EDTECH 543: Social Networking

I had mixed feelings about the thought of registering for a social networking course.  Social networking is important to business and is a part of most of our student’ lives and I am currently a member of Facebook.  I use Facebook to stay in contact with my college and current friends, but have a limited list of contacts.  I like my privacy for the most part and knowing that my personal information is available for the public eye is sometimes an uneasy feeling.  I was glad to see that the Facebook account needed to be with my Boise State account and that the group was private.  I am not a twitter user, but I had an account once, but didn’t use it much.  I have used Diigo for other course for BSU so my account was all set.

I have not used social media for my professional development.  Although I use a variety of technology as a teacher I have not used social media in any form in my profession.  As a teacher I worry about my social media presence and what might get posted or connected to my name.  Even my personal Facebook account usually is fun photos of my family and pets, therefore I’m not the most excited person to follow.  As for instructional strategies in learning I again have not used social media.  I am looking to integrate Google Classroom next year to enhance my communication and explanation of my class to students and parents.  As a middle school teacher I use a Promethean Board, laptops, iPads, Microsoft programs, multimedia, games and simulations.  At the private school I currently teach there are no personal devices allowed during the school day.  Students are not even allowed to use their phones in the car line or bring them on field trips.  I chaperoned a trip in May to Mackinac Island where my seventh graders stayed at the Grand Hotel.  Even on the trip phones were not permitted and students had to bring a separate camera. 

I expect this course to give me valuable ways to use social media, not only as a professional, but in my classroom as well.  I know there are important privacy concerns that I should be aware of and have researched a bit on what my digital footprint can look like if using certain social networking tools.  I hope to learn the positive impact the tools can have and the direction that social media is heading.