How Teens Are Really Using Social Media By Katie Lepi

A lot of kids are using social media these days, and even if that isn’t surprising to you, it may be surprising to you just how many of them are using it and just how much. Leveraging these popular social media tools in the classroom is a no-brainer: everything from Twitter and Facebook all the way to Instagram have found their way into lesson plans across the globe. Whether you’re using all of the social media sites, some of them, or none of them at all, chances are that your students are using them. 

The handy infographic below takes a look at the social media use of teens and tweens: What platforms are they using and how much? What is appropriate for them? How can you monitor their use and ensure their safety? Keep reading to learn more

Teens and Social Media

• 95% of teens (12-17) use the internet
• 81% use social media (compared with 72% of internet users overall)
• 50% log into social media more than once per day
• 21% of kids under 13 use social media sites
• 26% of kids under 13 have a YouTube account
• In a survey of girls aged 6-12 33% said they were saving their money to buy new technology
• 20% said they were saving for a smartphone
• 48% said that they have a cellphone
• 51% of those said that they have a smartphone
• The majority of teens are using laptops (35%) and tablets (32%) to access their favorite websites
• YouTube is the most popular site, with 45% of teens saying they access it most often
• In a survey of kids 8-12, 35% said that Facebook was a site that they didn’t use but was more for parents, while 38% said they use and enjoy Facebook
• Only 8% of these kids reported using Twitter
• 23% of tween girls reported Instagram as their favorite app
• Snapchat prohibits users under 13, but since they don’t ask for age at sign up, it is unlikely that this is actually monitored
• Kids can suffer increased narcissism and cyberbullying through increased social media use
• However, it can also help them connect with others, share photos, exchange ideas, and get more involved with their community
• Be aware of privacy settings, parental controls, and have an open conversation with kids about what is appropriate on social media to help keep them safe!

Poster example done by one of our students Max Andrews

Why Google Apps for Education? – Google Classroom!

TEACHING AND LEARNINGTECH October 8, 2014 - No comments

    

 

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I wrote a post back in the summer about my early impressions of Google Classroom. At the time I was really impressed with what was on offer.

I have been using it now for a couple of months and I have to say that I am even more clear on its excellent use in schools.

I engaged in a discussion on Twitter recently about Google vs Microsoft as a suite of content creation apps. I place myself firmly in the Google camp for this and I will endeavour to explain why.

Google Apps for Education is a fantastic way of equipping students with email, storage, content creation and sharing utilities all in one neat place. With Google Classroom it really is a complete set of tools to enable todays students to access and engage in 21st century learning.

I have been using Google drive since I got my iPad, as a suite of apps on the iPad it provided me with a really simple solution to edit documents on the go and create collaborative documents with both other staff and students to support teaching and learning and track progress. At the time though I was using Edmodo as a method of sharing the information and tracking submission of work.

Google Classroom now gives me the complete package. It supports a simple workflow on the iPad when doing work with the students. Where I now train other staff on technology in the classroom it is the first suggestion I make.

A workflow for teaching and learning would look as simple as this;

Set the work in Classroom
Students complete the tasks using whatever method they feel is best to meet the task (unless it is directed to be done in a certain way)
Students upload their final piece of work to Google Drive (this can be video, photo, document etc)
With the new extensions features in iOS8 this is now seamless.
They then go into Classroom and submit their work.

From the teachers point of view now they can see the students completed work, mark it, give feedback in Google Classroom and return it to the student. (all revisions of the work can be noted in the submissions area)

Once the work has been returned to the student they can then edit and make corrections and they have the option to resubmit.

The benefit of this process is that it completes a timeline of work from the setting by the teacher through to the final submission. Students have the work returned to them where they have the opportunity to make alterations and then resubmit. This is still only scratching the surface mind. Using existing feedback loops, such as Explain Everything to add notations and audio or exploring the chrome store for add ons to support marking in Google Drive.

This really is a neat solution and a free one. With Google Apps for Education now also offering unlimited student storage space it really is an great choice for schools.

