Google Apps

I will be the first to admit that I had very little experience with Google Apps when I first started this course.  I had used my gmail and searched for things in Google but never knew that Google had all these apps!  My first real introduction to it was while working with the technology integration specialist at my former school district.  I am working with the technology integration specialist and assistant for my in-class experience and they introduced me to Google Presentation and Google Drawings.  I was surprised by how much these apps looked like Microsoft applications that I have on my computer and how easy they are to use.  The kids were picking up the skills quickly and were excited to be working on the computers.  I would love to be able to use these applications to help me with my job; they would be good tools to use for professional development hours.  I am enjoying using these apps with my peers; I never knew about Google Forms and I can definitely see the positive aspects of using it in the classroom.  I can learn so much by creating these surveys, even about my peers (especially about their sense of humor!).

Social Networking

Social networking is everywhere!  It is being used at home, at work, among friends and, most recently, in schools.  There are, of course, a lot of pros and cons to using social media in schools, centered mostly around how the media is used and if it is being used safely.

Teachers can learn a lot about their students by having access to their social media.  Students share everything online with their friends: pictures, sayings, favorites, quotes, interests, etc.  Learning about the interests of the students can help teachers forge a bond with their students and help the students want to learn.  A teacher can also use social media to connect with their students online to remind them of homework assignments, missed work, etc.  My brother-in-law is a high school teacher and he uses Twitter to connect with his students; he posts homework assignments, classwork for students who may have been absent, allows students to ask questions, etc.  The kids can do this all from home.  Allowing students to use Blogger, YouTube or even some aspects of Google allows the students to work together even when they are not together.  Group projects no longer have to be about one student doing all the work or one student doing all the research while another student does all the writing and another finds all the pictures.  Students can be working collaboratively online in school and at home.  So much can be done with online resources that it seems bizarre to fight using this technology in schools.

But so much can go wrong when working online, which brings me to the cons side of using social media.  Precautions have to be made to keep the kids safe while in the online world.  Everything needs to be password protected so that only people who should be looking at the work is looking at it.  Students need to be taught how to safely make a digital footprint.  What students post online, especially in social media, can affect their future in certain fields, especially when it comes to employment opportunities.  Teachers are the people who have been chosen to teach the students how to use the internet safely.  Some school districts aren't even giving the students the chance to use social media in schools; the sites are blocked for teachers and students who are accessing the school's network.  I can understand not wanting the students to be distracted during the school day but if the school can monitor how the students are using the social media then there are less chances of the students becoming distracted.

For me, it's a why fight the fact that the students are going to be using these social medias at school, either on the computer or on their phone?  If you can't beat 'em, join 'em!  Might as well embrace this digital age since more and more medias are going to be introduced.  As long as the students are taught how to be safe then social media should be allowed to be used in school.