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More and more research is concluding that due to this generation's comfort with and exposure to technology, they have developed different learning styles. With this comes a shift in the way in which education is delivered - something that some higher education institutions are struggling with. It was argued that the Net Generation need something more than the traditional methods to keep them engaged and Web 2.0 tools were suggested as a method of doing this (Prensky, 2001). One of these Web 2.0 tools is YouTube. YouTube is a video-sharing website where users can upload, watch, comment on and share videos. It is the biggest video-sharing platform with over 4 billion videos watched every day (Pring, 2012). With the interest in social media and the need to change the way in which learning occurs for today's generation, came the possibility of utilising YouTube for educational purposes (Roodt and Peier, 2013). The research into this sector has been very positive so far with m

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The Wonderful World of 21st Century Technologies

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More and more research is concluding that due to this generation's comfort with and exposure to technology, they have developed different learning styles. With this comes a shift in the way in which education is delivered - something that some higher education institutions are struggling with.

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We Are Teachers - Ideas and inspiration for reaching the next generation

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We Are Teachers is a proud community of K-12 educators, sharing ideas, resources, and awesome freebies and giveaways.

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Inside Higher Ed | Higher Education News, Events and Jobs

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Inside Higher Ed | Higher Education News, Events and Jobs

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Free Higher Education News, Jobs, Career Advice and Events for college and university faculty, adjuncts, graduate students, and administrators.

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The Discovery Education blog is a free resource for educators to find time-saving teaching strategies and compelling content for their daily lessons.

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Educational Technology and Mobile Learning (ETML) is a blog owned and operated by Med Kharbach. Dr. Kharbach holds a PhD in educational studies from Mount Saint Vincent University in Halifax, Canada. He was also a K-12 teacher with over 12 years of classroom teaching experience.

I launched ETML in 2010 with the purpose of helping my fellow EFL (English as Foreign Language) teachers integrate technology in English language teaching. Fast forward to 2022, ETML became among the top EdTech blogs with over 7000 published blog posts. ETML has been referenced in a wide variety of academic research journals, books, and news outlets including the New York Times, Huffpost.com, Hubspot.com... [continue reading].

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Educational Technology and Mobile Learning (ETML) is a blog owned and operated by Med Kharbach. Dr. Kharbach holds a PhD in educational studies from Mount Saint Vincent University in Halifax, Canada. He was also a K-12 teacher with over 12 years of classroom teaching experience.

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Whatever you do, do NOT pay for hosting, domain names etc etc. for this module!! Wordpress and other tools are brilliant but they have a business model and want you to pay of course (if you are concerned about this go with blogger). My advice is to use only the free options for this module and then you can decide at some point in the future if you want to invest more heavily!

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See comments, ideas and links in this post from Alexandra Mihai

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Welcome to a new issue of "The Educationalist". This week I thought it might be interesting to look into the use of social media for teaching and learning. At first sight, using social media seems an interesting and potentially useful way to engage students, especially in the context of online teaching. We often assume they are already using various social networks and thus integrating them in the learning process would be a natural step. However, there are several things to consider in order to make sure students' learning experience takes place in a safe environment. Below you can read some of my thoughts on using social media, as well as some tips and resources for using Twitter and blogs in your courses. Hope you find this useful and I look forward to your comments and ideas. Have a nice weekend!
The use of social media for teaching and learning requires a carefully designed approach, whereby the social networks are well integrated in the curriculum and their use enhances the learning experience. Moreover, one needs to keep in mind that even though students might use the various social media sites, they usually do it for personal purposes, thus their integration in the learning process also requires a shift of mindset for the students.

Before looking into the potential benefits of using social media for teaching and learning, here are three things worth keeping in mind:

Only use social media if and when it can enhance the learning experience and help you and your students reach the learning objectives;

If you decide to use social media (either a certain social network, or blogs, for instance), make sure they are well integrated in the learning activities and that you explain their added value to the students;

Ideally, only use social media that you are familiar with yourself; this helps in discovering their educational potential and finding the best ways to use them in your classroom.

I chose two different forms of social media to discuss in this week's newsletter: microblogging (Twitter) and blogging. The choice is based on my personal experience, as I find these two tools can provide students with interesting learning spaces, quite different from the formal classroom (be it on or offline).

Twitter

Twitter is a social network where users interact using 280-character (originally 140 characters) messages. This form of microblogging offers a dynamic environment that can be adapted and used to enhance interaction in your course.

Here are 5 reasons why you could use Twitter for teaching and learning:

1. Use Twitter to connect to experts in your field and "bring them into the classroom"; you can read more tips on that in my last newsletter;

2. Twitter can also be a way of bringing your students out of the "bubble" and exposing them to a variety of opinions; remember though that you are using it as a learning environment, so always provide a suitable framework for discussion as well as feedback;

3. Use Twitter as a class communication tool to make important announcements;

4. Twitter also provides a good platform for class conversations, and thus can be a tool for various assignments, especially when teaching online;

5. And last but not least, you can use Twitter to enhance your own professional network: find experts in your field and exchange ideas and resources. I can speak from my personal experience, Twitter has provided me with an amazing Personal Learning Network that I would have not been able to build otherwise.

Here are 5 resources that include tips on how to best use Twitter in your courses:

Blogging

Blogs are an extended version of Twitter messages and can provide another interesting platform to enhance your learning activities. Here are five ideas on how you can use blogging in your courses:

1. Blogs can be used for various writing assignments; the added value of using blog posts rather than essays is that your students can learn how to write for the online environment (including referencing other online sources) and for specific target audiences (i.e. non-academic writing);

2. Blogging can also provide a good platform for collaborative writing as well as discussing with peers (and not only); you can also provide feedback via commenting on students' posts;

3. You can use blogs as ePortfolios whereby students can compile various assignments;

4. Like Twitter, blogging can also be a way of creating a "learning community" and communicating various content-related as well as organizational aspects of the course;

5. You can create your own blog where you can share resources and news with your students.

Here are 5 resources to help you get started with blogging in the classroom:

Privacy and copyright issues

I've outlined the potential benefits of using Twitter and blogs for teaching and learning. However, before integrating them in your course, you need to remember that these are public websites (unless you go for a closed, password-protected version) and therefore you have to be aware and make your students aware of privacy and copyright-related issues. Also, if your students are reluctant to use their already existing social media accounts, offer them as an alternative to create one specifically for your course. As plan B, you could offer students the choice to opt out of an activity involving social media and take another activity instead. Whatever your decision, never lose sight of your main aim: to create a secure learning environment for your students.

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Handle with care: social media for teaching & learning

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Welcome to a new issue of "The Educationalist". This week I thought it might be interesting to look into the use of social media for teaching and learning. At first sight, using social media seems an interesting and potentially useful way to engage students, especially in the context of online teaching.