- See more at: http://www.matpullen.com/teaching-and-learning/google-apps-education/#sthash.lsNhcXFp.dpuf

THE BEST 4 ipad note taking apps for students and teachers

October 9, 2014
Below are some great iPad apps that students can use to take notes on their iPads. I know the app store is teeming with all kinds of note taking apps and I have already featured several of them in previous posts several of these apps. However, today's list is very short and only contains the ones I personally believe students should definitely be aware of. I did not include Evernote because it is a taken for granted app in this category. If you are looking for audio note taking apps, this collection embeds some interesting titles to start with. Enjoy

1- Penultimate

The most natural digital handwriting experience on iPad, Penultimate gives you the convenience and feel of writing on paper with the added power and availability of Evernote. Take notes in class or a meeting, journal your thoughts, or outline your next big idea -- in the office, on the go, or at home on the sofa.
2- inClass

inClass will help you keep track of all your courses. Not only that, but it will help you keep track of your tasks by reminding you that one is due soon, that way you have no excuse to not do your homework. On top of everything inClass will help you take notes way more efficiently than ever before. Video notes, audio notes, photo notes! You name it! Just take out your iPhone or iPod Touch and start taking notes. inClass will even know which class you are in! 
3- Notability

Notability is the one place to create, share, and manage your notes. It combines handwriting, typing, audio recordings, and photos so you can create notes that fit your needs. And with iCloud support, your notes are always available on iPhone, iPad, and Mac. Anytime. Anywhere. 
4- Awesome Note for iPad

Awesome note is an application that combined Note-taking and To-do list which helps you to organize your life with the ability to keep everything. Especially integrated iOS Calendar and Reminder will gives you to tracking your life plan much easier than before. Notes, Diary, Birthdays reminder, To-do list, Shopping list, Travel Diaries, Ongoing Project and more with attachable photo, map and drawing. You can carry out all these features with synchronization in wherever you go.

12 Ways to Use Twitter in the Classroom: Creating a Global Classroom

Using technology to communicate and connect is one of the keys to global competence. Today, Homa Sabet Tavangar shares ways to effectively use Twitter in the classroom. 

by Homa Sabet Tavangar 

I met my co-author on Twitter. We hit it off in a series of 140-character communications, where we realized we shared similar values, a vision of bringing global education into classrooms, and that our expertise was complementary. We never met until our book was 90 percent complete, almost two years later. Thanks to Twitter, we found each other and started a fruitful working relationship—and friendship! 

Stories like that of Becky and I are becoming more common, as educators are finding supportive colleagues regardless of their locations, and building strong Professional Learning Networks (PLNs) to infuse fresh ideas into their teaching practice. With teacher discussions using hashtags like #kinderchat, #5thchat, #edtech, #globaled and many, many more, relying on a community of active educators isn't limited to the walls of your building or district boundaries. 

Classrooms can also go global with Twitter. Try one or more of these 12 ideas to tweet your way around the world (or close to home) with your students. 

1. Engage parents: Tweet relevant projects or news from your classroom and allow parents to follow back and instantly comment.
2. Go to the Primary Source: Follow relevant experts and hashtags such as experts at NASA, favorite authors, scientists, or historians. Try to engage them in short conversations by tagging them (@theirname) with a question—you never know who might respond!
3. Start a Movement: Create your own hashtag. Let other schools know about it, and follow as it grows.
4. Follow Current Events: Many schools followed the #26Acts hashtag, that urged citizens to do 26 random acts of kindness after the Newtown, Connecticut school shooting that took 26 lives. Following a hashtag lets students in on the ground level of important movements.
5. Gather Real-World Data: Post a question ("What will you do for New Years?" or "What is your weather today?") and follow the data on a map such as http://twittermap.appspot.com/.
6. Locate Your Followers: If you ask your PLN (Personal Learning Network) for their locations, check them on Google Earth and see who is in the farthest and nearest classroom, what their terrain is, where the nearby cities are, etc. Here's an example of a 4th grade class doing geoTweeting.
7. Poll Your Followers: Use twtpoll.com to ask opinions on Twitter. Create a poll and graph responses as they come in from your followers.
8. Recommend Books: Write short summaries (microblogs) of books read by students in class, and keep them all in one place by tweeting them from a single account. Some classes also live tweet a book as they read it together. When finished, compile the tweets together to tell the story.
9. Sync the Class Blog to Twitter: Widgets (an application or tool to help users) on most blog platforms help to automatically tweet updated blog posts, so parents and other followers are notified when a new post is up.
10. Collaborate to Tell a Story: Tweet a story with another school (or group of classes) and take turns adding to the plot. Use Storify.com or Twitterfall.com to put together the coherent story at the end. Here's an example of Goldilocks and the Three Bears, Tweeted by @grade1 and edited in storify.com.
11. Update Parents: Live tweet field trips for parents or children home sick, including photos.
12. ¿Hablas español? In a language classroom, follow tweets in the target language. Create a community of language teachers who agree to tweet once a week about recent projects or happenings in their class or town.

