ABSTRACT

The rapid expansion of blogs, Twitter, wikis, and virtual worlds has dramatically transformed the landscape of education. Through highly accessible networks, these new media can integrate students into a learning community by enabling them to create, customize, and share content online. Using Social Media Effectively in the Classroom shows educators how to:

  • utilize social media to best support learners
  • resolve potential problems
  • create a powerful sense of community within user-centered Web 2.0 technologies.

Moving beyond basic explanations of technologies and how to use them, this book provides research-based, jargon-free, practical examples of what works, what doesn’t, and why when it comes to social media. Organized according to the systematic process of instructional design, contributors describe innovative strategies for incorporating social media into educational settings as well as significant issues to be taken into consideration at each phase of planning, designing, teaching, and evaluation.

part 1|42 pages

Unit I: Planning a Socially Enriched Learning Environment

chapter 1|16 pages

Analysis In Virtual Worlds

The Influence of Learner Characteristics on Instructional Design

chapter 2|15 pages

Blurring The Lines

Teacher Insights on the Pitfalls and Possibilities of Incorporating Online Social Media into Instructional Design

part 2|68 pages

UNIT II Developing Powerful Instructional Strategies with Social Media

chapter 5|18 pages

Live In Your World, Learn In Ours

Virtual Worlds … Engaging the New Generation of Students

chapter 7|16 pages

Learning And Teaching As Communicative Actions

Social Media as Educational Tool

part 3|51 pages

UNIT III Teaching Successfully with Social Media

chapter 8|14 pages

Everyone's All A-Twitter About Twitter

Three Operational Perspectives on Using Twitter in the Classroom

chapter 9|15 pages

Online Videos In The Classroom

Exploring the Opportunities and Barriers to the Use of YouTube in Teaching Introductory Sociology

part 4|54 pages

UNIT IV Assessing Instructional Effectiveness with Social Media

chapter 13|15 pages

Is There (Still) A Place For Blogging In The Classroom?

Using Blogging to Assess Writing, Facilitate Engagement, and Evaluate Student Attitudes