Educators Click with Social Networking
By Tanya Roscorla
on July 2, 2009
For example, subscribe to news feeds from three or four educational blogs, the local newspaper or a big national paper, your alma mater university, a weather site and a blog about your hobbies that you find on the blog search engine
Technorati.
Often people don't give themselves permission to avoid their reader, he said. If they find 30 posts in their reader, they feel like they have to read all of them and become overwhelmed.
"Read what you can and ignore the rest," McLeod said. "If it's important, it'll come around again."
Collaborative education communities
- Classroom 2.0: If you're really a newbie to technology, this social network, which focuses on Web 2.0 and collaborative technologies in education, is the easiest and friendliest entry point, Alice Mercer said.
- EdTechTalk: A community of educators who discuss educational technology. Alice Mercer webcasts live shows each week along with other members of the community.
- ednak: Online educators can share ideas and insights on this networking site. Michelle Everson uses ednak to post questions and said that a new mentoring program through the site will help online colleagues develop professionally. The site is also a good way to discuss ideas with others, said Linda Kaiser, who teaches online for Treasure Valley Community College in Ontario, Ore. She was having trouble getting her students to interact on discussion boards, so she started a conversation about her problem on ednak and learned what other teachers were doing to address the issue.
- Social Networks in Education: A Wiki space that lists social networks used in educational environments or for educational purposes. The list includes groups on Facebook, LinkedIn, Ning and many other sites.
- Moving Forward: Scott McLeod administers this Wiki space, which includes resources on blogs, Wikis, podcasts, digital storytelling, tech integration, professional development and other topics. Alice Mercer recommends that educators check out the blog list to find education blogs that are worth reading.
Facebook
If Michelle Everson wants to try something new, but isn't sure how it would work, she asks other educators on Facebook to give her feedback.
The social network is one of Debi Ash's greatest tools. She belongs to education groups on the site, connects with other people at different colleges and talks to her online friends about issues she's facing in her classes.
List serves
The most powerful tool for online faculty member Brian Steinberg is list serves. They might be old, but they're effective, and they've improved over the years with tools such as Yahoo! Groups.
Over on Google groups, Michelle Everson started a list serve called Statistics Instructors Lost in Cyberspace last year to connect with online educators who taught in the same field. She recommends that educators network with others who teach the same discipline as well as those who don't.
Blogs
We've already mentioned a number of blogs and tips in this article, so you can use those as a jumping point into the blogosphere. Most pages include a list of other blogs on related topics that the authors like, which is useful when you're looking for variety.
