Tag: social networking

Paper Tweetup- Success!

Kelly Tenkely29 Comments on Paper Tweetup- Success!4711 views

Yesterday, I held a tweetup at a local coffee shop to teach teachers about Twitter using…paper!  The idea was to give teachers, of varying tech levels, a concrete way to learn the ins and outs of Twitter before actually jumping in with the technology.  I wanted teachers to really understand the social nature of Twitter before worrying about the technical aspects.

It was a huge success!  Our biggest problem of the day was the noise of ice being crushed for smoothies, if you have ever run a tech training this is pretty small bananas!

You can read (and watch) about how I planned for this Tweetup here.  As teachers arrived, I handed them a paper Twitter packet.  In the packet they found a half sheet screen shot of a Twitter wall with explanation call outs of important features, a name tag with their @ Twitter name, a password card for their classroom twitter account, an envelope with “DM” printed on the front, a stack of sticky notes with their Twitter handle on it, and a pen.  I created a paper Twitter wall using that huge sticky note chart paper and stuck it to the wall of the coffee shop.  After explaining how paper tweeting would work and giving them a run down of some of the Twitter lingo (wall, follow, DM, hash tag, RT, @ reply), I let them start “tweeting”.  #edchat was going on at the same time.  I knew that these teachers wouldn’t be ready to jump into that conversation online in their first venture out into the Twitter world, so I took the conversation to them in our paper tweeting.  I gave the teachers the same topic and invited them to paper tweet responses.  They wrote out a response and stuck it to one of the paper Twitter walls.  I read the tweets out loud as they came in so that the teachers could write some @ replies.  Everyone seemed to love passing private notes back and forth using the DM envelopes.

It was a fun time of socializing and I think everyone grasped the power of Twitter as a communication tool.  At the end of the session I let them login to their actual Twitter accounts and practice sending a few tweets.  This worked out really well because they already had lists to follow that I created for them and all of their accounts are already following each other.  They had a built-in PLN to work with as soon as they logged on.  This helped a lot!  Today teachers will be taking Twitter into their classrooms and using it with students.

Result of the paper tweetup: success!


Paper Tweeting: Social Media in the Classroom

Kelly Tenkely17 Comments on Paper Tweeting: Social Media in the Classroom4691 views

I’m currently working with an elementary and middle school to roll out a school wide social media campaign.  I have had a lot of questions about this so I thought I would make a video sharing how that decision was made and how we are approaching it.  Yes, I did film this video today…although the calendar says spring, Colorado woke up to SNOW this morning-hence the furry hooded sweater. 🙂

If you don’t have time to watch the video, here are the highlights:

  • This private school decided to roll out a social media campaign to let the local community learn more about the school in hopes of increasing enrollment numbers.  I let the superintendent know that Twitter was not a marketing tool, people won’t follow accounts that are constantly broadcasting information.  That being said, stories are compelling and people will follow accounts that tell a compelling story, and that invite conversation.
  • The most compelling story in a school comes from the students. Letting  students be the voice of the school does a few things: 1. It gives students a place to reflect on their learning. 2. It gives the community and parents an authentic look at what is happening in the classroom.  3. It allows us to model proper use of social media as we use Twitter WITH students. 4. It gives students a sense of pride in their school and a sense of ownership over what they do there.
  • Because this campaign is being rolled out with elementary students, there are some special considerations.  Twitter clearly states in its terms of use that users must be 13 years old or older.  Students don’t have an individual Twitter account; instead, each classroom has an account.  Classes will Tweet using the interactive whiteboard as a class.
  • The administration wanted to make this process as simple as possible for teachers. They asked me to create a Twitter account for every classroom, specialist, and administrator in the building.
  • The administration made this campaign optional for teachers.  This was HUGE, instead of it feeling like one more thing added to the teacher’s already full plates, they got to make the decision to opt in.  Out of 30 elementary teachers 20 are attending our Tweetup tomorrow!
  • The communications manager of the school is running the main School account.  She will be following a list of all of the classrooms tweeting and re-tweet the best of the best.  The main school account will be the “face” of the school on the Internet.
  • The administration is Tweeting as well, they have a unique and different view of the school than the classroom teachers and students do.
  • I created several lists for teachers to follow, there is a list for every discipline and age group as well as a list of other classes and student authors that tweet.
  • I linked every Twitter account with a Facebook Fan page for the classroom.  I turned off all commenting features so that (for now) teachers don’t have to keep track of both platforms.  The Facebook Fan Page will most likely be accessed by parents who do not use Twitter so that they can still receive class updates.

