Wanna get social?

Social Media - while it's been around for a while, it's still all the "buzz" in educational settings. While many people "want" to integrate social media into their classroom, they simply lack the "know how" for using social media resources for beneficial student teaching and learning.
100+ examples of use of social  media for learning published by the Social Learning Centre briefly summarizes over 100 ways that different social techs/tools can be used to bring social dynamics to your classroom environment. The featured strategies were contributed by educators from all of the world and most require no out-of-pocket costs by students or teachers.

The strategies are divided into 17 categories - so if one doesn't work for you, hopefully another will. The social media categories include:

1. Blogging
2. Collaborative calendaring
3. Podcasting
4. RSS readers
5. Collaborative Mindmapping
6. Micro-blogging/micro-sharing
7. Photo sharing
8. Screencast sharing
9. Presentation sharing
10. Video sharing
11. Social bookmarking
12. Collaborative editing
13. Collaborative working
14. Collaborative presentations
15. Social networking
16. Personalized start pages
17. Integrated social/collaboration environment

Social techs/tools common throughout the 100+ strategies include, but are not limited to LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Voicethread,  Wikispaces, Google Docs, PBworks, Etherpad, Delicious, YouTube, Screentoaster, Jing, Flickr, Bubblus and more!

Read the full article and make plans for integrating social media into your classroom environment. I'm sure your students will enjoy and benefit from the variety and collaboration it brings to their learning community!

If an educational act is to be efficacious, it will be only that one which tends to help toward the complete unfolding of life. To be thus helpful it is necessary rigorously to avoid the arrest of spontaneous movements and the imposition of arbitrary tasks.

                                                                                                                         ~ Maria Montessori

James 1:2-4 ESV 

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

I humbly thank my wonderful family for their support in all that I do. Robert Robbie Cowan, Robert Drew Andrew Cowan, and Hunter Cowan Hartselle, Decatur, AL