I was recently reading a blog posted by Andrew Marcinek in Edutopia about digital citizenship and social media. His analogy from the movie Hoosiers about players needing to first learn fundamentals and defense really struck me. The coach in me has always known this, but with all of social media available to our students I see how important those tools are to our students. You can view Andrew's blog at http://www.edutopia.org/blog/social-digital-media-citizenship
In the past schools, administrators and teachers have been beating students over the head with lessons about the "inappropriate" nature of things on the Internet. Lets face it, we're getting older by the minute and our students are racing ahead into the world of the connectivity lacking the fundamentals they need to be successful and responsible users of digital media.
How do we get started? For those who have your students using http://www.kidblog.org/ you are on the way! Students need to practice those fundamentals in order to get better. Use blogging as a paperless tool that allows students to reflect and respond. Kidblog was recently picked as one of the top 25 sites of 2010 by Tech Learning magazine. I'm reading alot about a http://www.edmodo.com/ , a kid-friendly site allowing students to learn and practice those fundamental social skills.
Here are some opportunities to reflect on our current practices and consider what they NEED to be:
"Should Your School Be Using Social Media" http://tinyurl.com/48wgh4v
"Social Media In Education: The Power of Facebook" http://tinyurl.com/36y6vje
"The Case for Social Media in Schools" http://preview.tinyurl.com/2alpsgr
"Harness the Power of Social Networkingin Your Classroom" http://tinyurl.com/y73gggk
Will YOU be the one to step out into the social network and teach your students to become responsible digital citizens?
