Social Media for Educators

By Tricia Rush-Zwiercan

Most useful tools

Delicious is a great tool for organizing and accessing web resources. This tool allows me to retrieve websites

saved on a home computer or work computer. Twitter is a site I have been part of but only as a spectator. Following people and being part of communities of interest has proven to be valuable and already I have made professional connections.

Successes

Delicious, Twitter, & Pinterest have been the most valuable tools I have learned in this class.

Delicious-the most convenient way to find and store important web resources. This has brought such an ease to my life as a parent and an educator.

Successes

Twitter-the resources gained by participating in communities feels like I just found hidden journals in an old library. I no longer just open Twitter to “browse” but I seek it out to learn.

Pinterest-Learning how to organize, share and follow resources that are important and valuable to me in this world where information is always vast, has proven useful.I am thrilled to be able to use this tool much more effectively.

Challenges

Learning how to manage social media as well as digital tools is my greatest challenge. At times, this “new” world is overwhelming to this digital citizen. There is always something newto learn or try. Learning new waysto organize and maximize these resources will be an ongoing process.

To Moodle or Not To Moodle?The greatest factor regarding Moodle is the convenience of accessing the materials and the class. It allows the student to move at his/her own pace and learn in depth topics that interest them more. Also, the site is user friendly to navigate.Personally, I miss the interaction between students and all that you learn from each other. There is just that piece of knowledge you gain from conversation that is somehow missed with an online course.

My work from class...

My work from class...

My work from class...https://www.pinterest.com/triciaz21/

My work from class...

My work from class...

My work from class...

https://animoto.com/play/AqeP0a4zDJ11JtM8qEpLSg

Final Thoughts

There are so many ways to streamline your life, your classroom, your hobbies but taking the time to learn about each of them is something most of us do not have time to do. This class enabled me to learn about resources that I have heard about and started but never fully participated in to improve my life and the lives of my students. The tutorials were great and I appreciate the time I had to go through them to have a deeper comprehension of all they have to offer. Thank you Mr. Kiker!