The Teacher View - using technology in the classroom

So following on from my recent post on how students perceived e-safety, I’ve also done a survey of staff in school, in order to find out how teachers perceive the current risks and how they use technology.

I'm a big advocate of online tools, I'm a sucker for signing up to find out what it's all about (then deleting my profile when I never use it of course), but as an ICT Teacher I’m also aware of the inherent risks of what I put online and how I am perceived. I think this is a big issue for teachers as pre-Internet you used to be a bit uncomfortable if a student saw you out at the weekend, now they can find out all they want an more with a bit of work on Google!

A lot of staff realise the use of ICT and social media tools and how they could be used in education to enhance lessons, however are very aware that the students probably know more than they do about how to interact with these media. There are some brilliant ideas out there of how to embed media into subjects like history, like this one from Fractus Learning, but there is a lot of mis-information and lack of training. Teachers when asked were really keen to use the media (65% of my school wanted ideas on how to embed social media in the classroom), but it was also felt that there was a trepidation and fear as to how to use it and "not get in trouble".

As an ICT Teacher, and tech enthusiast I feel like I have a bit of a leg up in this area, and I discuss how other schools have done work like this via my twitter account. Yes, I have a YouTube channel for uploading video, I have also set up a school twitter feed, but was very careful as to how I did this in order to make sure I was transparent in its use. Read about how I did it.

Recently I’ve been using the 360safe website in order to analyse how schools can embed social media technology in the school and as long as there is clear, laid out policies and advice on how to implement the tools, then this can avoid issues.

As one of my colleagues so brilliantly put it: "Technology should NOT be demonized as it is full of great good things for the kids - and I know they have to be aware and parents too - but I think we should fill their heads with the good it holds rather than be majorly focused on the bad that could happen! "

In this world of social media, schools must look to making sure that there is policy and advice for teachers using these tools to enhance student's education, but also to make sure that teachers and staff are trained to avoid issues that can come with using websites that are not developed and run by the school.

Written by Ben Gristwood on March 25, 2013 14:59

Using social media to talk to parents and pupils

Social media sites are a great way to communicate with teachers, parents and pupils. Following some basic rules will make sure you are using them appropriately and getting the most out of them.

1. Set up official school social media accounts

To make the most of social media, schools need to set up official accounts; either in the name of the school, or in the name of staff, but always transparently associated with the school – defining and delimiting the usage as professional and entirely school related. That way there’s no difference between a school attributed social media account and a school email, telephone or letterhead.

2. Communicate appropriately

Using a communication platform which is popular with the pupils is not the same as using the communication platform in the same way as the pupils. Boundaries and professional practice need to be considered at all times. For example, in real life a school might display posters for a school event on an official youth centre noticeboard, but a teacher wouldn’t go up to the children at the skate-park to tell them in person. Twitter and Facebook are no different.

From What every teacher needs to know about social media – join to download the full 6-page report for free.

Written by Safeguarding Essentials on March 26, 2013 16:01

Protecting yourself on social media

Did you know you that both twitter and facebook keep logs of every instances of online activity – every post, message, interaction, like, friend, comment etc?

There are steps teachers can take to safeguard themselves from false allegations of misconduct. If there’s anything inappropriate, it will have been recorded and logged. But as well as clearly demonstrating what a user has done, the logs will clearly indicate and prove what hasn’t been done online.

Twitter:

Twitter allows you to download your archive history here.

Facebook:

Facebook allows you to download your archive history here.

From What every teacher needs to know about social media – join to download the full 6-page report for free.

Written by Safeguarding Essentials on March 26, 2013 16:01


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