Tweet Tweet! Twitter is all the rage in today's society, especially among our youth. Twitter is an online social networking service that enables users to send and read short 140-character messages called "tweets". There are many ways that Twitter can be used effectively in the classroom. Depending on the subject area, teachers can have students translate tweets into different languages, paraphrase a book, poem, or text using 140 characters, convince someone on a topic based purely on tweets for evidence, or create a fake but accurate Twitter profile for a historical or literary figure. The possibilities are endless!
Facebook is an online social networking service where users can create a user profile, add other users as "friends", exchange messages, post status updates and photos, share videos and receive notifications when others update their profiles. There are many ways to effectively use Facebook in a classroom. Teachers can have students follow news feeds relevant to the course material in order to keep current information flowing through the class. Students can post their book reviews for the instructor to grade and other students to read. If it's a peer-reviewed project, then students can more easily access each other's papers online.
Pin it! Pinterest is a web and mobile application company that offers a visual discovery, collection, sharing, and storage tool. Users create and share the collections of visual bookmarks (boards). Pinterest can be a very useful tool in the classroom. First of all, teachers can use Pinterest to organize their lessons and activities. One cool way for students to work with Pinterest is to use it as a group collaboration tool. Each group can create their own board with all the information about their topic and then present it to the class. Other classroom uses of Pinterest include an online bibliography, historical figure presentation, and a project signup board. Using Pinterest in a classroom will excite and engage students, as most of them will be able to relate to Pinterest or social media in general.
web meetings
Web Meetings can be used in a variety of ways in the classroom. One major web meeting is Skype. Skype is a telecommunications application software that specializes in providing video chat and voice calls from computers, tablets and mobile devices via the Internet to other devices or telephones/smartphones. Users can also send instant messages, exchange files and images, send video messages and create conference calls. There are many effective ways to use Skype in the classroom, including practicing a foreign language, talking about the weather, and practicing interviews, just to name a few. Skype can also be used for a student who is unable to make it to class. With Skype, this student can still see what is going on during class and even participate if desired. Google Hangout is similar to Skype and can be used in similar ways in the classroom.
Blogs
Blogs are a great way to keep students engaged in the content being covered. Students can use blogs to respond to readings, practice writing, or maintain a writer's notebook or journal, among many other uses. Blogs can be a great platform for posting homework or requirements for assignments. Other uses of blogs for teachers include sharing instructor-generated exercises or prompts, building a community within the classroom, and creating a public place where student work can be published. There are many blogging sites out there that teachers can choose for their classroom, including Blogger, Weebly, and WordPress.