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Generating, giving content is the key
By Michael Boll |
March 27, 2013, Wednesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
I remember when social media first made its appearance on the Internet. It was during the dark times when people only used letters, e-mail, conversation and this weird thing called texting to communicate.
As with most things, social media was quickly understood by young people and not so quickly by old people, like me. The young people shared mundane things such as what they ate for breakfast or pictures of their latest parties. This created a narrative for the rest of us to latch on to so we would not have to try something new.
Eventually old people, again like me, started to test the waters. We came to understand the power of networking and connecting with our old friends as well as finding new ones.
Social media enables teachers to develop powerful personal learning networks (PLN) that link them to fantastic people and resources. Today I connect with teachers all over Asia and the world. We share links, ideas, plan conferences and just unwind. Facebook keeps me current on what people are doing for fun; Twitter provides me with links to new ideas and resources; and LinkedIn lets me keep an eye on my career path.
At Concordia Middle School, our students are taught to take control of their online presence and reputation. They must understand the true potential and power, good and bad, of our new-found abilities to communicate. They must learn to take control of how they appear to the rest of the world.
Will students make mistakes along the way? For sure! However, this is the time to let them make those mistakes. At this point in their lives they have a large group of caring adults that can help guide and counsel them.
In the end, students must understand the power of giving. To truly benefit from social media, a student must generate and give content. Only by giving generously, without expectation of return, will our students become the influential and wonderful adults we so want them to be.
As with most things, social media was quickly understood by young people and not so quickly by old people, like me. The young people shared mundane things such as what they ate for breakfast or pictures of their latest parties. This created a narrative for the rest of us to latch on to so we would not have to try something new.
Eventually old people, again like me, started to test the waters. We came to understand the power of networking and connecting with our old friends as well as finding new ones.
Social media enables teachers to develop powerful personal learning networks (PLN) that link them to fantastic people and resources. Today I connect with teachers all over Asia and the world. We share links, ideas, plan conferences and just unwind. Facebook keeps me current on what people are doing for fun; Twitter provides me with links to new ideas and resources; and LinkedIn lets me keep an eye on my career path.
At Concordia Middle School, our students are taught to take control of their online presence and reputation. They must understand the true potential and power, good and bad, of our new-found abilities to communicate. They must learn to take control of how they appear to the rest of the world.
Will students make mistakes along the way? For sure! However, this is the time to let them make those mistakes. At this point in their lives they have a large group of caring adults that can help guide and counsel them.
In the end, students must understand the power of giving. To truly benefit from social media, a student must generate and give content. Only by giving generously, without expectation of return, will our students become the influential and wonderful adults we so want them to be.
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