Social Media for Education - Application in the Classroom

Course details

On completion of this course, participants learn how to use appropriate educational focused techniques to fully utilize the social media to create an effective and engaging learning. They will add audio, images and links to their social media to encourage whole class participation across all subjects. Participants will also gain the skills required to connect to other schools both locally, nationally and internationally using social media and understand the possibilities of social media through reading best practice examples.

Course Modules

Module 1:

• Learn about social networking including Facebook and Twitter
• Understand the typical structure of social networking and issues relating to social networking
• See best practice use of social media through examples of popular social networking in classrooms
• Create a lesson plan using Facebook for an English class
• Create a lesson plan for SPHE using Twitter
• Gather and analyse the evidence required for the self-evaluation of your teaching

Module 2:

• Understand the importance of managing privacy on Facebook
• Create a personal learning network (PLN) on Facebook
• Know how to use Facebook within the education context
• Learn about Facebook applications for education
• Create lesson plans using Facebook for History & Geography
• Write a short document outline the weaknesses and strengths of your current teaching method

Module 3:

• Learn about Twitter for education and know how to use it effectively
• Source resources for making the most of Twitter in the classroom
• Gain skills in using Applications (Apps) in Education
• Create a lesson plan using Twitter for an English & History lesson
• Write a short self-evaluation report

Module 4:

• Understand educational networking and know how to set up a Social Network School on Facebook
• Gain the skills to use social networking for children’s education
• Understand the importance of social networking guidelines and security in the classroom
• Devise a development plan to improve on the weaknesses identified

Module 5:

• Know how to make the computer safe for use in an educational environment
• Learn how to install and use child protection software
• Learn how to create an acceptable use policy
• Be able to developed a policy for Computer Safety in the Classroom
• Create a lesson plan on Child Safety Online (SPHE)
• Outline the implementation and monitoring plan that you will use during the next academic year to ensure you improve on your teaching

Assessment

Each module will require participants to contribute a post to the course forum in response to a question posed by the course facilitator. Each question will require critical thinking and stimulate discussion among the community of learners, all of which will be discussed using the moderated forum and will in turn develop a community of practice. During the course, participants will answer multiple-choice questions to encourage knowledge retention.

To complete the course, each participant must undertake a significant assignment based on all modules. This exercise will take the form of a reflective exercise, creation of a lesson plan to be used in the following academic year, which will provides an opportunity for the participant to analyse:

• Their key learning points from the course
• The subject of the course in terms of their own experience
• Practical examples of how they will apply what they have learned in their classroom in the year ahead