The following video by Seth Godin, author of Tribes, addresses a question that many teachers bring up. How can social networks help teach? While Godin's response is for marketers, the same concept applies in education. Help someone. If social networks (Facebook, Delicious, Twitter, Wikis, and Blogs) are used by classes to help others, this will be more powerful than any test the students will ever take.
Lets say students in a Biology class learn about AIDS and its role in Africa. Rather than simply taking a test, the students could use their social networks to connect to a community in Africa that has been ravaged by AIDS. The students would then Tweet about the community and what they are facing. Using Delicious, the students would post links about the disease. A fundraiser could be set up through Facebook and students could invite all their friends. A blog could be dedicated to the effort of raising money and awareness about the true impact of AIDS. If we used our social networks like this, we would not only help others, our students would learn a lot more about the content covered in class.
Social networks are not going away. We must use them to our advantage. Use them to help others and learn from the experience.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OujgPgNCLvk
No comments:
Post a Comment