Being Facebook Friends

Should teachers friend students on Facebook? For some reason, since I work with technology, people seem to think I'm a good person to ask. And since I mentioned Facebook in my last post, perhaps it is relevant to address it here. My answer...it depends.

Let's ask a different question. Should teachers/educators be on social media? Yes. No question. If we want to connect with students and meet students where they are, social media is the way to go. Educational research tells us that we need to be relevant to engage students effectively. It also tells us that if we can extend our time spent on learning and our curriculum, then achievement goes up. Now put those two together. If we engage students with relevant questions/topics and use a medium that they are using outside of school for socializing, we are likely to extend school related discussions that promote learning, inquiry and authentic application of concepts in the real world. Many have unpacked this much more than I am here. This is only 1 aspect of leveraging social media to benefit learning.

I think the "friends" on Facebook is a bit more complex. Some people advocate 2 accounts...1 professional and 1 personal. I think you have to think about how you use social media. I have some accounts that are personal and my friends/links reflect that. I have other accounts that are solely professional. Based on our roles, this can be easier for some than others. For me, Facebook is personal. There is nothing on there I'm ashamed of. Actually, I don't post much. Rather, I use it to keep up with friends across the world. I also don't have a class of students that I work directly with right now with my given role. Twitter is my professional account. Don't get me wrong. The personal nature of who you are bleeds over into the professional as well it should. It is reasonable to keep the two separate. Bottom line, if you are posting things that students should not see or might be better left to their imagination, don't friend them on Facebook.

No matter what medium you use for social media and connections, your life is more transparent than it has ever been. We know more about each other. Modeling and making good choices is paramount. So is self-control. You can't post confidential or "soon to be public" info before it actually is public. Many people have had some heavy consequences for mistakes in this area and it deserves due caution. All said, social media is a place to extend learning and leverage for the good of both student learning and professional learning. Don't be scared. Jump in but do so with some thought and foresight.

Twitter

For some of you, you love Twitter. It's a connection to your online network. You use it well. For others, you are experimenting with it and trying to decide whether or not you like it. Some have said it is hard to understand Twitter until you use it. For another portion of you, you have no idea what Twitter is. (If that is the case, then google it.)

I have read several commentaries recently on Twitter and observed as others have used it. For me, the jury is still out. I know Twitter is hugely popular and was valued at around 250 million USD in January 2009. The amazing part of this financial evaluation is that Twitter doesn't have any income. It is a free Web 2.0 service.

However, that digresses from the issue at hand. With Twitter, the user has 140 characters to share their thoughts and current actions. It is really much like the status message on Facebook or your chat program. For example, I could post to Twitter: "I am now writing a Be Literate blog entry."

I see Twitter like many other technologies--it is a tool. It can be used productively or result in a significant waste of time and act as a distraction. Some productive ideas that I have heard on how to use Twitter include the following:
1) Take minutes for a meeting--it time stamps everything and keeps statements to 140 characters. It allows multiple people to contribute to the minutes.
2) It is a way to take questions quickly during a live lecture session or Q & A time. I have also seen it used to comment on a big screen about what is being talked about--I'm not a fan of this.
3) I know of one service department that uses Twitter to communicate with each other versus email. It lets others in their department know where they are on campus and quickly communicates to multiple people.
4) In conjunction with #3, it could be used to network a group of people at a conference event, particularly if they are hosting it. The advantage of this over a audio network of walkie-talkies or cell phones is that everyone can see the same message at once and won't get busy signals.

If it isn't purposeful, I wonder if anyone cares that I am writing a blog entry at this moment. Does it matter? Is what I am posting about me or socially productive in engaging others? I am skeptical at some of the non-intentional uses and casual participants. I think it can, like Facebook, be a huge distractor time. For the record, I am not opposed to Facebook but I am amazed at the amount of time people spend on it.

In conclusion, we live in a culture of availability. We carry mobile phones because someone may want to reach us. We are constantly connected to social networks because we don't want to miss anything. Somebody may want me that I am not currently with. And as I reflect on my own practices, I recognize the need to make sure this culture of availability doesn't make me miss the present...the here and now. I embrace this culture in which we live but I see the need to discipline and balance my availability in light of it.

For some further reading, you may want to check out the following links related to Twitter:

Scientists Warn of Twitter Dangers (CNN)

"Just Say No" to Twitter (I take no responsibility for any offense you occur in viewing this link)

The Culture of Availability (The Thinking Stick blog post by Jeff Utecht)

• The previously listed blog posts links to Renny Gleeson: Busted! The sneaky moves of anti-social smartphone users (TED talks). (Again, I take no responsibility for anything in this video that may offend you.)

So what do you think? Are you a Twitter user? I'm still debating whether or not to sign up...please give me some advice.

Stumbleupon

I have been using StumbleUpon for about 2 months. It is a free web service and can also be a Firefox add-on so a toolbar appears in your browser. I use Firefox so I prefer the toolbar for ease of use.

How does it work?
When you sign up, you identify categories and interests that you have as well as contacts. Based on that information, the service takes you to random websites that other users have identified as good and applicable to your interests. It's pretty easy and straightforward. And yes, I have run across several sites that were quite good but I may never have found otherwise.