 

Tomorrow I am holding a Tweetup. I BEGGED that this not look like typical tech training.  You know the kind…tired teachers crammed in the computer lab at the end of the day to learn a new tool.  Been there, done that. Unless you are a mega tech geek like me, you just really don’t appreciate those kind of trainings!  I was afraid if we approached this training the way we approach all other trainings, teachers would instantly have to get past that barrier.  Instead, we are meeting at a local coffee shop after school.  I sent out fun invitations and made sure teachers knew that this was a SOCIAL event.  After all, we are talking social media!

Because I know this staff well (I worked with them for 7 years, these are my friends!), I also have the benefit of knowing how comfortable they are with technology.  I suspect that they are pretty typical of school staffs everywhere.  There are some who are very comfortable with new technologies, and some who have trouble filling out a login form on their own.  I didn’t want technology to be a barrier for those who aren’t comfortable with it, so I decided to steal an idea from my friend @mcteach.  She does a paper blogging project with her students where they learn to blog and comment using paper before technology even enters the picture.  I LOVED the idea and thought it could be adapted for my Twitter Tweetup.  I made a video describing my paper tweeting method below.

 

 

Again, if you don’t have time for the video, here are the highlights:

  • I created a paper Twitter wall on chart paper that looks pretty similar to the actual Twitter wall (if I do say so myself).  This will be up on the wall at the coffee shop during our tweetup.  The Twitter wall is blank, ready for teacher tweets to fill it up.
  • I made a name tag for each teacher with their @username.  You know those “hello my name is”?  Yeah, it is that with their twitter handle.  Rule of the day, if you are mentioning someone by name, there must be an @ preceding it 🙂
  • I have a stack of 10 sticky notes for each teacher with their twitter handle and “picture” at the top of the note and “140” at the bottom.  This is where teachers will compose their tweets.  The sticky note messages get stuck to the Twitter wall chart I created.  My hope is that teachers will begin to understand the public nature of Twitter in a concrete way.
  • I have regular envelopes that I have written DM on.  Teachers can use these to deliver DM’s to a friend.  Again, I wanted a concrete way of understanding the difference between a DM (Direct Message) and an @ reply.
  • Since tomorrow is #edchat, I’ll be prompting discussion for our paper tweetup with the #edchat topic tomorrow.  This will give me the opportunity to talk about RT (retweets) and hashtags.
  • In addition to #edchat discussion, I’ll ask teachers to share something that happened in their classrooms today as a tweet, helping them begin thinking about how to use Twitter in their classrooms.
  • I’ll encourage teachers to try a paper tweetup with their students so that they understand Twitter before using the technology.
  • After our paper tweeting session, I’ll let teachers hop on to Twitter and try it out while I am there to answer questions and help with any technical difficulties.  I really don’t want to focus on the tool, but on the connections and conversations that Twitter enables.  Twitter makes it easy to do this because the platform is so simple to use.

 

I think tomorrow will be fun, I’ll be sure to take some pictures and share them! If you missed them the first time around, here is a link to the Twitter posters that I created for the classrooms.

Responsibly: Gift Wine to Fund Education

Kelly Tenkely1 Comment on Responsibly: Gift Wine to Fund Education2265 views

What it is: Responsibly is a new way to gift your friends, released just in time for the holiday season.  Purchase Responsibly wine for your friends and 100% of the purchase price gets donated to a Donor’s Choose project.  Talk about killing two birds with one stone!  It works with 3 easy steps:

1. Go to Facebook and choose which friends you want to gift.

2. Friends are encouraged to pay it forward by gifting their friends.

3. Funds are matched and donated to fund a Donor’s Choose project.

Cool huh?  I love gifts that are further reaching than just the physical gift given.  Not only will you be spreading cheer to your friends, you will be spreading cheer and learning to classrooms and students everywhere.  That is a big deal.

