EdTech 543 Final Reflection

When I first registered for EdTech 543 Social Network Learning, I wasn't sure what to expect from the course. I am already a regular user of social media in my personal and professional lives but was hopeful that I could learn more ways to use social media with my students.  The class did not disappoint!  Some of the early modules that focused on establishing social media accounts, Twitter chats and webinars, communities of practice, and personal learning networks were things I was already familiar and comfortable with, but it was a nice overview and reminder of all the positive aspects of social media. In creating a plan for managing my digital footprint, my eyes were opened to many things I hadn't considered before such as the importance of claiming a domain in my name and creating a personal website, which I am currently working on and plan to have live this month.

The modules that focused on curation were interesting because this was the first time I'd really heard of curation in an educational context.  I found using Scoop.it to be a much more enjoyable way of doing research and collecting information than how I'd previously done it, and I think this could be used in my middle school classroom with students.  One of the ideas I'm most excited to implement in my classroom was gleaned from the curation of articles about ways others are using social media in their classrooms - I plan to have a student take photos each day create a collage that will be shared on social media using our class hashtag to share the learning that's taking place in my classroom with families and the world. 

Another aspect of this course that I found interesting was the creation of small groups (mini-PLNs) that we were to work with for projects.  It was nice to be able to share the workload among a group for some projects, but at times it was challenging due to the different time zones, work/life schedules, etc.  The use of social media helped minimize this, though. This isn't really something I'd need to worry about in my own classroom, but it did reaffirm the importance of collaborative work.

Regarding my blog use during this course, I would say that I met all of the requirements from the assignments (I'd give myself 75/75 as a grade).  I think the frequency in which blog posts were required was just right in this course - I have seen blogs be overused and students get tired of blogging about every little thing, but this course provided a good model for blog use and interaction that I will definitely keep in mind as I move forward with student blogs in my class this year. 

Overall, I would say this course exceeded my expectations and I'm leaving it with lots of great practical ideas that I plan to implement next week when my school year begins.  Integrating social media in new and exciting ways will increase student engagement and provide me with a whole new way to connect and interact with parents and the community.

Social Media Policy

Currently, my school district does not have a dedicated social media policy. We have a broader Acceptable Use Policy that covers some things relevant to social media, but not all. I worked to create a comprehensive social media policy that would be appropriate for my district.  I started with their Acceptable Use Policy, then researched other districts’ social media policies to enhance and add necessary elements that are directly related to the use of social media and social networking in schools.  The entire document can be found HERE, and the policy I created is below.

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Oakdale School District

Social Media Policy

Introduction

The Oakdale School District realizes that part of 21st century learning is adapting to the changing methods of communication.  The importance of teachers, students, and parents engaging, collaborating, learning, and sharing in these digital environments is a part of of 21st century learning. To this aim, Oakdale School District has developed this policy to outline the guidelines and behaviors that users are expected to follow when using school technologies or when participating in online social media activities. The Oakdale School District encourages employees to use social networking/media (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc.) as a way to connect with others, share educational resources, create and curate educational content, and enhance the classroom experiences, but it is important  to create an atmosphere of trust and individual accountability, keeping in mind that information produced by Oakdale School District teachers and students is a reflection on the entire district and is subject to the district's Acceptable Use Policy.

Things to Remember

• Students, parents and teachers are expected to follow the same rules for good behavior and respectful conduct online as offline.
• Misuse of social media can result in disciplinary action.
• Oakdale School District makes a reasonable effort to ensure students’ safety and security online, but will not be held accountable for any harm or damages that result from misuse of social media technologies.

Expectations of Users

Use good judgment       

• Use good judgment in all situations.
• Know and follow the district’s Code of Conduct and Privacy Policy.
• Regardless of your privacy settings, assume that all of the information you have shared on your social network is public information.

Be respectful       

• Always treat others in a respectful, positive and considerate manner.

