Twitter and Evernote

Twitter and Evernote are two programs that are great to use in the 21st century classroom. Twitter is most commonly used as a social media site, but is becoming more popular as a professional learning network in the classroom. Evernote is a software used for easy note taking that can be exported.

About Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking service that allows users to read tweets which are made up of 140 characters. By using Twitter we are able to engage in sharing, collaborating, brain storming and problem solving (Dunlap, 2009).

An amazing thing about twitter is you can search a "hash tag." A "hash tag" is something that can be tagged in tweets and allows you to look at what people are talking about based on their "hash tag."

When students are reading something in a textbook they can tweet a question with a certain hash tag in order to get responses from other students or the teacher (Dunlap, 2009).

Another way to use twitter in the classroom is for students and teachers both to post videos, links and pictures of related material that they believe is worth sharing. This can be helpful to gain more knowledge about topics as well as feedback.

Personal Use of Twitter

My personal use of twitter is used to post to my friends or about my day. I know as a future teacher all post need to be appropriate, but still as a safe social media user my account is private. I have a non private account that is for me as a teacher in the education field. I will use this account to re tweet necessary tweets, post information and respond to parents and students.

I personally know that having discussion boards in the classroom is beneficial while doing work outside of class when you need assistance. This is why I feel twitter is a great classroom tool to discuss while out of school.

Due to my busy schedule I get most of my news from Twitter. Since I am on technology a lot, Twitter is the perfect place to see what is going on with the news as well as be one of the first to see it. Although it is sad that radio and TV news are starting to dwindle in our time, it is nice to know that social media is keeping up with it.

About Evernote

Evernote is a cloud web based app that allows users to capture and store text, images, videos and files on your device. It is the perfect tool for organizing notes, lesson plans or anything else you might need. Evernote allows you to sync it with all your devices.

The nice thing about Evernote is it can be used for just about anything you would like it to be used for.

Once you download the Evernote app you can use it on your phone, computer, i pad or any other devices you might need. With that being said Evernote can be shared with other people by email or social media sites.

One thing that really stands out to me is the fact that Evernote remembers writing in pictures. If you upload a photo of a whiteboard to Evernote, you can find the file again later by doing a search for one of the words on the board (Freedman).  

The reason I like the idea of sharing is because it is perfect for sharing lesson plans with team teachers as well as with substitutes for last minute plans.

Personal Use of Evernote

I used Evernote for my Reading Processing class as a Book Buddy Digital Journal. This was such an easy way to take notes because it allows me to do it on the go as well as include images of the books if need be. The best part of Evernote is that I can turn it in by simply sending the link to my teacher.

I feel that in my classroom Evernote will be a great tool not only for me to use, but also my students. As students take notes I can have them send them to me to answer questions as well as make sure they are keeping on task.

Conclusion
In the 21st Century kids are so familiar with social media that it only makes sense to integrate it in the classroom. It is easier for kids to use this since they are already used to working with something relevant in their lives. Using social media not only benefits the students, but also the teachers. Teachers can get ideas and updates as well.

Although people have mixed feelings on social media being brought to the classroom, remember that social media is starting a new path in school systems and learning internet safety is a good lesson. The only way to keep students interested and engaged is to incorporate social media into the learning experience.


References

Dunlap, J. C., & Lowenthal, P. R. (2009). Instructional uses of Twitter. The CU online handbook, 45. 

Freedman, D. H. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.inc.com/magazine/201112/evernote-2011-company-of-the-year.html

  

The Positive Side of Social Media in School

In recent years, social media has become more and more popular among the younger generations. People always talk about the negative side of having it in the school system rather then the positive ways it can benefit the students.

In today's world opportunities for education online have increased like never before. According to a study done by The University of Minnesota, using social media sites teaches the students what we want them to learn for the future. Since kids are so familiar with using social media it is easier to learn from something they are used to working with and incorporate it in the curriculum by connecting with the kids and make the learning relevant to their lives. Teachers also can have better communication with the students inside and outside of the classroom. I personally know that having discussion boards as a class benefit me while doing homework and needing assistance. Using social media not only benefits students, it also is very helpful to teachers and gives them new opportunities for communication and lessons. According to Social networking on ProCon.org, 59% of students with access to the internet report that they use social networking for educational topics and 50% use it to discuss school assignments. 

I found it interesting to see from the chart above that a main reason teachers use some of these sites are for current events. What better way to see what the world is talking about than a simple hash tag on twitter?  I know as a future teacher I love looking through Pinterest to get good classroom decorating ideas, as well as lesson plans and games to play with the students. A lot of teachers these days are having students create boards on Pinterest for final projects. I think these are such creative and fun ways to learn, not to mention useful! When I was in Junior high we had to make a Facebook page for the characters of a book we were reading. Personally I thought it was one of the most creative ideas to do as an assignment. It got the class involved and interested by listing the hometown, things they "liked", events they attended, friends they had and many other Facebook type things.

As the debate continues on whether or not social media should be permitted in the school system, remember that the world is changing and teaching safety on the internet is an important learning experience. Social media is the start of a new path for growth in the school system. The only way to keep kids interested and involved is to keep up with the times. What better way to keep up then to incorporate social media into the learning experience?


Robb, M. (n.d.). Pause before posting: Using social media responsibly. Retrieved from http://www.socialworktoday.com/archive/020911p8.shtml

Procon.org. (2012, May 24). Retrieved from http://socialnetworking.procon.org

Educational benefits of social networking sites. (2008, July 10). Retrieved from http://www1.umn.edu/news/features/2008f/UR_191308_REGION1.html