes privacy controls, word filters, and data import and export. Schools and districts interested in advanced management and administrative features should contact Schoology for pricing.  This program is getting a host of great reviews by teachers who use it.

Handy Social Media Commandments

You'll want to take a look at these social media commandmentsfrom Leaderswest: Fresh Perspectives on Social Media & Technology. Included are many suggestions I'm sure you already know, but reviewing the ideas with your students is wise. As always, it’s important to keep up a conversation with your students about their use of online networking and to stress use of common sense.

Tomorrow’s Innovators Through Personalized Learning

Project Tomorrow’s research study, Mapping a Personalized Learning Journey: K-12 Students and Parents Connect the Dots with Digital Learning, found that students are already moving forward to personalized learning outside of school. Many, the report says, have become Agent-Free Learners, “students who do not feel that they need to be tethered to traditional education institutions and have confidence in their ability to drive their own educational destiny.” Their use of mobile devices has provided them with what could be called equal opportunity to self-directed learning. Many students said that they were hampered in using technologies at school because Websites are blocked, teachers limit how they can use technology, and students are not allowed to use mobile devices, go to social networking sites, and use their communication tools. Students suggested that schools could personalize learning through use of mobile devices for researching information, communicating, using online texts, sending reminders and alerts, collaborating, and using video review lessons. The Project Tomorrow report gives many other examples of how schools might connect the dots that will lead to greater personalization of learning through technology.

Social Media and Your Employment Status

What do you do when students ask to “Friend” you on social media sites? Are you careful about what you post through social networking and/or what you text and email? Even if you make a “Page” private, are racial, violent, or sexist comments all right? What type of photos have you posted online? Have you answered a digital communication in anger?

Concerned about teachers as negative role models, the National Education Association (NEA) created “Social Networking Nightmares”, which includes teacher comments like this questionable message to a student: “You’re a retard, but I love you.” The courts have ruled that teachers do not have absolute First Amendment rights and, just because posts may be made when not in school, teachers are still accountable. The New Jersey board of education has posted a Code of Conduct for teachers and staff, which includes items that relate to use of social networking in school, harassment, defamatory statements, confidential information, violence, sexually graphic posts, etc.

Motivation for Practicing Math?

In order to combat distractions that are created by the pull of technologies and social networking on teens, Pierce and Ronan Higgins teamed with others at Trinity College, Dublin, to create Aftermath. The software, designed for 12 to 16-year-olds includes a math skills game through which students can earn time for social networking. With the software, parents can select which sites (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Minecraft, etc.) to limit. The software authors have noticed that students using Aftermath become interested in the math skills in the game so that they can get a higher score. They also start thinking about how much time they are spending online and set up their own limits.

Personalize Learning with Mobile Devices and Social Media

A Blackboard report based on the 2011 National Speak up Survey Research Project examines how digital devices are being used in K-12 schools. Some of the topics in the report include: growth in mobile accessibility, demand for mobile access, challenges related to mobile access in schools, parent support for mobile learning, and the future of mobile learning—all important issues for our schools.  Some of the findings: about 60% of parents said they were willing to purchase mobile learning devices, more than 50% of school administrators think that schools should provide tablets for students, and almost 60% of parents believe that mobile devices provide access to online textbooks. The report is packed with information, charts, and graphs showing the results of the research project. Download the report from t|h|e| Journal website link above.

ASCD’s Infographics on Pinterest

The Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development is using Pinterest to  make infographics on education easily accessible for teachers, supervisors, curriculum personnel, board members, community leaders, and administrators. The graphics are excellent resources and clearly show results of recent polls and research. Some of the “Posters” are: The Achievement Gap, STEM & Our Planet, The Top 100 Banned Books, Americans See Teachers as the Key to Success, Mobile Learning Report Card, Autism, The Rise of eReading, The Unprepared Nation: College Readiness Today . . . . Clearly there’s a wealth of information here thanks to ASCD. —And, new items are posted daily.