I am currently in a masters program at the University of Virginia, studying for a MA in Physics education. As part of our assignment this week, we have been asked to evaluate the use of social media (such as Twitter and Facebook) for two purposes: 1)
classroom use and 2) professional networking, resources and development.
I have accounts on both Facebook and Twitter. I view these forms of communication as a fast way to broadcast information, which could be useful for classroom use. I recently discovered that Twitter has a survey option that looks interesting. I’ve
spoken to fellow Physics teachers who use Google forms to do surveys.
I’d love to hear from anyone out there that has been using Facebook, Twitter, Google forms or any other methods to teach in the classroom. I am not leaning toward using Facebook or Twitter in my classroom at this time. My fear is that while the
students are on either Facebook or Twitter for educational purposes, they will be distracted by the hundreds of posts from their friends that have nothing to do with my class.
Have any of you been using social networks for classroom use or networking with other teachers? What words of advice can you give someone who seems reluctant to use social networks? Are there any unique uses that you have come up with? What
positives and negatives have you experienced?
Thanks for any suggestions that you can make.
Cindy Retotar
Teacher of Physics
Summit High School
Summit, NJ