Dealing with twitter, Facebook, and Instagram (or other social media sites) is a reality in the classroom. What are strategies that you could employ to help teach safe and appropriate use of these sites?
There are many resources on the web to assist teachers and parents when teaching internet safety (see below). I think a lot of teachers feel the need to start from scratch or to create strategies on their own. Professional Learning Communities are great because they are a safe place to share ideas and strategies. Of course, the Internet serves as a sort of PLC where we can share strategies with other teachers all over the world or right in our own neighbourhoods.
One of the strategies I learned a lot about in a past course is gamification. There are many ways to achieve this. There are a lot of sites online that have pre-made games that teachers can use (i.e., Brain Pop). In one of my placements in teachers college, the teacher used a software that was provided by the board for Health. The students played games, created Public Service Announcements, took quizzes, watched videos, etc. Unfortunately, I can't remember the name of it right now, but if I do, I'll update this post.
Although, the software I'm referring to is not specifically linked to safe use of social media, the strategy of gamification can be. Teachers can model appropriate behaviour by using these sites in class. Students can assist in the creation and maintenance of class websites. Teachers can create scavenger hunts where students must navigate these popular sites and ultimately get more comfortable using them. Avoiding social media altogether is absolutely not the answer. By having students get familiar with these sites in a supervised environment, they are able to get comfortable with things like privacy settings and appropriate content.
With all of that being said, abuse of social media is evident by our students. The issue of cyber bullying has increased because of how easy it is to target someone without having to face the person. By modeling and teaching students about appropriate use of these sites, it is our goal to reduce the occurrence of cyber bullying.
Some interesting links:
Check out http://www.everfi.com/digital-education. They have coordinated with the NHL to sponsor a 'gamified' environment for students to work through a three hour course about digital literacy and social media responsibility! Its a step in the right direction!
ReplyDeleteThanks Nicole! I finally had a few minutes to take a look at this. It looks pretty cool. I see it has a "badging" system which is cool. We did something similar in tech at teachers college last year but we were the guinea pig year and I don't think it had its intended impact. There was just way too much going on. There is something to be said for simplicity at times. But I will certainly be bookmarking this site for future reference. Thanks again!
DeleteThanks for the links! Brainpop has been around for a while and seems to have some staying power with students. They do seem to 'relax' a little when an animated character starts talking Digital Citizenship with them. I always like resources that have a positive message as opposed to "Do Nots!" rules! Sounds like you do too.
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