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IXL

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IXL is a real-time diagnostic that pinpoints students understanding in math, language arts, science, social studies, and Spanish. Students from Pre-K to 12th grade can answer skill based questions as they experience achievement awards and engaging questions that explain correct answer and give feedback in real time.

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IXL is a software that is used to drill and skill. Questions are linked to standards across grade levels and subject areas to allow students to practice skills needed to be successful in those content areas. Short answer questions, along with multiple choice questions are provided and instant feedback is given with detailed explanations on how to solve the questions correctly. Student's can also join a live classroom with their teacher or other classmates where they can solve questions together in groups. IXL provides students with step by step lessons for different learning targets in which they follow along with the examples and answer questions as they go. There are also learning games for math and ELA that connect to NYS standards.

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Desmos

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Desmos is a program that includes an interactive graphing calculator along with premade activities linked to math standards. Desmos also allows teachers to create custom activities using the software to measure students learning. Students from grades 6-12 can collaborate with each other, or work independently to answer questions and receive feedback in real time. This program can be linked to other LMS to track student's progress.

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1. The Empowering Minds program is easy-to-use. We designed it with the busy teacher in mind. In practice, this means we make sure that the lessons require minimal prep. We even check that lessons will work if a teacher doesn't have a printer, projector, etc. Everything is online so that there are no books or props to keep track of.

2. We do mindfulness-based SEL. What is that? It means that not only do some of our lessons explicitly teach mindfulness, but we also start every lesson with a short "mindful moment" and when lessons explore other topics, like apologizing, we often rely on mindfulness as part of the skill (e.g. take a deep breath and calm down before you apologize...). It also means that every lesson is directly connected with CASEL's five SEL competencies of self-awareness, self-management, responsible decision making, social awareness, and relationship skills.

3. Our program is accessible for both students and teachers. We don't think SEL or mindfulness should be complicated and our lessons make sure that's what students and teachers think too.

4. Our program is designed for easy school-wide implementation. With the same theme across K-8 and across 9-12 each week, administrators can tie the school's SEL work together and even have older kids work with younger ones.

Here's some additional information about our program if you are interested.

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SEL resources for teachers that your students will love! Our lesson plans include stories, games, role-plays, and discussion prompts.

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New York State Council of Educational Associations - Home

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SEL Day Activity Pack

On the second Friday in March, schools around the world will be celebrating SEL Day. This pack contains activities, announcements, and an assembly script you can use in your school or classroom to celebrate the importance of SEL.

On SEL Day, join in the global celebration on social media. Post photos or videos of how your school or classroom is celebrating using the hashtags #SELday and #SecondStep. Follow these hashtags to see how others around the world are marking this day.
Download PDF

Resilience Activities

A collection of research-based activities to help teachers support students' coping, recovery, and well-being following a crisis.
Download PDF

Second Step® Community Rebuilding Unit

A series of five lessons, aligned with Second Step® Elementary, to help foster a sense of community among students and staff-perfect to use at the beginning of the school year, after holiday breaks, or after any extended closure.

Mind Yeti® Mindfulness Activities

A kid-friendly library of research-based, guided mindfulness sessions to help kids (and adults) calm their minds, focus their attention, and connect to the world around them.
Learn More

Being Grateful for Big and Little Things

An activity based on a Mind Yeti quote to help students practice gratitude for things big and small.
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Hello Gratitude: Being Grateful for the Good Things in Life

An activity adapted from a Mind Yeti mindfulness session focusing on gratitude.
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Solutions to Community Problems

An academic integration activity to help kids practice working together to understand and solve problems.
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Reinforce SEL Lessons with Haiku

A fun, creative activity designed to reinforce social-emotional skills through the rhythm of writing haiku.
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Inclusive Communities

A lesson adapted from Second Step Elementary that teaches students how to invite others to join in and why being inclusive is important within a community.
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The Invisible Boy: Classroom Discussions

These prompts guide discussion before, during, and after reading this book by Trudy Ludwig, and cover topics such as empathy, inclusion, and bullying prevention.
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Cross the Room

An ice-breaker activity to help students get to know each other and find out what they have in common.
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Making a Difference

A creative activity designed to acknowledge and celebrate when kids treat others with kindness and respect.
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Class Coat of Arms

A team activity to support a positive climate and help kids strengthen bonds, while also learning a little about history.
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Friendship-Making

An ice-breaker activity to help kids practice making conversation and showing interest in others.
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Explore our free social-emotional learning activities for elementary school, plus additional materials and resources for grades K-5.

