My presentation from the ACEC Conference in Adelaide on October 1 2014. The Australian Computers in Education Council ... a great venue for me to showcase my use of social media in class. Not teaching with social media is like NOT teaching Maths.

1. RIDING THE SOCIAL MEDIA WAVE
IN EDUCATION
Simon McKenzie
ACEC 2014
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2. WHO IS THE CONNECTED TEACHER?
• 33 years as a Classroom Teacher of Senior History and English
• Former Head of Department, Year Level Coordinator, Head of House, Dean
of Students, Campus Coordinator and Assistant Principal
• Until recently, Learning Technologies Coordinator at Aquinas College, Gold
Coast. As from next January, eLearning Manager at Faith Lutheran College
in Tanunda
• Sessional University Lecturer and Tutor, Writer and App reviewer for
Australian Teacher Magazine and Fractus Learning
• Blogger, Haiku Deck Guru, iAnnotate Power User, “iPad Education
Evangelist” and genuine Twitter addict
• Find or Contact me on Twitter (@connectedtchr), My Blog
(theconnectedteacher.edublogs.org) or via email
theconnectedteacher@gmail.com
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3. MY ONE TOKEN YOUTUBE CLIP
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4. KEY SOCIAL MEDIA STATISTICS
(For Teenagers)
• According to various research projects
…between 81 and 94% of teens use
social media
• Depending upon your accepted
definition, there are between 500 and
700 social media sites
• Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, Vine
and Tumblr are all more popular with
teens than Facebook
• The greatest growth is now happening
in lesser known sites such as Kik and
Pheed (* Avoid this one!)
Did You Know?
A word has been coined
for the theory behind
the classroom use of
social media sites …
it’s EduSoMedia. The
theory emphasises that
social media is about
the creating, sharing
and exchanging of
ideas. This, many
argue, is also the aim of
education.
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5. THE GREAT DEBATE
a.k.a. The Bun Fight
…tools like Facebook and Twitter divert students' attention away from what's
happening in class and are ultimately disruptive to the learning process…the use of
social media tools can be an invitation for students to goof off …”
http://campustechnology.com/Articles/2012/01/19/Pros-and-Cons-of-Social-Media-in-the-Classroom.aspx?Page=2
Not teaching #socialmedia in schools is the equivalent of no longer teaching
math.(Sourced from Twitter via Don Goble @dgoble2001)
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6. HOWEVER, WE MUST ACCEPT THAT…
"We live in a time when kids have more
information in their pockets than we can
ever have in our heads." @chrislehmann
AND THAT
“…the ‘real world’ is digital. The real world
is technology-suffused. People everywhere
use social media and other online tools all
the time to accomplish their work. How are
educators supposed to prepare students
for our new technology-infused information,
economic, and learning landscapes in
analog school environments?” (Scott
McLeod)
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…It’s time to “Jump on the
Bandwagon”

7. “Twitter is now the very
definition of breaking news
…”
#TWEETINGPOMPEII
A Year 11 Ancient History Re-Enactment
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8. PREPARATION WAS KEY
• First came the teaching/learning/student research.
• Students were assigned ancient Pompeian identities; either real or historically
credible.
• Twitter accounts were set up with these identities. Each was associated with a
known artefact and an address within the city. The teacher took the role of
Gaius Plinius (Pliny the Younger).
• Across three days the “Pompeians” reacted and responded in real time to
prepared tweets from “Pliny.” All tweets had to be sent @AncientatAQ and
with the hashtag #TweetingPompeii
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9. STUDENT TWEETS
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10. “It provided a unique and fun way of learning about the
events that unfolded at Pompeii.”
WHAT THE STUDENTS SAID
“Using social media to pretend to be someone and getting a
sense of what people might have felt during the time of the
eruption.”
“When I first heard the idea, I thought that it would be fun,
but not at all very beneficial. I was surprised at the end of the
activity how much I had actually learned while having fun.”
“It was a really enjoyable, interesting way to learn as
opposed to learning from a text book. I personally feel like I
also was more interested and focused learning the
information.”
“I loved the Tweeting Pompeii Project as a whole! It was
interactive, fun, I actually learnt about the lives of the people
and the experience was fresh and updated. I also loved the
fact that the world outside AQ were taking an interest :)”
The fact that it was public - We could see feedback from
outside the classroom, made it feel real and substantial
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Two days after the project concluded,
this tweet appeared from Modestus
the Baker
@GaiusPlinius Today only, bread half
price, slightly overcooked
#TweetingPompeii

11. OUR WORLDWIDE AUDIENCE INCLUDED
• The Kelsey Museum of Archaeology, author
Caroline Lawrence, Museum educators,
several Pompeii focused apps, field
archaeologists, the US Library of Congress,
online and print archaeology magazines,
Classics Departments at UK universities,
classroom and pre-service teachers,
librarians, SA Teach Learn and, of course,
the Mummy Djehutymose
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Yes, there will eventually be an iBook!