Be Responsible and Ethical       

• State that the views expressed in your postings, etc. are your own. Stick with discussing school-related matters that are within your area of responsibility.
• Be open about your affiliation with the school and the role/position you hold.

Don’t Share Confidential Information       

• Do not publish, post or release information that is considered confidential or not public. If it seems confidential, it probably is. Online “conversations” are never private.
• Do not use your birth date, address, and cell phone number on any public website.

Keep Personal Information Private   

• To ensure your safety, be careful about the type and amount of personal information you provide. Avoid talking about personal schedules or situations.
• NEVER give out or transmit personal information of students, parents, peers, or coworkers
• Always respect the privacy of the school community members.

Be Careful When Posting Images  

• Respect brand, trademark, copyright information when using images.
• Do not  post pictures of students without the expressed written consent of their parents.
• Do not post pictures of others (co-workers, etc.) without their permission.

Use Social Networking Sites Properly        

• A significant part of the interaction on blogs, Twitter, Facebook and other social networks involves passing on interesting content or linking to helpful resources. However, the school is ultimately responsible for any content that is shared. Don’t blindly repost a link without looking at the content first.
• How you represent yourself online is an extension of yourself.  Do not misrepresent yourself by using someone else's identity.
• When using Twitter, Facebook and other tools, be sure to follow their printed terms and conditions.

Own Your Mistakes       

• Correct any mistake you make immediately, and make it clear what you’ve done to fix it.
• Apologize for the mistake if the situation warrants it.
• If it’s a MAJOR mistake (e.g., exposing private information or reporting confidential information), please let someone know immediately so the school can take the proper steps to help minimize the impact it may have.

Use Proper Netiquette

• Always use the Internet, network resources, and online sites in a courteous and respectful manner.
• Recognize that among the valuable content online is unverified, incorrect, or inappropriate content. Use trusted sources when conducting research via the Internet.
• Don’t post anything online that you wouldn’t want parents, teachers, or future colleges or employers to see. Once something is online, it’s out there—and can sometimes be shared and spread in ways you never intended.

• Be responsive to others when conversing online. Provide answers, thank people for their comments, and ask for further feedback, etc.
• Blog and wiki posts should be well written.  Follow writing conventions including proper grammar, capitalization, and punctuation.

Personal Safety

• If you see a message, comment, image, or anything else online that makes you concerned for your personal safety, bring it to the attention of an adult immediately.

• Never share personal information, including phone number, address, social security number, birthday, or financial information, over the Internet without adult permission.

Cyberbullying

• Cyberbullying will not be tolerated. Harassing, dissing, flaming, denigrating, impersonating, outing, tricking, excluding, and cyberstalking are all examples of cyberbullying. Don’t be mean. Don’t send emails or post comments with the intent of scaring, hurting, or intimidating someone else.
• Engaging in these behaviors, or any online activities intended to harm (physically or emotionally) another person, will result in severe disciplinary action and loss of privileges. In some cases, cyberbullying can be a crime. Remember that your activities are monitored and retained by others.

References

Anderson, S. (n.d.). How to create social media guidelines for your school. Retrieved from
https://www.edutopia.org/pdfs/edutopia-anderson-social-media-guidelines.pdf

Cornwall-Lebanon School District. (2016). Social media guidelines for students. Retrieved from
http://www.clsd.k12.pa.us/staff.cfm?subpage=624705

Dunn, J. (2014). An editable social media policy for schools that works. Retrieved from
http://dailygenius.com/editable-social-media-policy-for-schools/

Oakdale Joint Unified School District. (2012). Technology acceptable use policy. Retrieved from
http://ojusd-ca.schoolloop.com/file/1365835950987/1365835800006/1869264400494435063.pdf

Pottsville Area School District. (2011). Social media policy. Retrieved from
http://www.pottsville.k12.pa.us/cms/lib07/PA01916599/Centricity/Domain/38/Social%20Media%20Policy%20-%20Students.pdf