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With remote learning and emerging technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), social media is an integral part of education more than ever. There are many different ways to use social media for education inside and outside the classroom.

Because we believe in the power of social media to make nearly anything easier, we will share 15 ways to use social media for education, based on insights shared with us from top institutions.

Benefits of social media in education

Here are our top three benefits of using social media in education:

Benefit 1: Extends learning opportunities

Social media unleashes more learning opportunities. Online classes and remote jobs are the new norm, so teaching students to work from a distance becomes a necessity for digital literacy and preparing them for their careers. Social media platforms support educators in various ways from sharing announcements to holding live lectures.

Benefit 2: Create connections with students and alumni

Social provides a way for institutions to quickly and directly communicate with students, faculty, staff and alumni, fostering connections across various audiences. Social content can attract prospective students, keep parents informed, grow alumni networks, promote on-campus events and more.

Focusing on nurturing community and publishing engaging content can also help increase enrollment. According to our Higher Education Social Media Benchmarks for 2023 report, 41% of school officials can directly attribute increased enrollment to social strategy.

For example, Keele University said their campus photos on Instagram help students solidify their college decision. One student came to the university because she saw their posts on Facebook and it helped confirm her decision, later becoming a digital ambassador for the school.

Benefit 3: Build brand identity

Social supports and amplifies university branding. University marketing teams use social media to maintain a positive brand reputation for their institutions. With the right strategy, colleges and universities can attract more students, increase endowments, promote events or initiatives and improve alumni relations.

Social media in the classroom

From preschool to college, there are so many methods for using social media in the classroom to communicate and educate. Here are seven ways to use social media in the classroom across platforms:

1. Use posts to broadcast updates and alerts

Instructors and colleges can meet students where they are by incorporating social media platforms they're likely already familiar with like Facebook or X (formerly known as Twitter).

Have students follow a class Facebook Page or join a Facebook Group to view posts about course updates, homework assignments and tests. Universities can have publicly accessible pages dedicated to specific schools or departments that students can see even if they aren't active on Facebook.

When using social media for education, it's important to maintain a professional boundary. Email students a direct link to the Facebook Group for access and avoid sending friend requests. Groups are the perfect "home base," especially for online courses because it makes it easy to connect with students. Similarly, instructors and departments can use Posts on X to keep students informed.

2. Use live streaming for lectures and discussions

Instructors can use Facebook Groups, Instagram Live, YouTube Live or LinkedIn Live to stream lectures and facilitate more accessible learning. If a student can't come to the lecture hall, they can join online or review later. Adding live captions helps students who may be deaf or hard of hearing, non-native speakers, or learn visually. And platforms like Instagram and YouTube allow live streams to be recorded, providing students with review material for midterms and finals season.

Recorded live streams also widen the institution's reach and authority by making lectures available to scholars and professors from other colleges, states or countries.

3. Use X for class updates and more

X is a great option for providing quick updates and reminders to students. Teachers can create a single handle per class and reuse it every year, or they can create a new handle each school year. Use X threads to share resources like practice quizzes, interesting perspectives or thought-provoking quotes to foster critical thinking. Hashtags can mark specific discussions or chats with guest speakers.

4. Create a class blog for discussions and cross-channel learning

Blogs are another great outlet for incorporating social media in the classroom. Students can link to the class blog on other social channels. For example, a student might share a photo from their visual essay on LinkedIn to attract the attention of recruiters for job or internships. Using blogs as a semester-long assignment can improve students' short-form writing and critical thinking.

Don't feel limited to just an English or writing class; this use of social media in education can be transferred across all subjects. There are also several platforms professors can use to create class blogs, such as Tumblr, Medium or WordPress. The course syllabus, updates and resources can be shared on the blog as well.

5. Use Instagram for digital storytelling

Have students practice storytelling on Instagram by creating class-specific accounts where they can present photos or graphics (and delete them once the course is over, if they so choose). This can work especially well in visual-heavy classes: Have photojournalism students post essays or challenge the social media marketing class to create a faux-brand campaign.

