My school uses Edline for communication of grades, assignments, calendars, etc. Edline has no forums or embeds and is really only useful for posting grades and uploading assignments. It's basically lame.
We also have Moodle, but I know of no teachers who are actually using it and the kids have condemned it as slow (it's hosted on our school's lethargic server) and useless.
I have been experimenting Ning clones like grou.ps, but have found a reluctance on the part of students to create another user profile and join a network they have to check in on. I've kept it optional to this point for that reason.
The one thing they all have in common is FaceBook. Almost every student and most parents have FB accounts (I teach High School). Herein lies my dilemma... FaceBook is blocked on our campus during school hours. It's not accessible immediately before or after school (until 4pm) and cannot be used by students in study halls. The claim is that kids are wasting school time on FB (most of the kids find ways around our proxy server and get on anyway).
I would like to experiment with FB as a means of connecting my class and communicating outside of the classroom, but I need to make a compelling argument to Admin. Here's my idea so far...
I'm going to video my class responding to the following questions with a show of hands (I think I stole the idea from @intrepidteacher, but I can't remember):
- How many of you blog regularly?
- How many of you are active members of a network like Ning?
- How many of your teachers use Moodle?
- How many of you check Edline daily?
- How many of you have FB accounts?
- How many of you check FB at least once a day?
The idea is to illustrate that we are fighting upstream against a powerful tool that almost all the kids are already using.
I would appreciate any suggestions for other/better questions to ask students and for arguments in favour of unblocking and using FB at school.
My students are too young to use Facebook but I post ed. related articles myself. I'm FB friends with a lot of my colleagues and some of them (who might not read the article if I sent a link to all teachers) end up reading them. Other teacher friends often comment on them too.
ReplyDeleteP.S. What happened to your Earcos blog posts?
Facebook at my school sounds the same as yours. Frankly, I think the real reason it's blocked is so that faculty and staff can't sit at Farmville all day long. I have a blog that I use for more class specific stuff and then I have a Facebook page for sending fun links, music and videos that don't really merit time spent in class. It is annoying that I have to wait until 4:30 or I go home to put anything on my class Facebook page. My point, I think kids can handle it, I really wonder about some faculty/staff, but everyone just gets around it with https or something, right?
ReplyDeleteOne thing I have done to stay connected with students through FB but not let them into my world is, I created a Mr. Raisdana fan page. That way I don't see their profiles and they don't see mine, but we are able to share information about class on FB. They simply like the page. I always tell my students, I don't want to know what you are doing, and I don't want you in my world, so this fan page is a great to stay connected but keep or space.
ReplyDeleteI also have a group of old students from Doha who are still there, allowing me to stay in touch with them and to introduce them to my students thus creating a bigger network for all students.
I think the trick is not to rely on one tool like a portal or mooodle, but try and use a series of tools to stay connected. Our class blog is also a great homebase:
http://unity.edublogs.org/
@megan - I had to create a new blog when I retired my hotmail account. couldn't convince google to switch the existing blog to the other identity.
ReplyDelete@Catherine - true. the kids get around it easily. Here the staff have FB access 24/7 and you're right, many do 'waste' time their farms, aquariums, mafias etc.
@intrepid thanks. I agree with the idea of using multiple tools, my frustration lies in my inability to use the tool the kids are most comfortable with and are using extensively already as one the them.
ReplyDeletemaybe I can include an anonymous response to the question - How many of you get on FB at school in spite of the block?
ReplyDeleteOr maybe just phrase it as "How many of you know how to get on FB in spite of the block?" That way there is no admission that they do so.
ReplyDeleteP.S. Your timestamps are wacky. It's 2:18 pm on Sunday, Sept. 26 by my watch.
ReplyDeleteGreat student response when I asked the questions in a class. "Mr. Graff, why don't you ask how many of us are on FaceBook right now?"
ReplyDeleteThanks for proving my point!
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ReplyDeleteMay I just say that using "https" does not work anymore as going around the Facebook block at our school. Hehehe we now know of other methods ^^
ReplyDeleteHave you shown the video of your class responding to your admin?
ReplyDelete@megan not yet. I'm going to post to my unblockfacebook posterous page and send out the link. :)
ReplyDeletehttp://unblockfacebook.posterous.com/
@megan - on second thought, that would require permission slips etc. I'll just tabulate the results and provide the video upon request...
ReplyDelete