Social Media Guidelines for Schools Wiki. (n.d.) Retrieved from
http://socialmediaguidelines.pbworks.com/w/page/17050879/FrontPage

Social Media in the Classroom

This week I spent some time doing research on ways that social media is being used for teaching and learning in classrooms.  I originally started my search focusing only on middle school grades, but quickly found that I needed to broaden my search if I wanted to find specific examples shared by teachers of what is working in their classrooms.  I found quite a few exciting examples of projects that I feel I could actually use in my sixth grade classroom, even though their sources ranged from fourth grade through college classes.  Social media is social media, and good teaching is good teaching, so many of the ways it's being used are easily applied to a wide range of grade levels.  I am very open minded about allowing students to use cell phones and social media in school and have been searching for ways to integrate it with learning in the classroom, so I curated a collection of social media based projects that inspired me, which you can find here: http://www.scoop.it/t/social-media-for-teaching-learning

My favorite project that I plan to start at the beginning of the upcoming school year is one in which a different student each day is designated as the "daily reporter" and uses the classroom iPad to take photos of students engaged in learning throughout the day.  The reporter than creates a photo collage, writes a caption to summarize the day, and posts it to Instagram using the class and district hashtags.  Giving students power and agency to share their learning with the world is a powerful way to use social media positively.  I also love the idea of having students tweet out main ideas and points from lectures and lessons and using a site like Twitterfall to project them onto the SmartBoard at the front of the room throughout the lesson.  Another favorite project involved students using Snapchat to take photos of real life examples of vocabulary words for Spanish class, captioning them in Spanish, and creating a Snapchat story for reviewing and studying.  I love this modern twist on vocabulary flashcards.
All of the projects I shared have some key characteristics - students feel engaged and enthusiastic about the assignment because using social media makes it relevant and meaningful for them, students are sharing their thoughts or work with a broader (often global) audience which often makes them more mindful about the quality of the work they're sharing, and students feel empowered when they're allowed to use the tools of their choosing to demonstrate their learning. The educational implications of social media are becoming more and more accepted and it's great that these innovative teachers are willing to share their ideas to help others find ways to use social media in productive ways in their own classrooms.

Personal Learning Environment

This diagram shows my Personal Learning Environment. My PLE feeds me - mentally and emotionally, so I thought of using a place setting to represent it. The “meat and potatoes” of my PLE is Twitter and Facebook. I access these communities several times a day and they are the first places I go to when I need a resource, a question answered, support, or information. However, one cannot survive on these alone, so there are “side dishes” - other communities and resources that enhance and supplement my learning. These include Moodle, G+, Hangouts, LinkedIn, Discovery Educators’ Network, etc. All of this together makes up the basics of the “meal” which feeds me daily. But just as with any meal, there are the extras that we don’t necessarily always partake in, just like bread or dessert. These would be my “sometimes” resources like Goodreads, Blogger, Edmodo - great things that I always enjoy, just not necessarily on a daily basis. Wordpress is like the drink - I use it throughout to both share and access information. Finally, the tools we need to access all of this are Google, Chrome, and iOS, represented as the flatware.

As I was creating this diagram I learned that I prefer to have a relatively small PLE, focusing on a few high quality resources. I'm a 'quality over quantity' type of person. Each of the resources represented in my diagram is something I'm truly invested in and have made real connections with people through. The process of creating the diagram was interesting because I had to critically evaluate each resource I use and determine its place and relative size and position. It helped me focus on what is most important to me and which tools help me learn best. I truly value my PLE and feel fortunate to have it so well-established. 

