Social+Media+(Web+2.0)+blogs,+wikis+podcasts,+etc.

= **Social Media (Web 2.0):** blogs, wikis podcasts, etc. =

**Dana and I primarily focused on the use of blogs and other posting spaces like MyFakeWall and Facebook as a means of exploring different kinds of options for our students. Our goal was first to make sense of social media, which has only become a phenomenon within the last ten or so years, and second to rectify the implications of social media within the confines of ourselves as educators and our students.**

**We created our lesson plan in Pinterest, which is described as a pinboard-style photo sharing website somewhat similar to Tumblr. In our presentation we focused on this outlet last but in the interest of concision on here I'm going to go through all of the things we used it for in one application.**

Dana and I wanted to create a presentation by using one of our social media tools, and Pinterest, which has risen steadily in popularity within the last few months, ended up being our favorite option. We avoided talking about wikis because we're already doing one (case in point - this is a wiki!) and most people are familiar with Wikipedia, so we felt that it would be redundant and a poor use of our presentation time to cover those. I'll admit we didn't necessarily even talk about doing podcasts, which I regret now and hope to, in my own time, discover in the future.

In any case, we created our actual Lesson Plan on a pin board styled image sharing website called [|Pinterest], to provide a different type of visual learning tool for us and for our students as well. We [|"pinned"] images that were related to our discussion (the Tumblr and Edublog logos, for instance) and based our outline for the discussion off of that. It was a little difficult because Pinterest is not linear, so keeping a written record of your order is important so you don't get lost.

**About Pinterest**
The [|Pinterest] main page can be viewed by anyone, but if you want to join the community you need to request an [|invitation] from the site, and they will send you an email confirming your that they received your question. There are two caveats though:

//**1. Expect to wait a few days for a response**//! Once you get it, you can login. //**2. You must have either a [|Facebook]or [|Twitter]account.**//

Once you get the confirmation and are logged in, you can start "pinning" to boards that you create that follow and exemplify your interests. In order to pin, one must install the "pin-it" button AKA bookmarklet on the "bookmark" or "favorites" bar. Pinterest is quite user friendly and provides explicit directions (including a YouTube video) on how to install the bookmarklet according to the user's browser. One very important feature of the site is that it provides users with the ability to see what other users have pinned. If there is an image or video that attracts your attention, you may "repin" it to your own board. You may also "follow" pinners, "like" them, as well as comment on their pinning choices. The search bar at the top left hand corner even lets you search by key words or categories according to your interests. Additionally there is a "follow me" button that a user can install on their own website which will act as a link and lead others directly to the users pinboard.

**Our Lesson Plan**
The goal of using Pinterest was to see if we could successfully use this kind of social media tool to give students a visual and collaborative workspace to express their ideas. Dana, as a model, created a pinboard for Frankenstein that highlighted key themes of the text, like pictures of women for themes of feminism and a video of a father and son that represented that dynamic. We wanted our students to come up with boards that expressed their own interests through pictures or words.

**MyFakeWall**
We had discussed possibly using Facebook to create profile pages for literary characters, but apparently it is [|illegal] to do that on that website. Thus, [|MyFakeWall] was created to remedy that problem.

Unfortunately, though we feel it has a lot of potential, we ran into many problems with this website:

1. It is SO...UNBELIEVABLY...SLOW 2. It is unreliable (i.e. trying to upload profile pictures is a nightmare) 3. It crashes 4. It's not official or privacy protected

The idea of the wall is totally there, but the actual use of it is mind-numbingly bad. Dana created a page for the "Literary Lonely Hearts Club," which was as simple as creating an account, and clicking on orange links in order to add posts, pictures or comments. She posted under Jay Gatsby, Frankenstein and Humbert Humbert, to name a few, but she couldn't upload pictures or links and any time she tried to get anything accomplished it would either take forever or not let her do it at all. We thought this might be a good alternative for students to create a page for characters and get into a more psychoanalytic thought about them, who their friends would be, what they might be interested in, what pages they would "Like," but the interface is not quite there yet.

**Tumblr**
When I first signed up for [|Tumblr], I was admittedly annoyed with it. The first thing it does is ask for a URL and I had no idea where I would get one or what URL it was asking for. Essentially, they were asking for a username so once I found that out I was OK.

Tumblr is actually a great "[|plog]" tool (photo blog) where students can re-blog posts that they find interesting to their own blog as well as create their own posts with their own pictures, videos, quotes, music, etc. Similar to Pinterest, you search for keywords and tags like "Education" or "Technology" and different pictures and other people's blogs will pop up. It is fairly easy to use, and it seems like an easy way to get kids involved in different ways.

Some of the drawbacks of the site include:

1. Limited [|privacy] settings 2. Any content can be seen and found by students, including inappropriate language or lewd images

I found that it was fun to see what other people were writing, but was worried that students would become reliant on other people's opinions and wouldn't focus on coming up with their own.

**Edublog**
[|Edublog]is, in my opinion, the safest and easiest way to get your students involved in blogging. There are three different options: a free, a pro, and an advanced option, with each one revealing more and more features. If you wanted to get the pro, for a limited fee per month or year you could have a blog with maximum privacy settings and up to 50 bloggers (among other things). You can embed videos in pro (you can't in free) as well as embed music and pictures. Other than the content found on [|google](which may be filtered by the school) you have complete control over what the students are posting and can even create a "blacklist" of words or content you want to be SPAM'ed.

**Conclusions**
What we found, in the end, is that social networking is rife with difficulties. What about copyright law? What are the school's rules about using the internet in general? How do we regulate content use? Should we regulate it at all? How can we protect students? What are the best social media sites out there? There aren't any easy answers to these questions, but hopefully they got you thinking about how you can use social media in your classroom.