Technology Education Today

Last week I finally gave in and started a Twitter. I’d been resisting since the beginning with arguments along the lines of: what do I possibly have to say in 140 characters or less that someone would want to follow? #notmuch

To be perfectly honest, I haven’t used my account much as yet. But then I’m not interested in being one of the followed. No, I’m quite content to sit on the sidelines for this one and devote my Twitter account to aggregating news and happenings.

Aggregating? On Twitter?? But isn’t that what RSS and my Google Reader are for???

Sure, but if you’re following the right people on Twitter, you can see what’s happening in the world – what’s trending – as it happens. Traditional reporting (and aggregating) limits us to discovering news after it takes place. Twitter and other social medias give us news in real time.

This all got me to thinking about the implications for the classroom. Often social media is viewed as either forbidden fruit or a convenient way for teachers to reach students: Hey! I may be old, but I’m hip to the lingo, IMHO! (BTW: Don’t use IMHO. It dates you almost as much as ‘hip’.)

Certainly, educators find themselves with a perplexing conundrum: how to use this remarkable technology while controlling for the inevitable hazards of content and contact. One suggestion might be a class Twitter – one the teacher controls. Who you follow and who can follow you are up to you on Twitter, as long as you’re savvy with your privacy settings. With a class Twitter, students would not only find themselves plugged in to what’s trending in the world outside the four walls of their classrooms but also be able to contribute to those trends with observations and comments of their own. As students get older, could individual Twitter accounts even supplement classroom discussion, giving voice to students who get lost amidst their more gregarious classmates? This NYTimes article provides an interesting perspective, arguing that using social media lowers inhibitions about contributing to classroom conversation – are ’backchannels’ right for your classroom? 

How do you use social media in your classroom? Do you think social media is a good teaching and learning tool, or just another fad? We look forward to reading your comments below!

My cousin’s wedding is this weekend and all this making of lists and checking of lists and making of lists of lists (just to remember what to pack in my suitcase for the three day trip, mind you) got me to thinking about organizational technologies.

Students now have a wealth of organizational tools at their fingertips. Tools that will synch to their desktops, mobile phones, tablets and, of course, be available anytime – anywhere – on the Internet.

Though I’m still a sticky note by the door (and on the fridge and maybe in the hallway for good measure) kind of organizer, I do have a few favorite online organzational tools that I wish I’d had in high school – and definitely in college.

If you or your students are looking to get organized this fall, here are some suggestions of free, useful online tools to get you started (though I feel compelled to mention that Post-its never go out of style):

Google Calendar (calendar.google.com): With Google Calendar you can set email reminders, synch to your desktop and mobile phone so you never have to worry about remembering to update all three again – just add the event or task one place and it will automatically be available on your other devices – and create events to share with your friends. Study group on Friday? Remind yourself, view it on your phone and don’t forget to invite the tutor!

Evernote (evernote.com): This free organizational tool is one of the top 10 downloaded apps on the Apple AppStore – and it’s Windows compatible, too! Download this app to your Blackberry, iPhone or Android for seemless interfacing with your Desktop and the Web. Create to do lists, capture and consolidate research from the Web with a handy toolbar icon, write down that idea for the song or story that you can never remember by the time you find a pen and scrap of paper… Then organize your notes into notebooks and tag by topic for quick, easy referencing at a later date.

Mind Map Online (mindomo.com): Grown-ups have been moaning exasperated “kids these days” since someone first invented the wheel. While I may like to write my ideas down on some poor tree that used to be, lots of students today think best at the computer. For these students there are online mind mapping services like the one at Mindomo. Everyone needs to get their thoughts in order, why not organize and share them using online shareware?

Do you have a favorite online organizational tool? Comment on this post with ideas and stories about how online organizing saved you – or threw you under the bus!