Everyone’s doing it, including my mom. That’s what could be said about the newest electronic gossip tools: Twitter and Facebook. These communication websites have become revolutionized many teenagers’ lives. People can view immediate updates on friends and family. People add to their status through their computers and cell phones. My sister went into Haiti a couple days after the major earthquake and was able to update her status via her iphone. It’s amazing how far technology has come.
Although my previous blogs have seemed a bit pessimistic about technology it has only been because I’ve seen so many abuses. I could apply all those negatives to these two communication tools. Instead, I’d like to illustrate how my husband has embraced these tools.
If you visit www.mrsimonsen.com (not to be confused with mine which has two s’s – Mr Simonsen v. Mrs. Simonsen) you will find a very filled website. Students comment to his blogs, read updates from day to day, and find useful materials with which to study. In addition, updates are sent daily via twitter and facebook. Open source developers have created numerous plug-ins that allow bloggers to post their information one time, but send it to facebook, twitter, and various other social networks all at the same connecting with many more users than they normally would. The plug-in also sends text updates to notify parents and students of changes in his class status. This has enabled parents and students to receive immediate updates and reminds students of their homework. This is one more way to communicate and remove the “I forgot” excuse.
Comments (3)
What an awesome site he has established to both help his students and hold them accountable at the same time. I am always looking for new ways to combat the “I forgot” and “I didn’t have it” excuses. I too am both excited and skeptical of how technology plays out in our classrooms. He appears to have found a way to harness many of the mediums we tend to fear. I would be interested in how he prevents online vandalism, as that is the biggest risk we take when we give students the opportunity to participate in such communities. Thanks for sharing. I think this is where we are headed in education and he is clearly embracing these changes.
Thank you for the compliment to him. I’ll relay that. He is a great inspiration to me when it comes to technology.
Facebook and Twitter have both fused themselves – possibly permanently – into all of our lives. Major companies, institutions, colleges and universities, churches, groups, organizations and the like have all created pages to connect with their various audiences. It was only a matter of time before individual educators would see the benefits of posting information in one if not both of these places. The Central Michigan University Blackboard is also connected to Facebook (yes, I’ve added the link to my personal page).
I beleive this is a great place to share, exchange, update and present information. the only couple of drawbacks I can see futuristically are the fact that Facebook is threatening to charge for it’s services and there are many viruses that are beginning to attach themselves to the application.