Is there a place for Social Networking in the classroom?

Although there is so much happening in the world of technology and education I sometimes find myself challenged on what to write about. Recently I’ve become somewhat addicted to Facebook and, as I was thinking about what to write for this edition of the newsletter, I was also clicking back and forth between my Facebook page, viewing Facebook emails, and then handling a Facebook chat with a student in Algeria. I was also noting that I had “98″ friends and had not yet reached “100.” So I obsessed about how to get two more friends. As this was happening, Leigh Wolf, our MAET program coordinator, came by my office and we chatted about Facebook, my writer’s block, and the idea that this article could focus on the educational applications of Facebook.

I did a quick online search through ISTE for articles on the educational uses of social networks and found resources on Web 2.0 technologies including blogs, wikis, etc. But I found little on the uses of Facebook, MySpace, or the other mainstream social networking programs. Then the thought crossed my mind, “hey, aren’t we using a blog for this newsletter??” Can’t we then ask our readers for their input on the use of programs such as Facebook and MySpace? The answer is “of course we can!”

As my conversation continued here in the College of Education on this topic I learned that Punya Mishra, associate professor and director of the Master’s in Educational Technology program, used Facebook during the summer MAET program. His graduate assistant, Michael Deschryver, said the following about the experience,

This was a hybrid sequence of courses, with two weeks of face-to-face classes, and then a month online. Students started using Facebook on their own during the face-to-face classes for social purposes, and we then decided to use it for all of the course interactions during the month online. This was very successful, and the students provided us with positive feedback about using Facebook for the course purposes. In addition, since we were “friended” by all of these students, we continue to see social, academic, and professional interactions among them after the completion of the summer courses, evidencing the potential for Facebook not only to extend learning beyond the classroom, but the semester constraints, as well.

In addition, Leigh pointed out that MAET students in the recent Plymouth, England graduating cohort did a video on the “Ten Educational Applications on Facebook.” The students, Fatina Al-Ahmad, Scott Christian and Suhasini Iyengar talk about using applications in Facebook for language, math, the environment, vocabulary, etc. You can see the great job they did by watching the video below.

Lastly, I use Facebook to talk with colleagues and connect with past students globally. This provides me with opportunities for conversations and perspectives I might not otherwise have. But can this be used effectively in the K-12 classroom? My Facebook probably looks quite different than a 14 or 15 year olds Facebook. How do we know they’ve accessed appropriate and approved content? What effect does the advertising have?

Many, many questions with very few answers. Your task is now to educate, inform, and enlighten our readers with your comments, your points and counterpoints, and examples of how you may be using social networks in your classrooms or in an educational environment.

Please take a few minutes to participate in the following poll on whether you agree with the use of social networking applications in the K-12 classroom. Then be sure to add your comments to this article by clicking on the Comment link at the bottom of this posting. Please feel free to speak your mind and/or share your examples. In the next issue I’ll provide you with the results of this survey and we can continue our conversation on this important topic.

PS: Feel free to add me to your Facebook ;-)

Best Regards,

Joe Codde
Professor and Director
Educational Technology Certificate Program

Locations for the Summer

We want to hear from you!  We are getting ready to set our schedule for our Summer ‘09 Certificate classes and would love your input on where we should offer our classes.  Our summer classes can be offered in the 5 week accelerated format or our traditional weekend format.  To learn more about these different formats please visit http://edutech.msu.edu/delivery.html. Currently we have classes scheduled in Birmingham on a weekend basis but are looking for sites in the Lansing, Grand Rapids and Flint areas.

If you are interested in the program and would like to see it offered this summer in your own school district please use the form below to let us know where and in what format you would like to see the program offered.  Don’t forget that if you bring the program to your district and sign up a minimum of 15 teachers to take the course, you may be eligible to receive a stipend that will help cover the tuition costs of one of your courses.

Please review the guidelines for bringing the program to your district to be sure your district meets the lab requirements.  You can read the guidelines at http://edutech.msu.edu/bringingtodistrict.html.

MAET STUDENT NEWS AND SUMMER 2009 DATES HAVE BEEN SET

MAET Student News

MAET student Michael Hughes (Plymouth, England Class of 2009) was appointed to the Apple Distinguished Educator Class of 2008. Michael is an English and Social Studies teacher at Jakarta International School in Jakarta, Indonesia. The Apple Distinguished Educator (ADE) program is a relationship program focused on educational excellence and leadership. ADEs are members of a select group of K-12 and Higher Education professionals possessing an identified expertise in educational technology leadership. This group of over 1200 educators spans the globe with membership in the USA, Canada, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Latin America, and Asia. Congrats Michael!

