This document provides a summary of various free social networking tools that can be used in the classroom, including blogging, social bookmarking, wikis, podcasting, photo sharing, and RSS feeds. It describes the educational uses of each tool, examples of websites where they can be used, and precautions to take regarding privacy and safety. The document aims to demonstrate these tools and their applications in order to bring more collaboration and excitement to the classroom without being overwhelming.

1. Free & Easy: Cool Social Networking Tools for the Classroom MaryAnn Karre (with thanks to Beth Sullivan) October , 2007 STETS Conference, Owego Apalachin Middle School

2. Goals: Present a number of free, easy to use tools and their applications for education Demonstrate each example Outline educational uses Get it done in one hour Avoid overwhelming Show you where to go for more!

3. What is the Web 2.0? Not the same old WWW Read / Write web Culture of participation Collaboration the key

4. Why bother? Not the same old safe old “ But everybody is doing it!” Welcome to the world Bring some excitement to the class!! Accountability to new audience

5. Precautions Firewalls Walled areas Editing Choose tools wisely Teach Netiquette And safety

6. Some Web 2.0 Examples: Blogging and vlogging RSS feeds and aggregators Podcasting Wikis VOIP - Skype Social Bookmarking – favorites sharing Photoblogs - Flickr Folksonomy – “Tagging” … ..new ones every day!! Pay Attention video on YouTube

7. Start with Social Bookmarking Real power of Read/Write Web (Will Richardson) Store and share – collaborative process 10 billion pages of info on Web – or more?? Becomes more difficult to locate info More types of info available Can retrieve favorites from any computer with Internet access

8. Social Bookmarking Save favorites easily Share with others – either public or private Share others’ bookmarks Locate by topic or user Access limitless number of links, videos books, photos similar to your favorites Can share sites, books, music, photos, movies – more!

9. Bookmarking depends on Folksonomy Otherwise know as “Tagging” New taxonomy – replace librarians?? Better than indexing – users make own tags – common language Flexible and dynamic – not static Used with websites, documents, photos, presentations, videos – anything searchable!

10. Where do I find Social Bookmarks? Furl.net Saves snapshot of page Archives page! Can sort into topic folders Locate other users with common interests Subscribe to other users’ Furl folder! Use RSS or email to subscribe

11. Where can I find Social Bookmarks? Del.ici.ous Saves links, not content Simpler than Furl Tag is most important – comments not searchable Can link to tags – del.icio.us/tag/yourtag No email required to register

12. Want more? 43Things.com – what do you want to do with your life? Buddy Marks – store and share bookmarks De.lirio.us – like Del.icio.us Digg – news and videos Shelfari – share books LibraryThing – catalog your books and share Reader 2 – share books, movies and more Last.fm – music tagging Technorati – navigate blog posts BlinkList – tag sites and list on personal Blink website Multipost Bookmarklet Tool – tag to many sites at once Wists – Social shopping!

13. How do I use Social Bookmarks? Assign readings Track student research Build database with students Share with colleagues Research with other schools Send interesting links through RSS feeds Professional development

14. Social Bookmarking – Further reading Social BookMarking Faceoff – comparison (2006) Education World - Sites to see Common Craft Show – cool and easy video

15. What is a blog? “ A blog is a user-generated website where entries are made in journal style and displayed in a reverse chronological order.” Wikipedia (Think FaceBook, MySpace and others!)

16. Why Blog? Staff development Student engagement Audience Comments and feedback Keep families informed Connect with the world

17. Where can I create a blog? Google blogspot – easy to use Think.com – good for elementary students 21classes.com – educational blogs Squarespace Wordpress

18. Compare Blogs http:// www.weblogmatrix.org /

20. Let's WiKi! A wiki is an online collaboration tool that allows multiple users to edit and view changes quickly. (Wiki Wiki means = Quickly in Hawaiian)

21. How can we use a Wiki? Collaboration OM Teams Grant Writing Reports Vocabulary Link Lists Literature Circles KWL’s Share lesson plans

22. Wikis to get you started:

23. What is a podcast? “ (i POD broad CAST ) An audio broadcast that has been converted to an MP3 file or other audio file format for playback in a digital music player or computer. The "pod" in podcast was coined from "iPod," the predominant portable, digital music player, and although podcasts are mostly verbal, they may contain music.” TechWeb

24. To podcast, you need: Computer Microphone Software – Audacity is free and works well Easypodcast.com Someplace to put your podcast on the web

25. What to do with a Podcast: Audience – share reports and performances Review – record lesson for absentees Reports – more exciting than paper Interviews Homework Help – Mike Breed’s Classroom centers

26. Skype, or Voice Over Internet Protocol Connect your classroom with the world – for free!!

27. Share PHOTOS! PhotoBlogging Uses tags to sort and share Discuss and comment Send photos to aggregator, Weblog or Webpage

28. Where can Photo Share? Flickr.com Free up to 20MB – 100 images/month Need valid email Can restrict access Easy to upload – with or without email Add notes to parts of images ! Create albums Create slide shows More current than media

29. Have fun! GeoBloggers – combines Flickr and Google Maps Great Flickr Tools Collection More Flickr Tools – including soduku! FlickrReplacr Bookmarklet – replace words with images from Flickr

30. How can I use PhotoSharing? Find images to supplement lessons Annotate historical photos uploaded from other sources Photo “field trips” Writing prompts ( Flicktion ) Illustrate digital stories or poetry (“Chicago”, Sandburg) “ Remix” using Paint or photoediting tools Leave annotations blank as test Share field trip and class activity photos with parents Share discussions about photos – subscribe to RSS feed

31. Too much to keep up with????

32. RSS to the RESCUE!!! Really Simple Syndication Uses Aggregator to tame avalanche of information Like using Netflix vs going to video store “ subscribe” to feeds from blogs, wikis, podcasts,Flickr, del.icio.us, news sources, stores……

33. Where can I find RSS feeds? Bloglines feedreader GoogleReader NewsGator My Yahoo

34. Want to read more about RSS? AWESOME simple video explaining RSS and how to start! 50+ Ideas for Teachers – with written instructions

35. Use RSS in the classroom: Monitor student blogs Keep up with news, weather, sports Professional development Website searches Monitor others’ Del.icio.us lists Keep research up-to-the-minute

36. What to expect in the future?? Personally-tailored news stories delivered instantly – No more news services Personal shopping – Amazon suggests purchases according to prior choices Second Life – virtual interaction Education through interactive gaming?

37. In case you want more…. WebWare Top 100 sites Go2Web2.0 Slideshare Common Craft Show video !!

38. Find this presentation… http:// mannlibrary . blogspot.com