From the about page (because I couldn’t have said it better myself!):

Responsibly is creating a platform for social philanthropy. We have created a mechanism that allows individuals to simultaneously share with friends and give back to society. We at Responsibly believe that doing good and feeling good do not have to be mutually exclusive. By connecting products in which 50% of the price tag funds corporate matched projects validated by Donors Choose, we can proudly say that 100% of whatever you spend at Responsibly.com will go towards helping our children get a step closer to the gaining access to the education they deserve. Coupling this with the social network that Facebook has created, hopefully, you can help inspire others to contribute to this cause.

One of the things that continues to astound me is the way that social networking is being used to change the world.  I see this on a regular basis through Twitter, organizations like Donor’s Choose, TED and the movements that it spurs, and now Responsibly.  Genius I tell you!

What are you waiting for?  Head on over to Responsibly now and start gifting, spreading the word, and making the world a better place.

Side note: I am talking with Responsibly about how they might be involved in helping to make #TwitAcad (scroll down for all posts that mention this)  a reality.  Now we are talking!

Go Animate 4 Schools

Kelly Tenkely4 Comments on Go Animate 4 Schools5208 views

What it is: I am really excited that Go Animate finally has an education version!  Go Animate is a tool I have written about before (actually I wrote about Domo Animate which is powered by Go Animate.) Go Animate 4 Schools offers teachers 100 students accounts for free. It operates within a secured, private environment where students and teachers can create animations and interact.  The moderation interface keeps teachers up-to-date with all of students creations.  The Go Animate Studio makes animation easy, use backgrounds, props, and characters to create an animation masterpiece.  The drag and drop interface is easy enough for all ages.  Students can create their own characters which provides an endless supply of unique characters for each story.  Private Social Networking tools teach students how to use social networks for sharing and commenting in a safe, controlled environment.

The Free Go Animate 4 Schools account includes 1 teacher account, 100 student accounts, 2 min animations for students, teachers have the ability to create characters, unlimited music upload, 6 text-to-voice voices to choose from, students get 50 text-to-voices a month, and unlimited mic recording.

Go Animate 4 Schools also has a Plus account with some additional benefits including unlimited accounts, unlimited time limits for animations, students can create characters, moderation, group management, 16 text-to-voice voices to choose from, up to 200 text-to-voices a month, unlimited image, video, and swf uploads. The School Plus Account starts at $12 a year (not breaking anyone’s budget!) you can request a quote for your school from the Features page.

How to integrate Go Animate 4 Schools into your curriculum: Allow students to present their knowledge creatively using Go Animate 4 Schools instead of requiring the traditional report, diorama, or poster plastered with pictures and information.  Students can create an impressive alternative book report by creating an animated book talk, interviewing a character from the story, or re-creating an important scene in the story.  Students can display their knowledge about a historical figure by “interviewing” the historical person of interest or an eye-witness of a historical event.  Students can write a screen play and then transform them into animations. Animations are also a great way to illustrate vocabulary words and story problems in math.  In the foreign language classroom, students can create short cartoons practicing the new vocabulary they are learning.   The possibilities are endless!  Hold a Go Animate premier party day in your classroom so that students can watch each other’s finished animations and learn from their peers.

Don’t forget that you (the teacher) can use Go Animate too!  Animate introductions to lessons, special notes to your students, or complex concepts.  If you are like me, this is the time of year that inevitably comes with a cold and a day without a voice. Use Go Animate characters to do that talking/teaching for you.  Students will love the change of pace and it will save you from an even sorer throat.

Tips: Be sure to check out the Lesson Gallery for some great ideas for using Go Animate with your students.

Please leave a comment and share how you are using Go Animate 4 Schools  in  your classroom!

Dweeber

Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment on Dweeber2330 views

 

What it is: Dweeber is a social networking site for students that encourages kids to get their homework done faster and with more understanding by working with their school friends online.  Dweeber was created to help students understand their strengths and talents, and help them work together more effectively with parents, mentors, and each other.  The goal is to get students working together to help them learn, study and do research.  Working together collaboratively this way is an important 21st century skill that we should be fostering in our classrooms.  Students can invite each other to study sessions where they can work in a collaborative whiteboard type space, chat with fellow students, post successes, and send friends thank you cards for helping out.  Students can learn about their unique learning style and will receive tips for working more effectively (SMART profile) these profiles can be shared among friends.  Students can also earn ‘guru’ points by sharing and voting on favorite websites, helping others get homework done, and pointing out successes of other students.

