Shalone Cason

Chesapeake, VA. 

[shalonecason]

My Webmix

https://www.symbaloo.com/mix/specialeducationinva

[shalonecason]

Social Media and Education

One of the great features of social media is the ability to communicate anywhere and at any time. With smartphone technology, a teacher can reach parents at work, at work, and even in bed. Whenever a parent checks their phone, they can find updates about their child and the learning process at school. Teachers have dedicated social networking programs such as Remind and ClassDojo, and these work great, but parents have to get new accounts.

However, social media is better when a teacher can reach parents where they already have accounts. Facebook would be ideal for classroom communication because almost everyone has a facebook account. The teacher would need to make a facebook group, keep it private, and send out invites to parents and students. The teacher can make it, so she is the only one allowed to post, and allow comments with moderation. 

Instagram is another social network that is very popular and owned by Facebook. Everyone with a facebook account also has an Instagram account, even though they might not use it. Instagram is a quick way to share images and short videos. Teachers can make Instagram accounts private and delete the account at the end of the year. Students can become journalist and paparazzi for the Instagram account because it is so pictured centric. 

Next, we have Twitter. Teachers can make Twitter accounts private as well and allow reading only. Parents can also get text message updates from Twitter if they don't have an account. Videos, pictures, and text look great on Twitter. 

Lastly, we have YouTube. Most people would not think of YouTube as a social network platform, but the vast amount of comments on YouTube say otherwise. Although the video is the focus, YouTube has a fantastic comment system that a teacher can quickly moderate. YouTube is easy to use. Teachers can upload short videos and put text in the description. Everything can be kept private and invite only. What is also great about social media is that all of these networks have live video features. If parents like to stay up to date to the minute, a teacher can easily live stream at any time.

Many schools already use social networking. I have seen schools use Twitter to share pictures of the school. I have also seen some teachers use snap chat. I use YouTube all the time, but I have not implemented commenting and video responses, which is a new feature on YouTube. I do not know many teachers that use Instagram or Facebook for education. Most teachers probably haven't considered making it private, blocking other people from posting, as well as deleting the account at the end of the year.

Even though many schools use social networks, the number one concern is still privacy. Some parents don't want their children's pictures online, and some schools are worried about being sued. Overall, if the privacy settings are used correctly, utilizing social media in school should be no problem at all.

Not only schools but churches also use one or more forms of social media. Some churches make pages and groups on facebook for their members to join. Some churches use Instagram to share pictures, flyers, quotes, and faith relates images. Some churches use youtube to post videos of services. Many Catholic Churches live stream eucharistic adoration and masses on YouTube and Facebook. Churches could also use Twitter to post short blurbs of info, pictures, and video. Each of these services has a live video feature, and live video is becoming more and more popular. Overall, social media can be a force for good, helping people to stay in touch and informed without having to meet face-to-face. However, with great power comes great responsibility, and we've already seen significant abuses of social media. Who knows what will happen next? Let's pray that social media remains a powerful tool for "teaching and baptizing all nations" as Christ would have wanted.

References

https://www.teachcreatemotivate.com/socialmediaintheclassroom/

https://puntolingueteachersclubblog.wordpress.com/2016/02/08/1701/

[shalonecason]

Types of Learning

Synchronous

Synchronous learning is when students learn at the same time. A lecture is the most common form of synchronous learning. Grade schools call this direct instruction, and or modeling. Technology has changed synchronous learning in many ways. The benefit of synchronous learning online is that live web streams and instant messaging have allowed online students to experience synchronous learning and make better connections with their teachers and peers through live group discussion (Nicholson, 2002). Now, a teacher can use YouTube live, Facebook live, WebEx, Blackboard and many other video conferencing tools to take advantage of synchronous learning. The downside of synchronous meetings is the need to get everyone on the same schedule.

Asynchronous

Asynchronous learning is learning at one's own pace. Asynchronous learning is as old as synchronous learning, with teachers sending material via mail a hundred years ago (Mayadas, 1997). Writing and shipping curriculum materials, tests, books, and letters to students were traditional methods for asynchronous learning in the past. Many schools still use the curriculum shipping method today. However, technology has taken over in the asynchronous learning field. Teachers can easily share information via email, online forums, blogs, conferencing systems, and course management systems like Blackboard and Moodle. The benefit of asynchronous learning is that teachers do not have to rely on ink and paper anymore but can add infographics, videos, slideshows, and interactive tests into the mix. The downside of asynchronous learning is that students and teachers rarely have an opportunity to connect truly with each other.

Face-to-face learning

Face-to-face learning is the classic model that schools have used for millennia. Face-to-face learning is only as effective as the teacher and the school. The most efficient method of face-to-face learning is one-on-one, because the student gets an individualized education, can ask questions, get immediate clarification, and the teacher can make changes to the curriculum as needed. Unfortunately, most face-to-face learning environments have between 15 and 30 students per class. It is nigh impossible for a single teacher to cater to five students efficiently, much less a dozen or two dozen. The face-to-face model is slowly going away with the advent of more learning technology and applications.

