To Friend or Not to Friend

Boy, that seems to be the question these days.  A Google search in the fall of 2010 for the terms “facebook, teachers, students” garnered close to 9 million hits.  Today, that same search receives over 90 million hits! Should we friend our students on Facebook is a question that all educators should be asking.

There are strong opinions both ways. One school of thought views Facebook as a great tool for home/school collaboration.  Teachers, classrooms, grade levels, entire schools, and even entire school districts can create pages to provide information to the community. Some teachers create pages for projects and “friend” the students assigned to the projects.

These are great educational uses for Facebook.  But what about the social aspect of this site?

Currently, my home district, like many other school districts, does not have a policy in place to provide guidance to employees regarding this issue.  Friending our students can cause sticky situations. For example, what should be done if it is discovered that a student is engaging in risky behaviors, like drinking? Are we obligated to inform parents? And if we do, are they going to welcome our knowledge or will they wonder why an adult has a “social” relationship with their child? On the flip side, what if someone else posts a photo of you, questionable in nature.  Do you really want your students to see that or to know about your social interactions with other adults?

So, compromise by having two separate profiles, a professional one for interactions with past and present students, and a personal one for yourself to enjoy without worrying about that picture of you from high school that you would prefer never again saw the light of day, or the pages of Facebook.

 I would love to hear what others are doing about this.  Send me an email at sharonastclair@gmail.com. 

SAMR Explained

There has been a lot of talk about technology integration recently, but what does that really mean?  Dr. Ruben Puentedura developed the SAMR Model to help others understand how technology integration works.  SAMR stands for Substitution, Augmentation, Modification, and Redefinition.  I’ve seen it defined online as “Bloom’s Taxonomy of innovation.”  This two-part, slightly interactive article will attempt to explain this model. 

The first two steps of SAMR are jointly considered the “enhancement” stage of integration.

Substitution is simply that – using a technology device to do exactly the same thing you would have done without it. An example is typing an essay rather than handwriting it. All you have done is substitute a keyboard for a pencil.  There is no additional thought processes occurring.  We do this a lot, like when we use a calculator because we are too lazy to do that long multiplication problem or when we read the news on the computer rather than in print. A lot of folks in this stage will continue to do tasks the original way as well as the new way – kind of doubling the work.  We do this because we are a bit afraid of letting the

known” go.  We handwrite our papers first, but then type them to submit.  Or we keep our newspaper delivery service, just in case the internet goes down. This is Simple Substitution.

Now pause and think about how you might be currently using Substitution in your life or your job.

Then there is Augmentation.  This is when we use the technology tool to do a little more than we normally would. For example, when typing that essay, you use the word count feature or built-in thesaurus.  It’s something you could do on your own, but might be a little more inclined to do because of the ease in which you can, thanks to the technology you’re using. When reading the newspaper, you may click on an active link to get more information about the topic.  If you had to get up and go to your dusty Encyclopedia Britannica on the shelf, you may not be so interested in learning more.

Now pause and think about how you might be currently using Augmentation in your life or your job.

There has been a lot of talk about technology integration recently, but what does that really mean?  Dr. Ruben Puentedura developed the SAMR Model to help others understand how technology integration works.  SAMR stands for Substitution, Augmentation, Modification, and Redefinition.  I’ve seen it defined online as “Bloom’s Taxonomy of innovation.”  This two-part, slightly interactive article will attempt to explain this model. 

The last two steps of SAMR are jointly considered the “transformation” stage of integration.

Modification is when technology allows for a “significant redesign of the learning process.”  An example would be having students use Google Docs (or another collaborative Web 2.0 tool) to compose their written work.  Then they could share the document with other students for peer revision.  Because of the history feature of Google Docs, students will be able to see the exact editing recommendations, and who made them, allowing for further discussion.  Peer editing can take place as a homework assignment rather than done in class, freeing up class time for valuable discussions.

Now pause and think about how you might be currently using Modification in your life or your job.

Finally there is Redefinition.  Here the technology allows for creation of new tasks that would otherwise be inconceivable without the technology.  Continuing the modification example, redefinition would be having a content area expert act as the “peer editor” rather than a classmate.  As we move towards Common Core, there will be greater emphasis on informational text rather than fictional pieces.  It goes to reason that the focus of students’ writing will follow suit.  Imagine having a Civil War era historian evaluate a piece of writing by a 5^th, 8^th or 11^th grade student studying American History.  Not really possible without technology.  Hence, redefinition.

Now pause and think about how you might be currently using Redefinition in your life or your job.

Teachers –  How can you use this information to reinvent a portion of your classroom curriculum?

Other Staff – How can you use the ideas here to change something about your work or personal lives?