Summer offers a great time to set up an account, learn the basics of Twitter use, start reaching out to fellow educators, and explore the world in 140 characters or less. If you've already started, please share how you have used Twitter in your classroom! 

Google’s Eric Schmidt explains the #1 email habit of the most effective people

Image Credit: Flickr user flickrfavorites

October 3, 2014 4:37 AM 
Gregory Ferenstein

Google’s Eric Schmidt outlines nine useful email tips he thinks define the most effective people in his new book, How Google Works.

But his number 1 tip is by far the most instructive:

“Respond quickly: There are people who can be relied upon to respond promptly to emails, and those who can’t. Strive to be one of the former. Most of the best — and busiest — people we know act quickly on their emails, not just to us or to a select few senders, but to everyone.”

Even short messages, like “got it” help create a culture of efficiency and attentiveness. He continues:

“Being responsive sets up a positive communications feedback loop whereby your team and colleagues will be more likely to include you in important discussions and decisions, and being responsive to everyone reinforces the flat, meritocratic culture you are trying to establish.”

Readers may be tempted to think that someone as wealthy and busy as Schmidt doesn’t respond to most everyone quickly, but in my own experience, successful people really do have this habit. In my career, I’m lucky to interact with very successful people on occasion. I am shocked at how quickly they respond. The most successful people I know usually respond within a day, if not an hour.

Professor Judy Olson at the University of California, Irvine, has done some interesting research about why this habit is so important. She told me that in mediums where people cannot see facial expression or hear voice intonation, recipients tend to assume the worst.

Being responsive is one of the only ways in asynchronous messaging to signal that we do care about a person — even if it’s a short message. This helps build a culture of trust.

The rest of Schmidt’s email tips are outlined below (I’m paraphrasing for brevity’s sake):

1. Write short, non-flowery emails. “Every word matters.”
2. Clean out your inbox. “Any time you spend thinking about which items in your inbox you should attack next is a waste of time”
3. Handle email in a Last In First Out order, since older stuff often gets taken care of by itself.
4. Include other people in the conversation who might be useful.
5. Be sparing with BCC; sometimes it’s better not to hide information from others.
6. Don’t yell.
7. Track requests made to recipients by labeling them [like a gmail tag]. If the message isn’t responded to, you can look at this category and then follow up. [My personal tip: I use the Mailbox app, which sends emails back to your inbox if they are not responded to in a specified time period.]
8. Make email searchable by forwarding notes to yourself with a few key words.

You can read the full list of email tips here.

Bring the World to Your Classroom

Bring the World to Your Classroom Newspapers are an invaluable teaching tool and provide the most current source of information and real life lessons to students of all ages.   A "living textbook" for schools. Through the generous donations of our readers, the E paper will be made available to your classroom for the 2014/2015 school year. Free of Charge ! Now you can have the Province E paper delivered to your classrooms, this format will be an exact replica of the printed editions available to schools. Sections and supplements are laid out just as in the print edition, but complemented by a variety of digital tools which enhance the printed newspaper's look and feel.   Please visit theprovince.com/nie to order.