6. Create a class-specific Pinterest board

Educators can use Pinterest to prepare and organize resources, lesson plans and worksheets for their classes in one place. They can also set up Pinterest boards for each of their classes and save pins that are relevant to lessons.

Create boards according to class or subject, and create sub-topic boards for weekly units, projects or worksheets. Pinterest can also be useful for students to curate a digital bibliography for research projects, papers or group assignments. Students can pin websites, books or videos to a board on a single topic and refer back to it when it's time to write an essay or thesis.

7. Prep for post-graduation and create alumni relationships

LinkedIn can help current students develop networking skills, craft their personal brand and connect with alumni. Flexing these career muscles could help them earn internships, gain mentors and secure job offers before they walk across the stage on graduation day.

Institutions can use LinkedIn for university colleges as well. For example, a business school may have several private LinkedIn Groups for regional alumni chapters to connect them with students and faculty for internships, fundraising, volunteer opportunities and events.

Encouraging students to post relevant articles, projects and research, internship experiences and other academic accomplishments helps the university develop social proof on the platform. This is also an excellent example of the importance of incorporating advocacy into your social strategy.

Social media for education marketing

Just as there were many ways to use social media in the classroom, there are also many uses for social media in education marketing. Social media marketing can help if you're looking to reach a larger audience for your college or university. Let's dive into how social media can empower education marketing.

8. Leverage TikTok creators and influencers for user-generated content

Although many public universities have banned TikTok from campus Wi-fi, some educators and institutions embrace the app to educate and connect with students. Student and teacher influencers can provide user-generated content that satisfies a prospective student's desire to see authentic content from their peers and future professors.

For example, Chapman University professor @itsmattprince went viral after challenging his class to earn 1 million likes on a TikTok video in exchange for canceling their final:

Fun, yet real-world applications like this illustrate the power of social influence-plus who doesn't love a canceled final?

9. Include social media links on your school website

In the Higher Education Social Media Benchmarks for 2023 report, we found that 68% of high school students use social channels to research schools. Many parents and prospective students will check a school's website first if they're interested, and offering even more ways to follow the school creates a different insight into campus life.

Make it easy for parents and students to find your school's social media profiles by adding links to the website's main navigation or creating a social media directory that houses them all in one place.

10. Give a glimpse into student life through photo and video

If you want to attract new students and parents to your school, share photos of campus events to showcase what they could expect. Use short-form video like Reels, TikTok or YouTube Shorts to help prospective students envision themselves attending college there.

Highlighting events, sports, extracurriculars and the beauty of campus can make your school stand out from the rest. While school and university websites tend to follow the same mold, social media allows you to be more unique and casual like this Barbenheimer-inspired post from the University of Georgia:

11. Create alumni community groups

Many alumni want to remain involved with their alma mater after graduation. Creating a dedicated community via Facebook Groups or LinkedIn Groups can increase engagement.

For example, the University of Newcastle has over 148,000 alumni. Their team features current students, staff and alumni to amplify the career opportunities that manifest from being part of their community.

Alumni groups, groups for different graduating classes or departments, and groups for different extracurriculars and organizations allow former and current students to engage and meet others with common interests. Take a look at our alumni engagement best practices guide to learn more ways to keep the school spirit flowing.

12. Incorporate a social media crisis strategy

How would you communicate to the entire campus during an emergency? Whether it's a fire, tornado or other immediate campus emergency, a social media crisis plan can help institutions proactively prepare. Keep parents and students updated on the situation by sharing information about the crisis and if authorities are involved. Many campuses have automated messaging alerts set up, but using social also enables people to be updated in real time.

Institutions can use social listening, which involves analyzing conversations and trends related to your brand, to aid with public relations crisis management plans. Seneca College leveraged Sprout's capabilities a few years ago when 12,000 staff members went on strike. Using Brand Keywords and the Smart Inbox, the social media team was able to sort through and respond to a deluge of inbound feedback from concerned students.

13. Use chatbots to support students outside of office hours

In our higher education social media playbook, we talk about the importance of social customer service. Using automated replies or chatbots can help the student body get their questions answered immediately, or at least guide them to a solution faster.

Keele University used chatbots via Sprout's Bot Builder to respond immediately to common questions about courses and bursary information. In the five months after using chatbots, nearly 500 conversations addressed a variety of topics from housing applications to international student services.

