Digital privacy and data protection is a big topic for schools adopting social media. It is the first time in history that teachers have less knowledge than the pupils - with so many kids having now been born into a socially connected world.
For hundreds of years pedagogy has formed the core to teaching and learning.
Learning outcomes and academic results have become the focus for educators and the community around them - a narrow view that is having less and less to do with today's modern needs in education. While striving for educational greatness is not necessarily a bad thing, the single-mindedness desire to top league tables and churn out the best grades is failing our children. Schools need to be adaptable to new styles of education, otherwise the only losers will be those who are receiving an education.
Schools tend to focus on buying technology, without considering the human impact.
Schools talk a lot about ‘educating the whole child’, and ‘giving them opportunities beyond the curriculum’ to thrive in what they are good at - but are we missing the point?
The Reality
“There is no Wifi in the forest, but we promise you will find a better connection.”
“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.”
“Yes, it’s fun and, yes, it’s engaging but the way we use Minecraft, it’s not a game. It’s a genuine learning technique.”
Teachers and parents should play an important role in encouraging students to take their online reputations seriously.
Some employers actually track down the social media footprints of applicants, so if students are behaving inappropriately online, they could jeopardise their job prospects.
In order to help students make smarter choices online, teachers and parents should read up on reputation, resumes and video interviews in the digital age - and then they should make sure that the students within their spheres of influence understand what’s at stake.
Online Reputation Matters
Three-quarters of recruiters are more than willing to go online to research job candidates, and seven in 10 have rejected candidates based on what they discovered online. So it’s important that students who are working towards their degrees know that their online reputations count for a lot.
Reputation-Building Tips
LinkedIn, an online social media site for professionals, is a must for students looking to build a solid online reputation. They can showcase their resume and look for work opportunities -- particularly since 89% of recruiters have hired someone through LinkedIn.
Profiles 101
Personal profiles should be kept personal. In other words, they should be made available only to select people, they should not contain inappropriate content and they should not have usernames that are the same as the account holders’ real names. For professional profiles, students should include professional photos, use their real names as their username and stick to posting only industry-specific content.
Video Resume
In the digital age, it pays to have a video resume. Students should be encouraged to take advantage of video resumes to differentiate themselves from the majority of people who still do resumes the 'old fashioned way'.
“After nourishment, shelter, and companionship, stories are the thing we need most in the world. ”
With 70 million unique visitors a month, 38 million registered users and being voted in the world's top 10 tools for education and e-learning, it would be very surprising if you have not heard about SlideShare before, but what is SlideShare?
What is it?
When launched in 2006 SlideShare was described as a website similar to YouTube but for slideshows. With the internet becoming more and more accessible SlideShare was launched to put a stop to the dreary days of Microsoft Powerpoint, carrying paper presentations in a briefcase and mostly importantly to put a to stop this....
People mistake social media for socialising. WRONG. People do socialise on social media, but that's just a tiny part of how we use social.
Social is used for learning, collaboration, productivity, writing, curation, entertainment, storytelling. Not just socialising with friends.
Students natively use social media to communicate, curate, and share ideas online.
As teachers, this gives you a great opportunity to increase their passion for learning. Giving access and implementing strong educational resources is a great way to engage students both inside and outside the classroom.
It’s important to incorporate your lesson materials using this new medium. It reaches students through a medium they use everyday. And it also chronicles all the tips, lessons and answers you provide in your stream.
Finding bold and innovative ways to use social media is a great way for your school to progress into this new generation. These are just a few ideas that you can infuse social media into your lesson plans to.
Using Snapchat for Quizzes
Schools are seriously misunderstanding Snapchat, and how people use it. Snapchat is trying to replace TV. It understands that people are moving away from tradition television into YouTube, Netflix, and other mobile channels.
Big media companies (Sky, Daily Mail, National Geographic) have set up their own channels on Snapchat because they understand that's where people are spending their time looking for entertainment.
Because of Snapchat's ephermal nature, teachers can use it for memory quizzes. Simply set the time (1-10 seconds) that you want the image or video to appear, and publish your story to Snapchat.