12. WHAT I LEARNED
• Social media sites such as Twitter can engage
students and can be used to show learning
• Because it is a public forum, students are very
careful about what they say …140 characters is
not a limitation (as they discovered when I
restricted the next thesis statement they formed
to “tweet length”
• The community outside the classroom was
ready and willing to be involved … we received
offers of Skype sessions and free books
• Once they had “dipped their toes” the students
wanted to “dive right in”… they wanted more
social media use in class
• Given the popularity of Instagram, Snapchat
and Vine, I needed to provide the opportunity to
use visual platforms
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* Unfortunately, whilst my
students had in class access to
Twitter, YouTube and Facebook,
Instagram was blocked by the
systemic filter … so I found
alternatives.

13. …AND IF YOU DON’T TEACH HISTORY
• Then students can still use Twitter in class for
a whole range of purposes …e.g.
• For formative assessment or as an “Exit
Ticket”
• To take and share photos or to share
presentations
• To ask questions or to send and receive
“reminders”
• To write micro poetry
• “butterfly in her hair
floral scarf around her neck
winter escape” (Sourced from Twitter)
• Indeed, here is a link to “50 Ways to Use
Twitter in the Classroom”
• http://www.teachhub.com/50-ways-use-twitter-classroom
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http://www.theguardian.com/science/bra
in-flapping/2014/jul/21/famous-science-history-
twitter-humour

14. PHRASE.IT and CHOGGER
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15. PHRASE.IT
• phrase.it is a free, online “thought
bubble photo editor.” No sign up is
required and you’ll never be asked for a
name or email address.
• Photos can also be arranged in order to
make comic strips. There is also a range
of filters that “…you already know from
apps like Instagram.”
• You can use your own photos, upload
them from your web browser or even
use a random stock photo.
• Once you have completed the photo
editing, your work can be downloaded,
emailed, tweeted or uploaded to
Facebook.
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16. These MLK portraits were
created by Year 10 students
using a very similar tool to be
found at www.chogger.com
chogger.com is more of a
standard Comic Creator which
also has the option to draw
your own. A sign up is
required on this site; which
does make phrase.it a better
option!
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17. ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
http://youtu.be/7L52mt0nDWs
(Craig Kemp Interviews Tom Whitby)
http://vimeo.com/79207239
*An Instagram short film from Thomas Jullien
“Instagram is an incredible resource for all kinds of images. I wanted to
create structure out of this chaos. The result is a crowd source short-film
that shows the endless possibilities of social media.
The video consists of 852 different pictures, from 852 different
Instagram users.”
http://t.co/lwsnlnzfh2
(Six Second Schooling – Using Vine in the Classroom)
http://t.co/EyXERvPbG2
(Ideas in Infographic Form from Mike Paul on Using Instagram in Class)
http://youtu.be/Tp-hOtokd34
(Alec Couros on Using Social Media in Education)
http://youtu.be/DzNyIuvUoF0
(A great animation from Bec Spink)

18. Image Credits
Title Slide: www.socialmediamaiden.com and www.vectorstock.com (The Surfer)
Slide 3: http://youtu.be/_u3BRY2RF5I
Slide 4: www.worthofweb.com
Slide 5: www.cartoonstock.com
Slide 6: http://serc.carleton.edu/sp/library/media/social_media.html
Slide 7: www.sorrentoinfo.com
Slide 8: http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/romans/pompeii_art_gallery_08.shtml
Slide 9: Screenshot from Presenter’s Twitter Feed
Slide 10: Collage of Images created by the Presenter and individually credited in iBook
Slide 11: Sourced from Twitter as indicated/Screenshot from Presenter’s Twitter Feed
Slide 12: www.digitaltrends.com
Slides 14, 15 and 16: Student examples of the use of phrase.it and chogger.com
Slide 17: Infographic from www.fishtree.com
Slide 18: This one … www.looklinklove.com
The perfect explanation of why I am “Big on Twitter!”