14. Iterate social strategy to create student-centric content

Using social media for education allows educators and marketers to meet students where they are by connecting on channels they use everyday. Social creates an opportunity for institutions to be more even more student-centric. But to keep students engaged, institutions will need to produce content that caters to the wants and needs of their audience(s).

If you want to manage your institution's social channels successfully, you'll need to iterate and improve your strategy by reviewing the top and lowest performing content.

Dartmouth College uses Sprout's Sent Messages report to determine content performance and iterate their overall social strategy as needed. After reviewing which posts performed well, they schedule new posts with similar content to inform their content calendar.

15. Manage your communities all under one roof

Social media empowers universities to bring their various audiences together. Many institutions have an extensive community of prospective and current students, faculty, staff and alumni, but this causes a common pain point: decentralization.

Since colleges and universities have multiple social media accounts, it can be difficult to manage them all seamlessly. However, using a social media management software centralizes multiple networks in one place, so overseeing various accounts becomes more manageable and scalable.

Texas A&M University, one of the largest public universities in the nation, uses social media to connect with these various communities. The university has hundreds of departments, 16 colleges and 19 NCAA sports, so using a social media management tool is essential. Their social team uses Sprout's publishing suite to discuss strategy, collaborate on content creation and provide feedback to interns all on one platform. In just six months, between August 2020 and January 2021, Texas A&M earned over 131 million impressions and 8.3 million content engagements across X, Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram.

A tool like Sprout Social can help make social media management a breeze, regardless of whether you're a solo marketer or a full marketing department. Multiple users can use the Sprout platform to create content with consistent messaging and schedule posts across networks at the best time using our ViralPost® feature.

And the Post Performance report takes the guesswork out of identifying what content resonates because teams can pinpoint top posts and view engagement across channels.

Sprout enables you to monitor and manage multiple accounts across different networks, which is ideal for educational institutions. Each department or teacher at your school might have their own separate social media accounts for specific information, and a social media management tool can help you ensure the right posts are going out on each of these accounts.

And if there is news or content relevant to multiple departments, Sprout enables users to share the same content across multiple profiles with a single click.

Start using social media for education

Using social media for education goes beyond the classroom because it helps educators shape a modern holistic learning experience, build community and establish academic authority.

Take some of these ideas for a test drive, and sign up for a free Sprout Social trial to help you manage it all.

Jamia Kenan

Jamia Kenan is a Content Specialist for Sprout Social based in Atlanta, GA. When she's not writing, you'll find her talking about the Internet from the latest TikTok trends to NFTs and the metaverse. She also enjoys trying new restaurants, hiking and watching movies.

Read all articles by Jamia Kenan

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15 ways to use social media for education

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There are many different ways to use social media for education, so we've identified 15 ways to use it, inside and outside the classroom.

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Bridging The Binary: Examining and Addressing the Digital Divide in the era of Artificial Intelligence

Keynote with Ken Shelton
REGISTER IN PLM> About Ken
Ken (He/Him/His) is a highly distinguished professional in education, with a Master's degree in Education with a specific focus on Educational Technology and New Media Design and Production. His academic background is complemented by over two decades of hands-on teaching experience, with a significant part of his career devoted to shaping young minds at the Middle School level through the lens of technology.

Ken is an esteemed member of the Educational Technology community, standing tall with accolades from leading global tech entities such as Apple, Google, and Microsoft. He holds the esteemed title of an Apple Distinguished Educator, a Google Certified Innovator, and a Microsoft Innovative Educator Expert, signifying his active and influential role in advancing educational technology.

Ken's expertise extends to the sphere of policy-making, being a notable figure in the California State Superintendent of Public Instruction's Education Technology Task Force. A committed advocate for equal learning opportunities, he regularly imparts knowledge and insights through keynote speeches, personalized consulting, organizational culture/change, school/district transformation, and hands-on workshops. His range of expertise covers an array of topics, including but not limited to, Organizational Leadership, Policy Analysis, Inclusive Learning Environments, Antibias/Antiracism, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, Multimedia Literacy, Cultural Intelligences, Design and Career and Technical Education (CTE).

Recognized by the International Society for Technology in Education, Ken was the proud recipient of the Digital Equity Professional Learning Network Excellence Award in 2018 and the Making IT Happen Award in 2022 due to his extraordinary commitment, leadership, courage, and persistence in improving digital learning opportunities for students. His unyielding dedication to enhancing digital learning opportunities for students led him to be acknowledged as an influencer to follow by EdTech Magazine.

