Top state-by-state Twitter chats

Do you participate in your state’s ed or ed-tech Twitter chat?

Twitter-chatSocial media has unlimited uses in education, from helping students connect and collaborate to offering educators a place to share ideas, solve problems, and identify promising practices. Twitter chats are one way today’s educators connect from across the country, and subject- and state-specific chats help educators develop and grow their professional learning networks.

A number of states have Twitter chats that educators may find useful. Those chats may be about general education or might focus on specific education topics within the state.

Whatever the focus, though, educators can connect and chat with others in their state, or in states across the nation, for professional development and growth opportunities.…Read More

Anonymous message board app raises concern

Messages, posted anonymously via the app, are hurtful and unnecessary, administrators say

anonymous-appAn anonymous message board app that students in some districts are using to tease teachers and fellow students has parents and educators alarmed, not only because of how it is being used, but because the app, Gaggle–Local Message Board, shares a name with Gaggle.Net, a popular safe online teaching and learning solution.

District leaders are urging schools to block the app and are asking parents to be on the lookout for it, due to the negative way students are using it.

Student use of the app at one high school in the Katy Independent School District prompted the school’s principal to block it from the school’s network and send an eMail to parents to alert them to the situation, according to one local news outlet.…Read More

5 new ways students are choosing their colleges and universities

Survey reveals social choosing habits of graduating high school students; gives advice to colleges and universities

students-choose-collegeGone are the days when students chose their postsecondary education institution based off of news reports or annual publications. In this mobile-enabled culture, today’s students are redefining how colleges and universities should market their offerings by using diverse online resources and social media word-of-mouth.

The 2014 Social Admissions Report, a survey of college-bound high school students, is designed to identify trends in digital, social, and mobile tools represented in a student’s college search and enrollment process.

“Year after year new tools are created to help us organize, share and collaborate online,” according to Uversity—a platform for social networking and higher education. “Inevitably when these tools hit the mainstream the debate begins as to the impact of these networks on the college search and recruitment process. Through thousands of student surveys and national focus groups, the Zinch, Chegg and Uversity teams have collaborated to complete the third installment of The Social Admissions Report.”…Read More

30 education innovators worth following on Twitter

Yesterday, we wrote about the latest Forbes list of ’30 Under 30′ in the education field,  noted Edudemic. You may already follow some of them, or the companies they’ve founded or work for already. But if you don’t here’s the chance to beef up your Twitter list with interesting folks.  We’ve taken the Forbes list and added links to the individual’s Twitter profile, so that you can check out what they’re doing on the front lines. Just click on the person’s name for the link to their Twitter profile…

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9 ways Facebook changed how we talk

“I’m gonna tag you in this hideous photo and then unfriend you if you don’t stop oversharing and poking me.” If you said this to someone 10 years ago, they’d look at you like you were speaking Klingon, CNN reports. Nowadays, you just sound like an active user of social media. This is how much Facebook has changed how we talk. In the decade since its birth in February 2004, the social network has introduced numerous terms and phrases to the language of modern life. Most are common words that Facebook refitted with new meanings. Some have stuck, while others have been forgotten. A few have even been recognized by dictionaries as official pieces of the 21st century lexicon.

Here are nine of the most memorable…

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Will “disease-like” Facebook lose 80 percent of users by 2017?

There’s some non-peer-reviewed “research” (PDF) going around that claims Facebook will have lost 80 percent of its users in a few years’ time, based on the idea that you can draw a reasonable analogy between the social network’s trajectory and that of a contagious disease, Gigaom reports. For my own sanity, I would like to pretend I never read about this Princeton study, but there are a lot of articles out there taking it quite seriously — the most irksome headline I’ve encountered reads: “Facebook is an ‘infectious disease’ and will lose 80% of users by 2017, say researchers.” It should go without saying that this story is nonsense, but apparently it doesn’t, so please allow me…

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NYC wants to teach kids how to not ruin their lives on Facebook

The New York City Department of Education (DOE) wants to make sure teens know how to use social media responsibly, the Huffington Post reports. The DOE recently rolled out a nine-page social media guide for students 13 and older, in an effort to make sure students leave a “smart digital footprint.” The guidelines advise students on how to create a preferred digital image, respond to cyberbullying and adjust their social media privacy settings. They also warn students to be cautious of what they post online and to “pause before you post.”

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5 social networks for students to get academic help

With the growing use of social networking sites like Facebook and twitter, the methodology of education for students is finding new and improved ways, reports Edudemic. Students are getting more prone to the commodities these platforms offer. Therefore this advancement in social networking platforms is providing students with much better options to engage with their contemporaries, enhance their skills and access a wide variety of academic tools and resources which will most definitely add up to their convenience…

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Top 10 ed-tech stories of 2013, No. 6: BYOD and social media

eSchool News counts down the ten most significant developments in educational technology during the past year. No. 6 highlights the importance of BYOD and social media.

BYOD-top10In school systems from coast to coast, tech-savvy educators experimented with augmented reality, educational gaming, and other techniques designed to enhance teaching and learning.

These are only some of the key ed-tech developments affecting K-12 schools in the past year—and we’ve got a full recap for you.

Here, the editors of eSchool News highlight what we think are the 10 most significant ed-tech stories of 2013.…Read More

App of the week: Collabomate

collabomateName: Collabomate

What is it? An educational tool to help teachers and students connect and collaborate in an open, real-time, safe setting using the newest technologies available.

Best for: Middle-high school students and teachers.…Read More