Social+Environments

=Social Environments=

toc Social environments on the internet and interactive collaborative software are part of what have been termed Web 2.0 resources. Below is a range of examples of these types of social resources which are considered to be current and emerging social software tools.

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1. Who are your students writing for? Who is their audience?
Watch this video to understand the potential audience now available through social networking and the internet.

media type="custom" key="766325" A 1.5 min video from http://www.teachertube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=a6fc5fa5e433d4fca865

2. RSS feed and Google reader
Are You Making Your Life Easier By Using RSS? Find out more at http://theedublogger.edublogs.org/2008/03/28/are-you-making-your-life-easier-by-using-rss/

Below is a video of a classroom using Google Reader - this class has a blog at http://back2skool.wordpress.com/

media type="youtube" key="5MgaSi3Hnro&hl=en" height="355" width="425" A 3 min video from [|http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MgaSi3Hnro]

Watch the video below to find out more about RSS feed and Google Reader?

media type="youtube" key="0klgLsSxGsU&hl=en" height="355" width="425" A 3.5 min video from  http://youtube.com/watch?v=0klgLsSxGsU&feature=user

A video below explaining how to use Google Reader

media type="youtube" key="Ltttw5yORv8&hl=en" height="355" width="425" A 4 min video from  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ltttw5yORv8

Instructions on how to use googlereader can also be found at http://www.ermc.cam.ac.uk/resources/comp/GoogleReader.pdf

Tips, tricks, ideas and help with using RSS feeds to make life easier can be found at http://theedublogger.edublogs.org/2008/03/29/how-i-use-rss-to-make-my-life-easier/

3. Social networks in plain English
Watch the video below to find out more about social networks:

media type="custom" key="834481" A 2 min video from http://youtube.com/watch?v=6a_KF7TYKVc&feature=user

4. Wikis in plain English
Watch the video below for a basic explanation on blogs:

media type="custom" key="834483" A 4 min video from [|http://www.teachertube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=51aeb480ecbd988cd8cc]

5. Twitter
UNESCO in their News on ICT in Education : 21 April 2008 refer to [|Twitter - A teaching and learning tool]

Twitter is a free social networking service that allows users to send “updates” to the Twitter website. The author of this blog-entry exemplifies that there is great potential in the use of Twitter to support teaching and learning.

Twitter can be found at https://twitter.com/ - I thought we should probably give it a try. I have just joined - see you on twitter if you feel the urge.

What is twitter? - Watch the tutorial below to find out more:

media type="youtube" key="ddO9idmax0o&hl=en" height="363" width="433" A 2:24 min video from  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddO9idmax0o

Some great tips for beginning twitters can be found at http://murcha.wordpress.com/2008/01/19/one-little-tweey-bird/ CNN News - student uses Twitter - http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/04/25/twitter.buck/index.html = =

6. Blogs in Plain English
Watch the video below for a basic explanation on blogs:

media type="custom" key="769815" A 3 min video from http://youtube.com/watch?v=NN2I1pWXjXI

Tips for blogging can be found at http://theedublogger.edublogs.org/2008/04/27/heres-my-first-five-tips-for-writing-better-blog-posts-what-are-yours/

A Podcast from Al Upton's miniLegends (a teachers perspective) on blogging can be found at
 * [|Listen to the MP3]** 7.2 Mb

7. Social bookmarking
Social Bookmarking is an important area for educators to keep up to date with their areas of interest and is becoming an important skill as we prepare for 21st century learning.

media type="custom" key="702799" A 3:24 min video from  http://youtube.com/watch?v=x66lV7GOcNU Three samples of social bookmarking sites follow: http://guest.portaportal.com/gailatschool [|http://del.icio.us/gailcase] http://del.icio.us/healyv

8. My GADS
The video below explains how we can share information easily using mobile technology - working learning and communicating from anywhere at anytime.

media type="youtube" key="0S-WkhDygTA&hl=en" height="355" width="425" A 3 min video from  http://youtube.com/watch?v=0S-WkhDygTA

9. Google docs
Sharing documents is vital in collaborative work, the video below shows how this can be done simply by anyone and at anytime.

media type="youtube" key="eRqUE6IHTEA&hl=en" height="355" width="425" A 3 min video from  http://youtube.com/watch?v=eRqUE6IHTEA

10. Social photo sharing
Online photo sharing, what is it all about? Watch the video below to find out.

media type="youtube" key="vPU4awtuTsk&hl=en" height="355" width="425" A 3 min video from http://youtube.com/watch?v=vPU4awtuTsk

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media type="custom" key="787557" (A few words from Gail Casey)

Social environments should become part of the pedagogy used in our classrooms as described by Cochrane (2007), enabling a natural and relatively simple approach to creating collaborative learning communities. For educators, the advantages of using social networks include: > > Wireless mobile devices coupled with the above type of social software tools potentially provide the basis for enhancing teaching and learning in virtually any discipline, providing an environment that stimulates reflection critique, collaboration and user generated content.
 * Moving our classroom beyond content driven learning to dynamic modes of learning
 * Easy to use
 * Involving interactivity
 * Collaboration and sharing are importantly fundamental features
 * Environments can be customized, secure and available 24/7
 * Promoting personal and group publishing.