MAET student Stephanie Peterson applied for and received a grant this fall from the MEEMIC Foundation for the Future of Education. In January, she’ll be receiving $1300 to buy a class set of headsets with microphones. The goal of her project is to increase oral proficiency and listening and speaking skills through the use of innovative and modern technologies. Using the headsets, her students will be experimenting with podcasting, digital storytelling, and will create a digital audio portfolio to showcase their work.  Congratulations Stephanie!

Summer 2009 Dates

Plymouth, England
In Plymouth, England you will earn the master’s degree in Educational Technology from Michigan State University while staying in-residence at the University of Plymouth in southwest England. Studying in Plymouth provides an opportunity for International Baccalaureate (IB), Department of Defense Dependent Schools (DoDDS) and other domestic and international school educators a chance to work, learn and collaborate in a face-to-face setting. The program will run from Sunday, June 28 – Friday, July 24, 2009

East Lansing Summer Cohort – CEP800, CEP815 & CEP822
After completing the Educational Technology Certificate Program, students may apply to the Master’s program to join the East Lansing summer cohort. This hybrid version of the program combines the power of working together in a summer cohort with the flexibility of completing courses during the academic year. Participants come together for two weeks of face-to-face on-campus in East Lansing from June 17 – July 1, 2009 and then meet online from July 2 – July 29. On July 30, 2009 students will reconvene on campus to share final course projects.

Using Quia in the Classroom

Two of our current Educational Technology students highlighted Quia, a company providing many different web-based tools for educators, in their Sharing Tips and Tricks section of their classes. Charles Kubolz, a Certificate student this past summer, highlighted Quia in the Sharing Tips and Tricks discussion in MACUL Space. To read Charles’ summary please visit the second page of the Sharing Tips and Tricks discussion for the EduTech Group on MACUL Space. (http://maculspace.ning.com/group/msuedutech).

In addition, Rehab Rajab, a MAET Plymouth student, demonstrated how it worked in her class this summer and has provided a brief write up for this newsletter.

I use Quia to create quizzes, games, activities, surveys, class WebPages and online calendars for my classes. I create a class roster at the beginning of the year which automatically creates a user name and a password for each student; those are usually e-mailed to the students or printed off and given to them by the teacher. By creating an account for each student in my class, I can track their work as they log on every time they do one of my activities. Students also like to see their scores which are easily seen when they log into their accounts even from home where they can share it with their parents.

There are sixteen activity templates to choose from when creating a new activity such as Battleship, Cloze, Challenge Board, Concentration, Flashcards and many others. When an activity is created, the teacher has the option to share it with others or keep it private which creates a bank of activities that teachers can search and copy into their accounts.

I use the Quizzes feature the most. Quizzes that are created by Quia can be taken online or printed off. Teachers can choose from 16 types of questions where inserting images and audio files are possible. When a quiz is created, all the questions in this quiz are saved in the teacher’s bank of questions. So the questions are saved even if the quiz is deleted later on. Quizzes can be automatically graded and students see their scores immediately. Open ended questions can be graded by the teacher online. The great thing about this feature is that it keeps the whole process electronic and thus no paper is wasted. The same quiz can be copied for different classes with different passwords, time limits and number of attempts.

I create a customized Webpage for each class where I can post messages, recommend activities and websites, and assign homework with downloadable files for my students. I also use it as an electronic bulletin board where I announce scores and award some students. The calendar option makes it possible to post deadlines and quiz dates online as well. It helps the students become independent by following up what’s happening on the class webpage themselves.

Quia saved me a lot of time and effort.

-Rehab Rajab, MSU MAET Plymouth Student

Master Student Participates with her Students in the AT&T/MACUL Student Technology Showcase

Students from elementary, middle and high schools throughout Michigan gathered to participate in the eighth annual AT&T/MACUL Student Technology Showcase on November 12, 2008 at the Capitol Building. The showcase was designed to keep legislators apprised of how technology is being used by schools to enhance the education process and help youth successfully transition from the classroom to a career.

Heather Janik, a student in our Master’s of Educational Technology program and a teacher at Mancelona Middle School, participated with her students.  Her students demonstrated their projects which they created using ToonDoo.  Each student created a page to contribute to a grade level comic book on a topic of his/her choice.

Heather explains,

I tried to come up with a project that is engaging and uses digital media.  For the end of the 2007-2008 school year I put together a comic book unit.  This unit was designed, not to focus on the art, as much as it was designed to focus on what makes a comic; the terminology, the parts of a comic, free comic creating resources online, and finally having the kids create their own full page comic.  I found that this was enjoyed by ALL students; not just boys and not just comic readers.

To learn more about Heather’s project please visit http://hmjanik.googlepages.com/finalproject.

To learn more about the event and to see a complete list of participating schools and projects, visit the MACUL Web site at www.macul.org.