Blended Learning

It is likely that some form of blended learning--where student's view lectures on their time and at their pace and complete projects at school--will be the norm in the next fifteen years. Blended learning will allow schools to operate in much the same way. Students arrive and leave at a set time. However, learning will drastically change as projects and experiments become the norm for the school day, versus lectures and worksheets.

References

Mayadas, F. (1997). Asynchronous learning networks: A sloan foundation perspective. JALN 1(1). 1-16.

Nicholson, S. (2002). Socialization in the "virtual hallway": Instant messaging in the asynchronous Web-based distance education classroom. The Internet and Higher Education 5(4). 363-372.

[shalonecason]

Educational Apps

There are too many educational apps available. Any niche topic you could imagine has a dedicated app. Furthermore, these app companies have a poor record of reaching the teachers they are trying to help! On the other hand, the vast number of educational apps available today is dizzying and petrifying. Which app should a teacher use to manage course content? Which app should a teacher use to give formative assessments? Which app should a teacher use to deliver video content? These questions do not have a correct or incorrect answer. The best solution to these issues would be, “try a thousand apps, and see which one works best for your teaching style and your students.”

As a practice of futility, I will identify two educational apps that I enjoy. Will these apps work for you? I cannot say definitively. However, maybe hearing about new apps will be the animus for discovering which one works best for you. My advice is to go out there--on the wild wild web--search for new educational apps, and try them out. Experiment. Fail. Succeed. Repeat. Overall, enjoy yourself, love your students, have a deep passion for learning, and everything will fall into place in due time.

App Reccommendations

The first app I would like to discuss is Socrative.com. Many k-12 teachers are familiar with Kahoot, and Socrative is similar, but with more features. I find Socrative useful because it has multiple live features, such as racing, exit tickets, and quick questions. Teachers can also download reports and charts for data purposes. A teacher could easily post a quiz or test on Socrative for students to complete. A teacher could also post a quick question to create a survey. Socrative is so much more than a live game app, and could quickly become the go-to method for formative assessments in a classroom. 

The second app I would recommend is Coggle. Coggle is a mindmap and brainstorming tool. There are hundreds of mindmap applications on the web and mobile, and Coggle does not stand out in any particular way. However, it does provide unlimited free mindmaps, as long as they are public. Many mindmap apps give you three maps before you have to pay, and paying for access is not ideal for teachers. Furthermore, Coggle allows a teacher to invite others to edit a mindmap, which is great for collaborative work. I use Coggle to do collaborative brainstorming and for class meetings. A teacher could hold a class meeting and allow students to add to the mindmap from their device. However, there are much more mindmap apps out there, some of them much better than Coggle. So please explore and experiment. 

Churches and Technology

Next, I would like to discuss how churches use technology. I am a Catholic, and many Catholic Churches use Flocknote to connect with their laypeople. Flocknote allows a parish to mass email and mass text message their parishioners. It can also create an archive of all the past messages and track analytics. Furthermore, almost every church--Protestant, Catholic, and non-Christian--has a website. The website serves as a place for general information, announcements, and updates. Some churches also have social media pages. Facebook has become very popular with churches, as well as YouTube and Instagram. Some churches even use PowerPoint slideshows and videos during their services. I find that such use of technology during a mass would distract from the majesty and presence of God. However, Protestants--who do not believe God is physically present at their services--have ample reason to make their service more exciting and engaging. Overall, technology has improved communication among church members and leaders and is making the churchgoing experience easier and more enjoyable. 

[shalonecason]

[shalonecason]

Technology in Schools:

Reflection

The good news is that schools are implementing technology in the classroom. According to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), over 90 percent of teachers have 1 or more computers in the classroom, and over 90 percent of those computers have internet access. Unfortunately, there is only 1 computer for every 5 students, only 48 percent of teachers use technology for online lesson plans, and barely 40 percent of teachers use technology to give students access to web-based educational games or activities. So there is some good and some bad news about technology in classrooms.

Barriers  

The most common obstacles to technology are an outdated infrastructure and a lack of funds. Furthermore, the pace at which technology is advancing is dizzying. Schools and teachers have no way to decide which software and hardware work best. These biggest obstacles are likely to get much worse as technology improves, and educational programs propagate. 

The Future

The future of technology in schools could go in any direction. I assume that technology will proliferate and become much more ubiquitous in schools. I also predict that conventional schools, as we know them, will disappear to make way for flipped schools and online only schools. Flipped schools give short video lectures as homework, and projects and experiments as class work, with the teacher playing the role of overseer. 

In 2011, Clintondale High School became the first school in the US to become a flipped school. They went from a 30 percent failure rate to a 10 percent failure rate and now have a 90 percent graduation rate. What is unusual about Clintondale High School is that 10 percent of their student didn’t have access to technology at home, so they watched the videos at school. As for online only schools, many colleges have already tried and succeeded with this model. My alma mater, Liberty University, has one of the largest and most successful online universities in the US.