I have several posts that need to be written, but I am starting with The Commons. This summer one of my former teaching partners, Jared Bennett, who is now a 21st Century Fluencies consultant for our board, spent the summer designing a Social Media site for our board. You can follow the story of the development of the site here: http://dev.commons.hwdsb.on.ca/ It is well worth reading as it lays out a how to as well as the rationale for a secure SM dedicated server. It acts like Facebook/Twitter in that you can follow people, post status updates and share links. It allows each student to have a blog. But the true beauty is that it is devoid of data mining and advertising. It is a safe place for all learners to experience and see modeled good digital citizenship.
I feel very lucky to be on board early to witness the explosion occurring as more and more teachers, students, administrators and even tech people at the board (who EVER gets to hear directly from them?) are sharing in this sphere. Several teachers at my school have begun to explore blogging and are experimenting for the first time with Social Media as an educational tool. Magic is happening!
As ever though, it is observing the learners as they realize the potential of this tool, that holds my fascination as an educator. I have one student who began the month with very little understanding of the usefulness of social media. She is now an avid fan of Evernote, she has learned to use Prezi as a digital media presentation tool and has taken to blogging like wildfire - already moving ahead independently, figuring out on her own just what exactly she can do on her blog. Her pleasure in recognizing that social media is a multi-dimensional conversation where she can receive authentic feedback from someone other than her teacher has given me pleasure. Her understanding that she has at her hands a medium with endless creative potential is inspiring. She is a blogger to watch!
Jared Bennett, I can't thank you enough for bring this to our learning community!
I feel very lucky to be on board early to witness the explosion occurring as more and more teachers, students, administrators and even tech people at the board (who EVER gets to hear directly from them?) are sharing in this sphere. Several teachers at my school have begun to explore blogging and are experimenting for the first time with Social Media as an educational tool. Magic is happening!
As ever though, it is observing the learners as they realize the potential of this tool, that holds my fascination as an educator. I have one student who began the month with very little understanding of the usefulness of social media. She is now an avid fan of Evernote, she has learned to use Prezi as a digital media presentation tool and has taken to blogging like wildfire - already moving ahead independently, figuring out on her own just what exactly she can do on her blog. Her pleasure in recognizing that social media is a multi-dimensional conversation where she can receive authentic feedback from someone other than her teacher has given me pleasure. Her understanding that she has at her hands a medium with endless creative potential is inspiring. She is a blogger to watch!
Jared Bennett, I can't thank you enough for bring this to our learning community!
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