It’s no surprise that teachers are O V E R W H E L M E D with the amount of social media resources and “techie” tools for the classroom. Today’s teacher can subscribe to countless blogs, vlogs, podcasts, e-newsletters, tweets, facebook pages, RSS feeds, and the like. My last blog talked about a paradigm shift that we are experiencing. The student sitting in a classroom today is not like a student sitting in a classroom 10 years ago. Rather than going to the library to find paper copies of resources needed for a class, students are turning to smartphones, ipads, laptops, itunes, blogs, and other collaborative social media related sites. The teacher has not been asked, but required to morph into a techie-like guru to satisfy this demand among students. The problem is…..where is all the BEST information? Quantity is NOT the problem. Just Google”teacher resources” and in 0.09 seconds, you will have 53,400,000 results, roughly.
Throughout the next few weeks, I will cover QUALITY social media and technology tools teachers can use in their course. Best of all, all of these resources are free.
First, check out the ALA Best Websites for Teaching and Learning by clicking this link: http://bit.ly/5rZcKI
Second, follow me on Twitter @LisaHoule. I give daily updates on the best social media and technology tools instructors can use.
Third, remember to start small. You do not have to incorporate everything….trust me, your students don’t want you to do that! What students want are consistency, assistance from the instructor, application, and interaction. Meaning, keep it simple, offer me help, make it apply to my world, and make it F U N!
Check back next week where I highlight a creative way to use blogging in your class that your students will LOVE!