What are the benefits?
This is a great way to share bookmarks as it is easy to send links to specific friends in your contacts. I have used this as part of my PLN (personal learning network) to trade links on several occasions. It is also a great way to stumble across some good sites that could otherwise be lost in the exobytes of data on the web.

I see this is a tool for professional growth but can also lead you to some good classroom resources and tools. In addition to finding some resources, it can turn some leisure surfing into productive and applicable professional or personal learning. Who knows...maybe someone will Stumble across the Be Literate blog.

Social Bookmarking

Social bookmarking is a popular term but what is it? Well, the word social can be a little inaccurate in the strictest sense. It's not just social as in informal or in the personal realm. It refers to linking communities. The concept is relatively simple. I may like the same sites and topics as my friends. Additionally, I may like the same sites as my friends' friends, even though I may not know them. Social bookmarking leverages relationships to point you to things that may interest you. It can access bookmarks through relationships, categories, or interests.

I'm fairly new to social bookmarking. I don't particularly like to share all my bookmarks. And I don't always bookmark everything that is of interest to me. However, I have found some value to this concept. I have been able to leverage it to find new information on particular topics. Within my PLN of professional educational technology educators, I have run across many new sites that I see as valuable and helpful to my professional growth. It has become a way for me to expand my community and find new sites that expose me to new things.

Social bookmarking really steps into the beginning stages of the semantic web, or Web 3.0. It is "smart" and helps you find places that are of interest and value to you. Some social bookmarking applications learn and tailor themselves to your preferences on what you like and don't like. The concept is really not foreign. Do you use iTunes? The genius feature of iTunes recommends music to you according to what music you have in your library and the particular song. It is tailored to you. Social bookmarking is really just making the same types of recommendations, just in a different sense. iTunes is not the first to use this idea...Amazon has been doing it for years.

Social bookmarking works largely off of tags. Users "tag" keywords to sites so they can be searched or are associated as relevant to certain topics. Tagging is a common term and commonly used on many photo sites. It has many uses and makes accessing relevant information easier. Tagging is great when people work together. Instead of waiting for me to tag 1,000s of sites, I can leverage others to help me tag good sites and be able to search and categorize them effectively based on the wisdom the collective group. Tagging is often associated with images because the only way to search the content is through tags. However, it is also helpful in something like this blog to reference ideas. (This concept also links to Wesch's video of The Machine is Us/ing Us.)

Examples of social bookmarking sites might include del.icio.us, StumbleUpon, Digg, Diigo, and Ma.gnolia.org just to name a few. I even noticed that Foxmarks, my Firefox add-on, is becoming a social bookmarking application. Wikipedia has a fair list of the many bookmarking tools available.

Common Craft

Simple is good. And in some cases, it may even make you a living. Common Craft does just this. These individuals make video explanations of more complicated ideas and try to simplify into ways anyone can understand. You can get many of their videos on Youtube or Google video in addition to their website. If you have questions about some of ideas like Web 2.0 or various tools, this is a good resource to check out for some simple explanations. They do extend beyond tech topics...such as saving money in plain English.

Do you think your students could take some complex ideas from any subject area and make them simple enough for anyone to understand? Aside from demonstrating understanding by their explanation in their own words, it requires effective communication skills...

Personal Learning Networks

Have you ever heard of a PLN (Personal Learning Network)? If you do much reading on educational technology blogs, professional development, or 21st century learning, you have probably run across this term. However, on the off-chance you aren't familiar with it, a PLN is a web of resources that you access for professional growth. It may be email subscription like ASCD, blogs you read (like this one), websites you visit, colleagues you engage to help you reflect, etc. It can take many forms. The goal is to develop resources that you trust, engage, and are relevant to you. It is personal and you interact and reflect with the content. This blog is largely a reflection of my PLN as it relates to education technology and 21st century learning.

As we enter 2009, do you have a PLN? You need one. We all do. No matter what profession we are in, we need to grow and develop our minds. We need to collaborate and tap into the wisdom of others to experience new perspective and challenge our own ideas. Sometimes we don't even realize how limited a perspective we have until we are challenged by others.

PLNs are founded on collaboration and networking...a core component of the Web 2.0. Does the web define our culture or reflect it? I won't go down this road today but probably a little bit of both.

If you are looking for places to begin building your PLN, check out some of these links:

• The 2008 EduBlog Awards might be a good place to look. They rank some of the best blogs in different areas and will also have links to others ones you may want to follow.
• Free Technology Resources for Teachers won an award on the site above. I just ran across it about a week or so ago. I haven't checked it out much yet but may write more about it later.
• You have to pay for some of the ASCD resources, but they do email updates that link to various news and information.
• TED.com has "Ideas Worth Spreading" on their site. They update videos regularly...some are more recent than others. I have found some interesting and thought-provoking presentations on there. Presentations are usually 20 minutes or less.
• Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach has some good resources on her blog.
• The Partnership for 21st Century Skills

Do you have other recommendations?

Perhaps you have a PLN, but haven't used the term. Be intentional to professionally grow yourself. Develop your PLN in all areas of your life...not just education or technology. I hope you will continue to find productive resources here as we get into 2009.