As I compared my diagram to those of my peers', I found a lot of similarities in terms of the tools and resources included. Twitter and Facebook appeared in every one I compared mine to, and most also had Blogger, Edmodo, Google Plus, and Moodle. Everyone's diagrams seemed very personal and reflected the individual who created it. Some people chose to explicitly follow the PLE models such as the "collecting, reflecting, connecting, and publishing model" while others just designed a diagram in a way that is most meaningful to them. My diagram fits into this latter category. Many of the diagrams included the person who created it as a part of the diagram, but not all did. I chose not to include myself on mine because it made more sense with the metaphor not to. Some classmates chose a more graphic-based, creative approach while others went with more of a diagram or mind-mapping type product. Overall, I thought it was very interesting how my classmates' diagrams were really similar to mine, yet different at the same time. I suppose that is the same as the larger idea of PLEs - we all have the same tools and resources available to us, yet we access them in ways that are most meaningful to us and our individual needs.

Twitter Chats & Webinars

Over the past several weeks I participated in several online professional development opportunities - four webinars and four live Twitter chats. I really love this kind of PD because you can participate from home and when it fits into your schedule.  Plus, interacting with educators from around the world is such a great way to learn about new ideas and share resources you might not normally be exposed to in day-to-day life.  For example, one of the Twitter chats I participated in asked us to share suggestions for books for summer reading.  Literally within minutes, I had a list of books that I can't wait to get started reading!  Another Twitter chat was focused on social studies and I learned about teaching history through comic books and was able to connect with another educator who can help me get started. My favorite webinar was a live, interactive demo of the new Google Sites and I had been dying to see it, so I loved being able to get a live demo.  Being able to interact with the presenter was an added bonus because he invited me to edit the sample site in real time.  I also loved the webinar where an educator shared her school's makerspace transformation.  The backchannel discussion was really valuable.  For detailed information about all 8 of my experiences, you can read this document.

Content Curation Checklist

Content curation is the process of collecting, sorting, arranging, and presenting information in a way that is meaningful and focused on a specific topic or theme.  Curators must carefully and intentionally sort through the plethora of available web resources and select the best and most relevant content.  Those resources must then be put into an organized context with annotation to publish and share.  This week I worked with my class PLN to create a checklist of criteria to assess the quality and value of a curated topic.  There are four members of my class PLN and we decided to use a Google Doc to collaborate on our project.  This is my preferred method of collaboration because of the ease of use and the commenting feature for discussion and communication. My group started off with a conversation on Facebook and then the rest of the project just fell into place.  One member was going out of town, so got a head start and created an outline of criteria questions sorted by resource.  I, too, will be leaving on vacation, so I took it from there and fleshed out some of the criteria by providing explanations and citing sources, then set up the reference list.  The other two team members jumped in and finished the explanations for the remaining criteria, and worked on APA formatting.  This was a pretty seamless example of collaboration. I feel like each of us contributed significantly to the project and the overall product is better for it.  Using a Google Doc made it easy for each member to work when it's convenient for him/her and we all contributed to the final product.  I feel like we've created a very thorough checklist that will be useful to anyone for evaluating a curated collection.

Here is the link to our collaborative checklist or you see the final product below.

Managing Your Digital Footprint

Building your professional web presence is crucial for educators in today’s world.  It’s important not only to develop a positive digital footprint but also to maintain and manage your online reputation. There are many things you can do to help with this; here are ten tips:

Search Yourself

Periodically conduct internet searches using a variety of search engines (Google, Yahoo!, Bing, etc.) to see what results you find.  It’s important to monitor your digital presence regularly.

Google Alerts

Set up a Google alert on your name to keep track of any new content. You can choose to be notified at a certain time of day, or to receive alerts in digest format on a daily or weekly basis. There are also other similar programs available to monitor what’s being put out on the internet about you (Adams, 2013).