 

How to integrate Dweeber into the classroom:   I really like the idea behind Dweeber.  This site helps students to understand their own learning, and support fellow students in their learning.  I love the way in encourages students to work collaboratively outside the classroom and celebrate each other’s successes.  This site is easy to use and will make homework less painful.  It has the added bonus of preparing students for the real world where they won’t always be able to work with others face to face.  Encourage the use of this site in your classroom.  Using a site like Dweeber will build a community of learners in your classroom.  Students will support each other in learning and each will be able to shine in their areas of expertise.  Statistically, homework doesn’t generally increase learning.  Often it is a mindless practice that is easy for those who get it and painful for those who don’t.  Those who understood the concept probably didn’t need hours of extra practice and those who didn’t get it just practiced the wrong way for hours.  Why not allow students to collaborate and truly learn the material?  This is a great way to keep learning and discussions going outside of the classroom. 

 

Tips:  Dweeber is designed for students ages 13 to 18.  Students must be at least 13 according to the Dweeber terms of use to sign up for the service.

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Dweeber in your classroom.

iKnow Social Learning

Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment on iKnow Social Learning2639 views

 

What it is:   Wow, I just spent two hours playing on and reviewing this site and could have spent the rest of my day here!  iKnow Social Learning is a social networking study tool created by Cerego in Japan.  The site brings social networking to studying and learning in a really inventive way.  Students (or you) sign up and are asked what languages you know, and what languages you want to learn.  Then you are led through a short questionnaire about your interests.  Study recommendations are made based on the questionnaire.  Courses are available to enroll in (all free) to help you study and learn.  The courses are created by Cerego and its partners or by other users.  After logging in and filling out the introductory information, you are taken to a personal homepage.  The homepage shows courses that you are enrolled in, your profile, friends, progress, a message center, and any items created by you.  Courses are personalized language learning tools.  Courses are geared for learning English and Japanese with more languages coming soon.   Current English courses created by Cerego include vocabulary development, and SAT study prep.  Courses created by users include everything from introduction to binary to the first presidential debate speech.  There are three modes of study options for each course.  The iKnow study section says the word aloud, gives the definition, and part of speech (if applicable to the course) and then uses the word in a sentence, and gives students the opportunity to practice spelling the word.  After the study session, students are quizzed on the vocabulary.  The next study section is called Dictation.  In this section a sentence using the vocabulary is said aloud, students type the sentence (using correct spelling) as it is said.  This is great for memorization, spelling, and those typing skills.  The last study section is called Flash Study and provides students with a beat the clock type game to improve speed and accuracy.  The current provided courses are appropriate for intermediate English language learners, and high school and college students.  However, iKnow allows for users to create courses (called lists).  With the ability to create lists, the iKnow study site could be used as early as second or third grade and up.   As a teacher, you can create lists for your students to study based on your curriculum.  The lists are very simple to create and you can attach sound, video, and images from Flickr Creative Commons (integrated) or upload your own images.   Students have access to all courses they have enrolled in, an online journal, and their study results.  Each course shows who created the course or list, the level of study, the number of items to learn in the course, the recommended length of study, and the privacy setting on the course.  After a student enrolls in the course, their progress is tracked to provide students with exactly the practice they need.  iKnow has the capability of connecting and integrating with other social networking platforms like Twitter, Skype, Delicious and Facebook (and a substantial list of others!)  The high school, college, and professional age group will appreciate the integration capabilities.  As you can tell by the length of this post, I am extraordinarily impressed with this site and the study options it opens up for students (and teachers!).  

 

How to integrate iKnow Social Learning into the classroom:  iKnow Social Learning is the best study tool I have seen in a while!  I love the way that it encourages students to study together, challenge each other, and create solid study habits.  iKnow Social Learning is an amazing way to learn and taps into multiple learning styles with each study session.  Auditory, visual, and kinesthetic learners will all benefit from this site!  Because teachers can create lists (courses) of study, you can create interactive study guides for your students based on your curriculum.  The current courses on iKnow Social Learning are too difficult for the elementary and middle school crowd.  I created a list of my own for third grade vocabulary, it was simple to put together and students would benefit from the properly leveled guide.  Younger students may not use the social aspect of the site as much, but the study options would be perfect for creating and setting up on a classroom computer,  as a center or to use with students in a computer lab setting, or even just to suggest for home use.  The layout of the study sessions makes it ideal for vocabulary words, math vocabulary (or expanded notation), history facts, spelling practice, learning a foreign language, and science vocabulary.  I think that iKnow Social Learning would also be a great place for PLN (professional learning networks) to challenge each other, collaborate, and learn.  Personally, I think with this setup I could know Italian by Christmas 🙂  This is a really incredible tool, I can’t say enough about it!