Ken's influence transcends borders, having been invited to speak at numerous global conferences, schools, NGOs, and education-related gatherings. His wealth of practical experience, knowledge, and perspectives provide invaluable support to various organizations, including State Departments of Education, Ministries of Education, and non-profits.

Among many things, Ken provides insightful guidance as a member of the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Board for several technology companies and non-profit organizations. His responsibilities extend beyond advisory roles to include policy analysis, platform evaluation, and community outreach, alongside aiding in the creation of fair and inclusive recruitment and retention programs. His endeavors aim to build a more equitable, inclusive future in the world of technology and education.

iGen: Teaching and Guiding the Smartphone Generation

Keynote: Jean Twenge

Today's older kids, teens, and young adults are Gen Z (also known as iGen), the first generation to spend their adolescence with smartphones. Gen Z'ers are growing up more slowly as adolescents, spending more time online, and spending less time hanging out with their friends in person. They are also more motivated by end goals and less by intrinsic joy than previous generations. You'll walk away from this session with ideas for how to better reach this generation in the classroom and help them be happier and healthier overall.
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Active-Con

Active-Con, now in its 8th year, this year will be about Artificial Intelligence (AI).

Location: Edith Macy Conference Center, Briarcliff Manor, NY
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How Will We Respond to the A.I. Revolution?

KEYNOTE : JOHN SPENCER

The A.I. Revolution is here. For some, it's exciting. For others, it feels terrifying. Still others feel baffled and confused by it. Many of us feel a mix of all three emotions. But one thing is clear. It's here and it's not going away. In this keynote, we explore how we might adapt and change as we navigate the new terrain of an AI world. We explore the human skills students will need in a world of smart machines. Ultimately, we'll be reminded of the hope and humanity we continue to have in a time of epic change.

ABOUT JOHN

John Spencer is a former middle school teacher and current full-time professor who is passionate about seeing kids reach their creative potential. He is the co-author of the bestselling books Launch, Empower, and Vintage Innovation. In 2013, he spoke at the White House, sharing a vision for how to empower students to be future-ready through creativity and design thinking. His most recent book is The A.I. Roadmap.

ABOUT JERRY

Jerry Crisci is the founding co-Director of the Center for Innovation for the Scarsdale Public Schools in Scarsdale, NY, where he also served as Director of Instructional Technology and Innovation. His work has been profiled in The Wall Street Journal, CBS radio's Charles Osgood program, School CIO, District Administration, and EdTech magazines. Under his leadership, Scarsdale was awarded a Technology Salute by the National School Boards Association at their annual conference in Anaheim, California, one of three districts selected nationally.

Jerry served as a contributing editor at Electronic Learning magazine and a columnist for Kids and Computers magazine. His articles and software reviews have appeared in many books and publications, including Classroom Computer Learning, Multimedia Schools, Instructor, Technology Horizons in Education and Middle Years. He also wrote chapters about the use of educational technology in two books, Bridging the Gap: Integrating Curriculum in Upper Elementary and Middle School (Heineman)and Information Technology for Schools: Creating Practical Knowledge To Improve Student Performance (with Ken Holvig) (Jossey-Bass).

Jerry enjoys speaking about the future of instructional technology, and has given keynote speeches at school districts, universities, and corporations, including Google, Apple, and IBM. He has also presented at several national and international conferences, including the International Conference on Technology and Education at MIT, the NSBA Technology and Learning Conference, The New Media Consortium Conference, the Consortium for School Networking (COSN) conferences in Washington DC and San Diego, the Central and Eastern European Schools Association (CEESA) Conference in Vienna, Austria, and at several ISTE Conferences around the country.

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REGISTER IN PLM> About Ken Ken (He/Him/His) is a highly distinguished professional in education, with a Master's degree in Education with a specific focus on Educational Technology and New Media Design and Production.

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Free, fun educational app for young kids | Khan Academy Kids

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Inspire a lifetime of learning with our educational app for kids ages 2-8. Kids can learn reading, writing, math, counting, ABCs, addition, subtraction, social-emotional skills, & more. 100% free on iPhone, iPad, Android, and Amazon

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EdPuzzle