Web Sites Worth Visiting

Website	Description and Educational Applications
http://www.hotchalk.com	HotChalk is a free online learning management system (LMS) designed specifically for K-12 educators. HotChalk helps teachers easily and quickly develop customized lesson plans and assignments, locate and integrate curriculum materials, and manage assignments and grading.
http://more.mel.org/	MORE – Michigan Online Resources  for Educators, a portal for K-12 teachers was developed in partnership with Michigan Department of Education,  Michigan e- Library and Wayne State University. What makes this portal unique is that all of the resources are ALIGNED TO THE MICHIGAN CONTENT EXPECTATIONS (K-12). Currently we have several thousand math and science resources in the site, we are working on adding resources for the other core areas. We anticipate having approximately 8,000 resources in the portal within the next month.
http://www.engrade.com/	Engrade is a free set of web-based tools for educators allowing them to manage their classes online while providing parents and students with 24/7 real-time online class information. It’s private, secure, truly free, and unbelievably easy to use.
http://www.gliffy.com/	Gliffy is an online application that makes it easy for you to create, share, and collaborate with diagrams. It looks and feels like a desktop application, but it works through your web browser, so there is nothing to install or maintain.(Submitted by Certificate student Loni Brent)
http://mywebspiration.com/	Webspiration™ is the new online visual thinking tool that helps you capture ideas, organize information, diagram processes and create clear, concise written documents whether working individually or collaboratively. With integrated diagram and outline views you can think visually, structure your work effectively and express your ideas in the ways that communicate best. (Submitted by Certificate student Huda Abouhammoud)

Our courses are taught by an outstanding team of MSU adjunct faculty, many of whom are:

• K-12 classroom teachers themselves who have experience using educational technology in the classroom
• Graduates from our certificate program
• Exceptionally skilled in educational technology
• Winners of awards such as technology Teacher of the Year from the Michigan Association of Computer-Related Technology Users in Learning (MACUL) and the national award of the International Society for Technology in Education

This quarter’s instructor spotlight is . . .

Michelle Hart, Instructor of MSU Educational Technology Certificate Program, Technical Specialist, Ann Arbor Public Schools.

Michelle Hart has worked as a technical specialist and technical assistant for Ann Arbor Public schools since 1996.  Although much of her job is working with wiring and hardware, her first love is working with teachers and students in the classroom. She models lessons for teachers who might not know how to present technology to students, offers teacher training and professional development, actively participates on technology committees in each of her buildings and has been involved in three major technology bond rollouts for the Ann Arbor Schools. She is enthusiastic and committed to using technology in the classroom.

Before moving to Ann Arbor, Michelle spent time as a middle and high school language arts teacher in Minnesota and Wisconsin. When she moved to Michigan she spent time as a long term sub and when the opportunity came up to work with teachers and technology she jumped at the chance.  She has been a member of MACUL and is currently a member of one of her school’s MI Champions Team, a state grant whose purpose is to design and deliver a statewide model for professional development that will create the skill set necessary for building based “Technology Integration Champions” at the local level.

Michelle received her bachelor’s degree from University of Minnesota in Secondary Education. She went on to pursue her education and received a Masters Degree in Educational Technology from Michigan State University in 2006.

In her free time, Michelle enjoys spending time outdoors, reading, working with her dogs and traveling.  She has two college age children, one of them is currently attending Michigan State.  Go Spartans!

Question: I need a tool that will allow me and 10-12 participants to engage in video conferencing all at the same time before we meet in person at a conference. Now I don’t think there is anything out there in terms of freeware but I thought I would check.

Answer: We use Adobe Connect for our online classes and really like all the options that it provides us.  However it is not free or even cost effective if you would only be using it occasionally.  They do have a 15 day free trial if you would only be using it for a short two week period.

A free option is Vyew.  It has been recently highlighted in PCWorld and would enable you to connect the number of participants you require.  Participants just need to put up with ads. Since I haven’t used it I’m not sure how annoying the ads can be.  It is web-based so there is no need to download any software.  You can give presentations, host webinars, conduct team meetings, and share and collaborate on content.

Another free option is DimDim.  It allows up to 20 attendees as part of the free version.  If you end up having any more than that you need to sign up for the paid version.  It is web-based so there is no need to download any software.  You can share your desktop, show slides, collaborate, chat, talk and broadcast via webcam.

Below are some additional programs that I haven’t tested or reviewed in detail.  I’d suggest trying to find some reviews on them and doing a test pilot prior to using them with a large group.  Also be sure to read the Terms of Service for whatever one you may choose.  It is important to know up front what you are agreeing to, especially with a free service.  Some of these options below only allow up to 5 people on the conference at a time so they may not meet your needs of having 10-12 people on at one time.

WebHuddle – https://www.webhuddle.com/
Yugma – https://www.yugma.com
Palbee – http://www.palbee.com/index.aspx
WengoMeeting – http://www.wengomeeting.com/index.php