A closer community with Facebook?

  I decided I should chronicle a bit of the process we've begun to increase community/school and school/district relationships. This fall we're launching community Facebook pages for our district's attendance areas. In South Carolina, school districts are county-wide. Horry (O-REE) County Schools has nine attendance areas that will each have a community Facebook page. We're in the toddler stages of the process so far as the pages have been created, myself and another in the district tech department are admins of each page, and we're developing a plan for 'dissemination of the information' so-to-speak.
  The way I see this working (and it will most likely change to be a bit easier than my stream-of-consiousness take on things) is that each school administrator in an attendance area needs to have two things set in place:
 1) They need to have a personal Facebook page.
 2) They need to have a Facebook Page set up for their own school.

   If I'm correct (and this post is rather preliminary) if the school admin selects to "View Facebook as Page" and selects their school page, they can not only post to their school page as the school (not as their personal user account), but also "Like" the community page.
   Here's where it begins to get a bit cumbersome. Because of the content settings we're putting in place on the Community Pages, folks who post or share content to those pages must be administrators of those community pages. (Users or "likers" can post comments, but cannot originate a post, share links, or videos, etc...).
   This brings me to the point of the Community Pages. Let's say there's an attendance area with one elementary, one middle, and one high school, each with individual school Facebook pages. A community page will allow those schools to share main events, school awards, or plans which may effect the community.
  Our hope is that the dynamic and social features of Facebook will allow the greater attendance communities as well as county to become more involved in the life of the school district.
  Again, we're only planning right now, so keep checking back.
PS - the Diigo links aren't live pages yet - they will be after August 4, 2011.
Here's another article on The Plan...

Sound off in the comments on what you think!

To Be Heard: A few thoughts on student podcasting.

This blog entry was recorded using iPadio for iPhone.

Everyone has something to say: be it a kindergarden student who is excited about learning how objects balance; a fifth grader reflecting on leaving the comfort of elementary to move onto junior high; or a high school student delving into the gray areas of philosophy and ethics. As educators it is our role to allow those students an outlet. A method to not just journal on a daily/weekly basis, but a method to state what's on their mind when its on their mind.

 Podcasting is a tool which can offer that. But the big question I’m facing is how to achieve seamless integration of podcasting into the classroom. How can it be organic? How can it be authentic?

 One of my goals this year has been do develop a podcast series on iTunes for my students. So far I’ve been fairly successful. I figured out the RSS details and have the feed set to go to iTunes when a new podcast is available. I’ve recorded Kindergarten through fifth graders, used photographs of their work for background images and created the media files. A few of the students have done this on their own, but so far its been directed by me.

  Perhaps I need to stop looking for what I’m after and listen to the students. Offer them the tools, show them what is available, and then let them make decisions about what they would like to do with those tools. I believe the most pure, authentic recordings come not from me directing the students to create, but the students’ desire to create. 

  As a technology instructor, its my job to teach the tools. Show students how to use Garage Band, iMovie, Audacity, Sonic Pics, etc...And its my job to allow their voices as students to be heard: Let them talk about Star Wars. Let them talk about video games. Let them record and make those recordings available to their classmates in a dedicated network folder or load them on iPods. Let them get excited about the ways they can let their voice be heard.

   The iTunes feed is limited to appropriate, educational concepts of which the students have researched and expressed interest. That’s their goal. Record as much as they can. Practice and learn the skills. When they produce genuine content reflecting on their educational experiences in the classroom, their voice will be made available to a much larger audience.