Teachers can use face book in the classroom fristly by creating a group for their class for example. The whole class will then be able to interact with each other and post new infromation on their wall.
for example if you were teaching a subject about world war two you can add a hyperlink to your wall on your face book account for the students to access.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1FU6126bk8 (WWII VIDEO)
This is a far better way to teach rather than using books and pens. The teacher could even hyperlink some information she wants the students to access and they could all see it and get on it through the teachers wall on her facebook. You could also add photos and pictures onto facebook, so this could be used in the classroom when the teachers needs to get an image across to the students maybe in Ancient History and get them to analyze the source.
summary: facebook=
- form a group with class
- the teacher has control
- each student can contribute. everyone can do their bit adding hyperlinks ect.
- like having a class in the virtual world so quite children can also contribute.
- the student builds up their own understanding to the topic by having a look at others input.
- its always changing you never have a final product.
facebook is safe and private!!!! which is important…
I agree that facebook has a lot of potential as a new platform of communication between teachers and students however there are other factors to consider. A lot of school block websites such as facebook and myspace. If the site is blocked, then the teacher cannot directly reference it within the classroom. Additionally, only the students with regular access to the internet outside of school would be able to participate in this forum.
ReplyDeleteIf the site was not blocked there are still other issues to consider. Many schools block social networking sites because, as their name indicates, they are primarily for informal social networking. There is the potential that students would not be devoting their attention to the classroom group but instead to the activities of their friends.
One last issue to be addressed is how savvy all parties are at using facebook. It has the potential to be safe but only if all the proper settings and precautions are employed.
Of course, there is a maturity level to consider, and the issue of access to the internet. But public libraries offer internet access for free, and so do the school libraries. Also I wouldn't do this with elementary nor middle schoolers, one must really conscider the class' maturity when doing this. Another alternative would be to use this cite, Blogger. It's a bit less distracting and does the same job. I have previously used it in classes and it, for the most part, has been a success.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, this is just a suggestion, another way to have kids interact with their peers and the teacher outside of class. A sort of virtual Show and Tell.