Education Technology

Twitter is a great resource for education. Educators can learn, share, collaborate, find help and have some great discussions. It is my go-to source when looking for help, advice, tips, tools, and resources for education.

A hash tag is a way of sorting and searching Tweets based on topic. There are tons of great educational hash tags, including #edchat, #edtech, #scichat, and more. Many of these hash tags relate to a scheduled conversation, such as #edchat being every Tuesday at 12 noon and 7pm ET, and are also used as a way to find educational resources.

William Chamberlain, author of "At the Teacher's Desk" blog, has posted that he has created a new educational hash tag, #EdStuff: "I have created the #EdStuff tag for people that want to post ed stuff, but don't want to tag it with the the chat based tags such as #edchat or #fifthchat. Feel free to use it as you will, for it is good for all ed stuff!"

This is another great way to use Twitter to find, share, collaborate, and learn.



Related:

Twitter for Education - great resource and some hashtags
Twitter, Facebook, RSS feeds, Email, Google+ - why/when I use each one 

Social Media in Education - connect, share, learn, communicate and more

Social Media is a great way to connect, share, learn and communicate with other educators and with students and parents. Teachers can hold online study sessions, discussions, post assignments and resources, and communicate with students and parents about class issues and information. Schools can use social media to connect with parents and the community and communicate with staff and students.


Facebook is one social network that schools and teachers use with their students, when it isn't blocked by the school filtering software! Our school district has a Facebook page, but blocks Facebook on the school network.

There are a lot of great ways to use Facebook in the classroom and here are 100 Ways Teachers Can Use Facebook in the Classroom. There are some great ideas here.




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Social Media in Education - connect, share, learn, communicate and more

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Google Groups - connect, share, communicate, discuss - great for education

Which Social Network should you use? Infographic on which to use when

Twitter - A great resource for Education

Google+ - more reasons it's great for educators

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Yesterday I wrote about So.cl, Microsoft's new social network that they launched with very little fanfare. I was unable to login or create an account because it put me on a waiting list. I received my email invite this morning and am now on it and using it.

Something interesting happened yesterday though that annoyed me. I went to share my blog article about So.cl onto Facebook. I've done this a million times with articles and it always posts the link to my site. When I shared this article, So.cl took over and posted a direct link to their site. This has never happened before and I was not happy about it. So far, a big negative against So.cl. The other thing I don't like is that it automatically is using my Facebook profile picture here.

As you login using a Facebook or Windows Live account, you are given the following message:

So.cl is an experiment in open search. That means your searches on So.cl are viewable by other So.cl users and will also be available to third parties.

So.cl does not automatically post your searches, comments, or likes to your Facebook stream unless you choose this option. Also, we don’t contact your Facebook friends unless you invite them.

In other words, if you are on So.cl and doing an internet search, be careful what you search for as all other So.cl users will see it, along with "third parties" whomever that is.



Once you sign in, So.cl suggests some things to you. First, it shows you some topics you can follow that you are interested in, like music, travel, food, etc., then shows some of the popular people on So.cl to follow (none loaded on my screen), and then asks you to invite your Facebook friends to join So.cl.


I skipped this part and went right to the main page. Here you can explore topics, look at your feed (everyone, following, conversations, your own posts), post something, join a video party and check your profile. According to the main page, I have 10 invitations to use for people to join. If you are interested in one, let me know in the comments below.



The layout is nice and uncluttered, which is the biggest thing I hate about Facebook - the page is cluttered with "noise". Most of the posts were actually just "so and so searched for" or "so and so joined this video party". There weren't a lot of comment posts or "this is what I'm doing" posts.

The next thing I tried out was the "Explore" feature. I clicked on "Science" and it takes you to feed page that lists posts and searches about science. It also gives you a suggestion for the most popular ones and allows you to "follow" this topic. It was interesting and a different way to find some new resources and information. According to the site, there are 5569 users following "Science".





It seems the difference between So.cl and other social networks is that it is all about sharing internet searches and exploring topics of interest. It's interesting and worth a look, but I'm not sure how it will do competing against well established networks like Facebook, Twitter, and Google+. In addition, there are tons of educational systems, like Edmodo and others that allow teachers and students to set up private networks.

It's new and has some interesting features to check out.

If you are interested in another social network, check out So.cl here: http://www.so.cl




Related:
Social Media in Education - connect, share, learn, communicate and more

Twitter, Google Plus, Facebook - a nice comparison

Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and now So.cl. Microsoft has quietly launched a new social network, So.cl, pronounced "social" that was originally an academic resource for students. It is now available to everyone through either a Facebook or Windows Live account. With So.cl, you can aggregate multimedia content into one post to share with others. You can re-share and comment on posts, and there is also a video chat feature.



I'm curious to see how this does considering Twitter and Facebook seem to rule the social networking space, with Google+ doing good, but not great yet.