 

Tips:   Right now the language options for iKnow are English and Japanese but Cerego has just opened up development for 188 additional languages, many more language options will be available shortly.  Sign up for an account today (you can even sign in with your Google or Yahoo account) to check out my course called 3rd Grade Vocabulary.  You can also add me as a friend: ktenkely.  My warning to you, this is addictive learning!

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using iKnow Social Learning in your classroom.

iCue

Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment on iCue1712 views


What it is: iCue is NBC’s newest venture into the realm of education. The sites aim is to create a collaborative 2.0 learning community that “incorporates gaming, discussion, and video resources in a safe, student-friendly online environment.” This is an excellent resource for getting your students interested in the world they live in through relevant news, videos, and a place to discuss them. The iCue video player is very robust and has the ability to take notes, leave comments, and create links for the video. The “Cue cards” can be saved in a student area for future reference. This site is a truly inventive way to teach with current events!

How to integrate iCue into the classroom: iCue is a great way to keep your students interested and engaged with current events. The site will be excellent to use on a daily basis during this election year. Students can watch videos, start discussions and debates based on current events. This site has great potential for really making students use critical thinking and higher order thinking skills. The related games are entertaining and will help reinforce what students are learning.

Tips: This site will eat up bandwidth. Make sure that your network can handle it before assigning the whole class to be on iCue at once! Learn more about what NBC is offering for the classroom at www.hotchalk.com.

Please leave a comment and share how you are using iCue in your classroom.

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Diigo

Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment on Diigo2274 views

What it is: Diigo is a site I learned about from David Warlick’s 2Cents blog. Essentially Diigo is a social bookmarking site like Delicious or Digg but it has some features that are great for educational uses! Diigo lets students and teachers actually highlight, sticky note, and share the web. You can access and search your findings from any computer or phone. This is an outstanding research tool for students and allows for collaboration on any website they may be using.

How to integrate Diigo into your curriculum: Do your students work on group research projects? If so introducing them to Diigo could be a great time saver and collaborative tool for them. Students can highlight important facts on the website and leave virtual sticky notes for each other about points of interest. Teachers, you can use Diigo to create a field trip around the Internet for your students. Just set up bookmarks on any subject you are studying and highlight pertinent information and leave sticky notes about tasks that should be completed on each website. Cool! You could also use Diigo personally as a way to share sites with family, friends, and colleagues.

Tips: Diigo is free to try so set up an account and take it for a test drive today!

Please leave a comment and share how you are using Diigo in your classroom.

Qlubb

Kelly Tenkely4 Comments on Qlubb14714 views

What it is: Qlubb will change the way you communicate and interact with parents and families. Qlubb includes features perfect for the classroom such as: event calendaring, sign-up sheets, to-do lists, automatic event and task reminders, photo sharing, member rosters, and bulletin boards. Everything on Qlubb is intuitive and extremely simple. Parents and teachers will have no problem jumping in and using Qlubb to enhance home/school communication. This is social networking at its finest for schools!

How to integrate Qlubb into your curriculum: Start off the 2008/2009 year off right by creating a Qlubb network for your classroom. There is plenty of time for you to try it out before then, I have to say that it is truly so intuitive that you won’t need that much time to get it up and going. Use Qlubb as a place to post class pictures, class information, daily homework, and as a place where parents can sign up to help in the classroom or for field trips. This is a great solution for parent/school communication. Qlubb would also be great for after school clubs or sports organization.

Tips: Sign up today and familiarize yourself with Qlubb…you and your parents are going to love it!

Please leave a comment and share how you are using Qlubb in your classroom.

Twitter 2

Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment on Twitter 22240 views

Watch the Viddler video below about Twitter. www.twitter.com is a social networker/micro-blogger that allows you to keep people updated on what you are up to on a daily basis. Think it doesn’t have a place in education? Think again! I think it would enhance home-school communication greatly. Take a look! You are 140 characters closer to better communication with parents…