Learn how to successfully integrate social media into your curriculum through a student-centered, blended learning environment that helps with critical thinking and increased student engagement. This session will demonstrate how student-centered strategies makes the internet and social channels a resource for learning, rather than a distraction.
In order to create a blended and personalized learning environment for students, it is very important to create a culture of digital learning across all classrooms and schools. This means teachers and administrators must work together through effective professional development to understand what blended learning models will work best for their school and students. Students become increasingly adept at social media and technology from an early age, providing great opportunity for them to learn how to leverage these platforms as resources to support their own education. Learn how to fully integrate social media into your curriculum through a student-centered, blended learning environment that combines in-person instruction with online independent learning. In this session, participants will see how students use social media apps, webtools, tablets and iPads to enhance engagement and achievement.
The benefits of social media and web app instruction in the classroom are two-fold. First, students find and discuss educational content that is relevant to them, empowering them to leverage a platform used so frequently in their personal lives into a tool that can support their learning. Second, this model of learning promotes self-management and responsibility when using social media for education. This prepares students for understanding how to appropriately use social media as digital citizens that will benefit them in college and throughout their careers.
Participants will learn how students at Platt High School in Meriden, CT use Twitter to conduct research, connect with their peers, and consult with academic experts from across the country as resources for their projects. For example, Platt High School seniors in a history class used Twitter as a research tool to explore Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in U.S. military veterans. In doing so, they take ownership over their learning by finding articles of interest to them before holding a group discussion. Participants can also learn how creating a hashtag for a current event enables students to hold a Twitter Chat to share insights in real time. For example, tweeting during a presidential debate connects students with their peers, teachers, and even local journalists for a substantive conversation about the candidates.
This session will follow an interactive format in which participants can experience first-hand how teachers can incorporate social media into engaging and thought-provoking lesson plans. First, using the hashtag #FlynnOLC, the audience will participate in a twitter chat to find news articles, research or case studies about the benefits and challenges of social media in the classroom. We will then come together to discuss the different content everyone found and their experiences with social media – either personally, in the classroom, their kids, etc. After that, the session will transition into a demonstration of how I plan lessons and integrate social media into my social studies classes. Audience members will have the opportunity to ask questions throughout the session using the app TodaysMeet, and may continue to tweet shared learnings with #FlynnOLC. Finally, the last 10-15 minutes of the session will be used for an open discussion and Q&A.
This presentation can be for teachers and administrators from the level of novice to expert. It will offer a variety of social media apps and webtools teachers can use to support instruction such as Moodle, Edmodo, Google Apps, Twitter, and many more. The session will demonstrate effective use of learning management systems used by teachers and students across many disciplines to promote anytime, anywhere learning.
These educational models have yielded outstanding results. In the last five years, Platt HS has increased its graduation rate by 7 percent. By creating a student centered learning environment that can help with rigor, critical thinking and increased student engagement, students will see social media as less of a distraction, and more as a resource for learning.
For more information on the research and reporting on blended and student-centered approaches to learning in the classroom, particularly with regard to social media, please visit the following resources:
“Meriden Schools Focus Learning Around the Student.” David Desroches, WNPR. March 23, 2015 http://wnpr.org/post/meriden-schools-focus-learning-around-student#stream/0
“The Connected Classroom: Understanding the Landscape of Technology for Student-Centered Learning.” The Nellie Mae Education Foundation, 2015. http://www.nmefoundation.org/global/featured-research/homepage/the-connected-classroom-understanding-the-landscap
“Connecting a Classroom: Reflections on Using Social Media With My Students.” Brianna Crowley, Education Week. September 9, 2015. http://www.edweek.org/tm/articles/2015/09/09/connecting-a-classroom-reflections-on-using-social.html?r=480601443&preview=1&user_acl=0