I wanted to try it out myself, but after trying to sign in with Facebook, I got a message saying that I am on a waiting list. We'll see if So.cl survives or not soon.

It could be useful as another way to connect and share with others without all of the "noise" the more popular networks have.

Microsoft So.cl  http://www.so.cl/



Related:

Social Media in Education - connect, share, learn, communicate and moreWhich Social Network should you use? Infographic on which to use when

Google Groups has been around for a while, but sometimes gets overshadowed by things like Twitter, Facebook, Edmodo, and other social/learning networks. Google Groups is free, very easy to use and a great way to connect with people, access information and communicate. Teachers can set up a group for each of their classes, schools can have a whole school group, student groups, parents, faculty, and even groups by department.


You can create a group just by picking a name for it and inviting members. That's it. Share information, have discussions, share files, and much more. Groups can be made private so only members can see. A teacher could set up a group for their class and share files, links, and information and have the class hold discussions on the group site. Discussions can be held online or through email - your choice.

Another nice feature is the ability to get a digest email of activity on a group. It makes it easy to keep up with what's going on in multiple groups.

You can also search and browse for information in public groups.



I've used it with classes and I belong to a few groups, including the DEN LC, Blogger Users, CR-48 Chromebook users, and the Google for Educators groups.

Google Groups is a great, easy way to participate in an online group, or create your own.

Get started using Google Groups here: http://groups.google.com/googlegroups/overview.html



Related:

Google Resources for Education - apps, tips, lessons, help, and much more.

Twitter, Facebook, RSS feeds, Email, Google+ - why/when use each one

Twiducate - free social networking for schools

Social Media in Education - connect, share, learn, communicate and more

5 Great course management resources for educators

Powerful Learning Practice is a site that provides professional development and resources for teachers to implement new technologies and pedagogy to create "21st Century Classrooms." There are some good resources on the site.

They have an article entitled "A Day in the Life of a Connected Educator – Using social media in 21st century classrooms" that looks at how teachers use social media and other Web 2.0 tools to improve teaching and learning.

The infographic is interesting and has ideas for using social media in the classroom. It follows a teacher through her day as she uses social media sites and Web 2.0 resources throughout her day as an educator. Teachers can get some great ideas from this for their own use.

It can be found at their site:
http://plpnetwork.com/2012/05/07/a-day-in-the-life-of-a-connected-educator-using-social-media-throughout-your-day/



Related:

Social Media in Education - connect, share, learn, communicate and more
Twitter, Google Plus, and Facebook - a nice comparison
Which Social Network should you use? Infographic on which to use when.

edWeb is a social network for educators. It's free to join, and allows educators to connect with other educators and create a professional learning community. There are resources, tips, forums, lesson ideas, research and much more available. It's another great resource to add to your network.

The Many Forms of Socializing Online is a nice graphic that has different social networks organized by type/functions, such as photo-sharing, blogging, music, documents, videos, etc.

It was originally posted on Visual.ly (a site for creating and finding great infographics) over a year ago at http://visual.ly/many-forms-socializing-online.

It is missing Google+, but is still a great resource for educators and students looking to find new ways to socialize, learn, share, and connect online.



Lots more resources on Social Networking in Education:

Which Social Network should you use? Infographic on which to use when.

Social Networks are a great resource for businesses, keeping in touch with friends, and education. Social Networks help educators and students learn, stay in contact, connect, share and more. But which Social Network is best for what?

Twitter, Facebook, Google Plus, the many systems made for education (Twiducate, Edmodo, etc). Which do you use? Many schools and teachers like to use systems like Edmodo and Twiducate because they can keep things private and see who is accessing the information. Many schools use Google+ and set up Circles to keep things private and organized. Others just use Twitter and Facebook. It all depends on your needs, policies, and what you are trying to do with the system.

Here are some articles on different social networks and what they are useful for, as well as some course management systems that include social networking features. Below them, there is a great infographic from business consultant network Zintro on social networks and when they are best used for what purpose.

Related:

Twitter, Google Plus, and Facebook - a nice comparison

Social Media in Education - connect, share, learn, communicate and more

Twiducate is a social network platform for education. It is free and easy to use. It allows you to do the same things you could do with other social networks, like Twitter, Facebook, and Google Plus, but in a safe and secure setting.

Teachers can use Twiducate to connect with other teachers and students, share ideas, resources, and ideas, hold discussions, and much more. You can even embed images, videos, documents and links to share. It is also available for mobile. Teachers can create an online classroom using it as a course management system. You can also use it to communicate with parents.


It's a great way to be able to connect with your students and other teachers in a secure, private setting.

Here's an infographic about Twiducate:




Related:

Twitter, Google Plus, and Facebook - a nice comparison

Social Media in Education - connect, share, learn, communicate and more
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