The second session I attended while participating in Hacked Education 2013 was about Social Media in Education. We talked about all the pros and cons of using social media in the classroom and in Education in general. The one thing that stuck in my mind was that many educators are eager to give social media a try, but cannot because many school districts have blocked the use of this communication platform.
This video is the RAW mostly unedited recording of that session. Please bear in mind that I was talking and trying to record at the same time, so forgive my wandering hands as they moved across the room while shooting this video.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0HRK_ndDLo[/youtube]
Another interesting tidbit of information gathered from this session. The fact that some educators have found ways to circumvent the very system trying to stop them from using social media. The way I see it, we all live in an interconnected society. It is incumbent upon us to teach our learners how to use social media in a responsible manner. The use of filters, firewalls and other hardware mechanisms is counterproductive in my opinion.
In the words of Kevin Honeycutt “If we cannot teach our kids Netiquette in the classroom where is it happening”. This brings me to the point of our kids growing with technology and not knowing how to use social media in a responsible manner. There is lots of talk about Digital Natives today, but the reality is our children are not born knowing how to use technology or social media. What they do or say online is a direct reflection of modeled behaviors they have seen in adults. I am interested in reading your thoughts and comments about this topic so feel free to add them below.
image via Flickr Rosaura Ochoa