Read this thought-provoking post, Why Social Media Tools Have a Place in the Classroom, over at the GigaOM blog. Writer Ryan Kim goes into considerable detail describing reactions to a recent New York Times article, Speaking Up in Class, Silently, Using Social Media. Kim’s blog post then goes on to offer some compelling reasons why teachers (and probably parents, too) should examine social media more thoughtfully before rushing to judgement.
Tag: Social media
Kids, Tech, Social Media, and Grandparents!
Great article in the Wall Street Journal about kids and grandparents and the ways they are communicating with one another. In her May 9, 2001 article, OMG! My Grandparents R My BFF!, reporter Molly Baker takes readers on a “magical mystery tour” highlighting the ways generations are interacting (and sometimes leaving out the generation in the middle).
Last August I wrote about this digital family experience in a post, Yes! Grandma is on Facebook, on my other blog, As Our Parents Age. Below is an excerpt of a post about my daughter and her grandmother.
Join Facebook? For three years I avoided the site. I knew that some of my friends from work, church, and other activities were joining, but I just did not feel like it was a fit. My daughter, then in graduate school, used the social networking site, and she occasionally suggested I get started with Facebook. Still I refrained.
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Social Media, bin Laden and Student Reactions
Are you looking for an interesting overview of the surreal celebrations on Sunday night, May 1, 2011 after the announcement about the death of Osama bin Laden? Check out this post on the MacArthur Foundation’s Spotlight on Digital Media and Learning blog.
The Rise of Social Media and the Death of Osama bin Laden: Students Debate the Meaning of it All includes quotes, links to various media coverage, social media communication and helpful resources that shed some light on the spontaneous and unusually celebratory events that occurred around the United States.
A link to the NPR story on the celebrations takes readers to one of the most interesting comments, for me anyway. Part of one comment is below.
Mr. ADAM EVAN ANGLE (Student, Boston University): So I grew up under the specter of Osama bin Laden as the boogeyman. He was our Lord Vuldemort, if you will, like in Harry Potter, you know. He was pretty much the face of evil.
As a teacher and parent who lived through years with the Harry Potter phenomenon, I can completely understand this comment.
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Quiz: How Much do You Know About Social Media?
To get a sense of how much you really know about the social networking world and the movers and shakers who are actively developing and tweaking it, take a social media quiz. The Big Social Media Quiz over at the Liberate Media website.
A user needs 70% to pass this quiz, and though I know all sorts of minutia about social media, I only answered 50% of the questions correctly. Sigh!
Liberate Media is a PR firm with social media expertise.
Scary Headlines? Main Media Outlets Need Media Literacy Training!
Who writes these headlines? On it’s HealthyChildren.org site, The American Academy of Pediatrics comes out with a balanced, well-written, and thoughtful social media guide for physicians — one that encourages pediatricians to focus on wellness by paying attention to the media and social media activities of their patients, and this is the headline (at Time)?
“Facebook depression” is a small part of the policy statement, but the benefits and the learning opportunities offered by social media are a larger part. Rather than focusing on the positives and on the recommendations for moderation, the media is shouting out the negatives. My fifth grade media literacy students can run circles around these headline writers.
A recent US News and World Report article features a headline that is balanced and far more sensible.
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Pediatricians, Parents, and Digital Kids, Part I
This morning I was thrilled to read the newest American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) policy focusing on social media and children. The Impact of Social Media on Children, Adolescents and Families, written by a group of pediatricians and led by Gwenn Schurgin O’Keeffe (also the author of CyberSafe: Protecting and Empowering Digital Kids in the World of Texting, Gaming and Social Media), provides a set of social media guidelines for physicians to use with teen and tween patients as well as with parents. Published in March 28, 2011 edition of the journal Pediatrics, the social media statement describes the benefits and risks of the digital world, avoids judgmental comments, and suggests strategies that can make is safer for children.
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5 Ways Parents Can Get a Grip on Social Media
Wringing your hands over social media? Don’t.
Instead, use your energy to learn as much as you can. A parent’s goal is to develop enough knowledge to provide guidance and supervision based on significant family values, even as these media continue to evolve. Continued learning is always required if one aims to help children avoid potential pitfalls.
Thinking that social media will eventually disappear wastes time and energy.
Five Tips to Help You Get Going
1. Ask your child on a regular basis — and definitely without belittling yourself — to help you learn a new technology skill. Start with some of the easier web 2.0 interactive sites such as Wordle to make cool word designs or Diigo to save your bookmarks in a place accessible from anywhere. Keep learning.
2. Accept that social networking is not a fad and that life is not the way it used to be when you were young. Any doubt? Watch this video on the social media revolution.
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Media! Tech! Parenting! 
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