Manage Security Settings

Decide which of your social media accounts you’ll use for personal and which you’ll use for professional (read: public) sharing.  Then make sure your privacy settings for each account are in line with your intended use. For example, if you use Facebook for personal use to share pics of your family, your vacations, time you spend hanging out with friends, etc. - not necessarily things you’d want just anyone to access, make sure your privacy settings are high so that only friends can see your posts.  Accordingly, if you use other social media purely for professional use, make sure your privacy settings are open to allow people to see your profile. (Posner, 2011)

Update Your Profiles

You need to do more than just create accounts for social media and other professional sites and services, you need to create profiles. Examples of these include Google +, LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Academia, YouTube, SlideShare, and many others. Carefully create your profiles to include information that reflects the image that you want to portray. You may also link sites, publications, or blogs that align with your ideas. (Dunlap & Lowenthal, 2013)

Interact & Engage

Building a positive digital footprint requires that you do more than just put information onto the internet; it requires you to interact with others and engage in conversation about topics related to your profession.  Remember that there are actual human beings out there with whom you are interacting, something that can get lost in the anonymity of the internet. (Price, 2015).

Buy Your Domain Name

For relatively little money, you can buy your own domain name.  Acquiring your own domain name looks professional and can guide searches for your name and help control what people see when they search for you. There are a variety of websites you can use (godaddy.com, FullName.com, etc.) to do this. (Taub, 2012).

Put all Your Content in One Place

There are a number of sites (WordPress, About.Me, Google Sites, etc.) that allow you to easily create a professional looking website.  Having a website of your own helps you look professional and gives you a place to share information about yourself, links to your blog, work you’ve published, resources you’re willing to share, etc.  Also, if you’ve purchased your domain name (see above), you can apply it to these sites for extra personalization and professional appearance (Adams, 2011, and Lowenthal, 2012).

Model Appropriate Behavior

As educators, we have a responsibility to our students not only to teach them how to create and maintain a positive digital footprint, but we need to model that ourselves and be transparent about doing so.  We need to explicitly teach and show the steps we are taking in the process. Kuehn says, “Our professional responsibility is not only to own our professional online identity and reputation, but to understand enough that we can provide advice and be an online model for our students” (2010).

Build Your Brand

Teachers don’t often think of themselves as having a “brand,” but we most definitely do!  It’s important to identify your strengths and share those strengths with others.  In fact, according to Gallagher (2015), “educators who build their brands tend to reflect on their practice and work hard to constantly improve.”

Be a Good Digital Citizen

No matter what the platform (Facebook, Twitter, blog, website), remember to always practice good Netiquette skills and digital citizenship.  Use proper spelling and grammar to help maintain a professional appearance, always cite sources when using photos or other information, and follow the rule, ‘If you don’t have something nice to say, don’t say anything at all.’ (Price, 2015)

Resources

Adams, S. (2013). 6 steps to managing your online reputation. Forbes. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/susanadams/2013/03/14/6-steps-to-managing-your-online-reputation/#31a69c4c1acf

Gallagher, K. (2015).  How to build your teacher brand.  EdSurge News.  Retrieved from https://www.edsurge.com/news/2015-12-23-how-to-build-your-teacher-brand

Kuehn, L. (2010). Manage your digital footprint. Teacher news magazine, 23(3). Retrieved from https://www.policyalternatives.ca/sites/default/files/uploads/publications/National%20Office/2012/02/osos106_Digital_Footprint.pdf

Lowenthal, P., & Dunlap, J. (2012). Intentional web presence: 10 SEO strategies every academic needs to know. EDUCAUSE.edu. Retrieved from http://www.educause.edu/ero/article/intentional-web-presence-10-seo-strategies-every-academic-needs-know

Posner, M.  (2011). Creating your web presence: A primer for academics. Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved from http://chronicle.com/blogs/profhacker/creating-your-web-presence-a-primer-for-academics/30458

Price, C. (2015). Netiquette: Pointers for social media users and bloggers. The Huffington Post.  Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/courtney-price/netiquette-pointers-for-social-media-users-and-bloggers_b_7786356.html

Taub, A. (2012). 5 key things needed to improve your digital identity. Forbes. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/alextaub/2012/06/07/5-key-things-needed-to-improve-your-digital-identity/#4fc09d2414ef