Social Media in the Classroom
Social Media is here to stay and the many applications are multi-media tools that can be used to make classrooms more engaging, relevant, and authentic for the 21st Century Learner. Using Social Media in your classroom teaches a variety of literacy skills, online communication skills, as well as digital citizenship and responsibility. Interacting and communicating with Social Media is powerful and students need to be explicitly taught appropriate use and responsible behaviours concerning these online applications.
It is important to note that as an educator, you will have to determine if a specific use and or application of Social Media in your classroom is appropriate, as most of these apps have a 13+ age rating for account creation and potential access to mature content. I've included a few K-7 Friendly Social Media applications below, but the mainstream Social Media applications could still be used with modification depending on student age.
With any Social Media application implementation you should complete a Risk Assessment, talk to your administrator about the Code of Conduct and/or Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) at your school/school district, as well as create and distribute parent/student informed consent and permission form documents. Additionally, all classroom technology use must be compliant with British Columbia’s Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA) guidelines. I've included sample documents and information regarding these documents and guidelines below the Social Media icons.
Below are the Social Media apps that have been used personally and that have a wide range of applications and educational value in the classroom:
It is important to note that as an educator, you will have to determine if a specific use and or application of Social Media in your classroom is appropriate, as most of these apps have a 13+ age rating for account creation and potential access to mature content. I've included a few K-7 Friendly Social Media applications below, but the mainstream Social Media applications could still be used with modification depending on student age.
With any Social Media application implementation you should complete a Risk Assessment, talk to your administrator about the Code of Conduct and/or Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) at your school/school district, as well as create and distribute parent/student informed consent and permission form documents. Additionally, all classroom technology use must be compliant with British Columbia’s Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA) guidelines. I've included sample documents and information regarding these documents and guidelines below the Social Media icons.
Below are the Social Media apps that have been used personally and that have a wide range of applications and educational value in the classroom:
Mainstream Social Media Apps
K-7 Friendly Social Media Apps
Please click the buttons below to connect you with useful information regarding FIPPA, Consent Forms, Risk Assessments, and Social Media Guidelines in British Columbia
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This Twitter Resource Package contains a Risk Assessment, Tool Backgrounder, Parent/Student Document and Informed Consent Documents. This Resource Package was created in 2017 and may need updating as Twitter's privacy policy is continually updated. This document could serve as a useful template to conduct your own risk assessment for a variety of social media. Please reference this resource with my name (DeCiantis, Laura) and this website address.
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Banner photo by Jørgen Asmundvaag on Unsplash
