Social Media as a Teaching Tool

Social Media For the Art Teacher

I think that Social Media can be a really great tool.  I sponsor StuCo and our StuCo president turned to Pintrest to find more new ideas for sprit days for our charity fundraisers.  The great thing about Social Media is that one mind can only go so far, two minds are better than one and a million minds is amazing.  That is what makes Pintrest so amazing.  For example, I had a few ideas for how to decorate the class plates for the PTA Auction this year, but with Pintrest I now have 112 new ideas.   Another example on the power of Social Media is an info-graph post I received this summer from Edutopia on Facebook about the role of a principal.  I found the post so true and inspirational that I forwarded it to my own principal.  She loved it and thought I had made the image specifically for her (nope, she is just that good).  She now has that as her desktop on her computer and a daily reminder and inspiration.   We have implemented the T.H.I.N.K. policy for our anti-bullying policy because I received a post on Facebook about it and forwarded to the principal and social worker at my school.   I also love to use YouTube as a teaching and learning tool.  I use it to store and show all of my instructions and also use it as a way to learn new artistic techniques.  

As for Twitter I have very little experience with it but so far I hate it.  I don’t like that it has such a limited character allowance, because this makes people write these nonsensical text speak sentences.  There is no depth to the posts and no further explanations.  I also don’t like that anyone can follow me.  Perhaps there is a setting that I have not found yet, but because of that I feel that my speech is limited.  It is one thing to say things to a group of friends or colleges it is another thing to say it to the world.  Like it or not teaching has become politicized and there are a lot of enemies of educators.  I fear that anything I say will be taken out of context and used against my profession, or myself.  I would not want certain people following me but they easily could setup an anonymous account and start following me.  It seems like a stalkers and trollers dream, and so I really don’t feel safe on Twitter.  I would prefer to follow educational sites and colleagues on Facebook, because I can limit who has access to me.  I will continue to explore Twitter to see if I just need to get used to it and figure out how to make it work for me.

Twitter

Here is an introduction to Twitter if it is something you want to explore.  Twitter is just one of the many social networking tools available to use as an educator. What makes it so powerful is that it is quick, simple and it is world-wide. What this means for you as a busy educator is that you have your own professional development tool available 24/7. Listen to Bill Selak explain why he uses Twitter.

Here are a few great Twitter Feeds for Art Teachers

Twitter Finds

1.Edutopia

@edutopia: 

Inspiration and information for what works in education

2.EdTech K-12 Magazine 

@EdTech_K12

Tech isses facing K-12 IT leaders, admins and educations.  Web Editor: @DFrank Sponsered by CDW-G

3.PBS LearningMedia

@PBSLrnMedia

PBS LearningMediaTM is the go-to destination for instant access to over 87,000 FREE digital Resources for teachers

4.Artsonia

@Artsonia

Artsonia, the world's largest online kids’ art museum, always has something going on! Want to learn and be inspired by the world of student artwork? Follow us!

5.Janine Campbell

@campbellartsoup

MAEA ML Educator of the Year, 2014 @PBSLrnMedia Digital Innovator, hiker, movie and tv enthusiast, trying to finish writing my first YA novel, dances on chairs

6.Tami Rondeau

@RondeauART

I have a more to say about Twitter in other posts too.  See Table of Contents > Not all that Glitters is Gold

Pinterest

Pinterest is online platform that is growing at a staggering pace. It along with the other tools we have been looking at is taking the social media world by storm. Pinterest attracted a huge number of members and within a few months after its launch and is currently in the millions and growing. What makes Pinterest so unique is that is focuses on the visual component which users tend to favor over the textual one. This has not only drawn crafters and the artistic group, but also educators who have been using Pinterest for sharing educational ideas.

Samples:

http://www.pinterest.com/erinklein/pinterest-for-teachers/

http://www.pinterest.com/360edu/360-edu-teacher-tips/

http://www.pinterest.com/nancy1761/teaching-ideas/

Samples:

http://www.pinterest.com/erinklein/pinterest-for-teachers/

http://www.pinterest.com/360edu/360-edu-teacher-tips/

http://www.pinterest.com/nancy1761/teaching-ideas/

Classroom 2.0

Classroom 2.0 was started in March of 2007 by Steve Hargadon as a social network for educators. This once small network now boasts over 80,000 members from over 200 countries. Not only does Classroom 2.0 offer a unique way to share ideas with your peers, but you will even find all kinds of resources to your teacher toolbox.

So head on over to www.classroom20.com and get social.

 Visit Classroom 2.0

Artsonia.com as Social Media

Because I cannot use FB, Twitter or Pintrest with my students I encourage the use of Artsonia as a Social Media tool.  We use it a lot like Instagram and as a training tool for digital citizenship for Social Media.  In fact my Action Research Project was how to teach my student how to use Artsonia as a Social Media tool. The feature of leaving comments about a student’s artwork is a great Social Media tool because it communicates with the parents, can help build relationships between each other and between students and their family members. 

 Below is the abstract for that Action Research.  

“The focus of this action research was to use Artsonia as a training for my students to learn good digital citizenship and to learn the proper way to give positive feedback to their fellow artist. I started off by collecting data from previous years from Artsonia’s records as to how many comments were left on the Artsonia webpage for my school last year. I then collected data from my students to measure their comfort level and interest about art making, social media, Artsonia, and the giving and receiving of complements. My final piece of data was collected from the top two ranking schools for comments in each state seeking those teachers advice and other demographic information from their schools. After reviewing the data I began to build a learning unit on how to use Artsonia as a social media tool for my students.   I decided to use a direct instruction method, followed by a guided practice lesson.   At the end of this unit, the data indicated that over 98% of of my students understood what it meant to be a good digital citizen.  When asked if they were comfortable with the process of leaving comments on Artsonia 97% of my students indicated that they were comfortable with the process. When asked if they would be likely to leave comments on Artsonia outside of our class 59% of my students said they would be likely to do so, and when asked if they would like more time in class to leave comments on Artsonia 53% said that they would like more time in class.”