I, too, use one of the most popular online community in Facebook. Typically, I use this to keep up with family in the United States and to interact with those in the school community where I work. School events, sport team communities, homework questions, and current events are all posted and discussed on Facebook. It is probably the most efficient way to communicate with students as they are constantly checking their Facebook page.
In addition to Facebook, my wife keeps a blog about our experiences in Hungary. Through this blog and others she has established relationship and connection with people from all over the world. It is amazing to meet people who are interested in missions, Hungary or both.
As a math teacher I use the resources provided by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM). NCTM has a user forum and a place to share favorite lesson plans. Texas Instruments also has a resource page where teachers can post lessons that integrate the TI-83, TI-84 or TI-Nspire graphing calculators. Here educators can communicate with one another and share ideas to use in the classroom.
Email, although not as trendy as other forms of communication, is still an efficient way to communicate with others online. This is a key way we communicate with colleagues, parents, supporters, family and friends.
Hi Kevin,
ReplyDeleteLooking at your post on my blog this week you were commenting on Facebook and how it can be kind of tricky in the education field. There are many discussions at my school that focused on whether teachers should be friends with each other on Facebook. Given that our students are elementary and they aren’t old enough to even have a page (although some get around that) it was easily settled that no we shouldn’t. However, you’re in a different area in a sense that the students are much older and likely to use Facebook for what it’s intended for as you mentioned the homework questions, sports communications, etc. This is one of the most popular online communities for this particular age group so I think that is a good idea to use this as a way to reach students.
I think this is a really good way to reach out to the middle ad high school students. This is a familiar technology. However on that same token, not all kids have a computer or even the computer skills. You must still have another way of reaching to to those who do not have the technology capabilities.
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