Our workshop topic this week was actually reflective writing, but our conversation ultimately ended up at the same questions we ask every day: "How do we get our students to take charge of their learning and become an integral and active part of it?"
We talked about modeling the behavior for them, incentives that will encourage them to do the work, and all those things that seem to have little impact on the already less motivated students. And yes, even grades won't motivate everyone. With the advent of the internet and the super-connectivity it has spawned, learning seems to be more a matter of "connecting" than it ever was before (literally and figuratively), so let's take advantage of that. Okay, so some students refuse to blog or participate in a discussion thread because it's too daunting or confusing or time-consuming...now what? What about meeting them in a place where they already feel comfortable and empowered? Yes, I'm talking about Facebook.
Facebook has over 500 million active users. The average user creates 90 pieces of content a month (comments, links, photos, etc.). And 50% of those users log on every day. Talk about a meeting place! Most of your students are probably already online and on Facebook every day. And now, students of all ages are beginning to use social networking as a part of their formal education. Check out 100 ways to use Facebook as part of the learning process here.
Imagine. You create a profile and a course page. You friend every student in the class and engage them in conversation by posting comments, links, pictures, notes. The possibilities are staggering. The point is, FB is easy to set up and infinitely accessible. The party has already started; you're just opening up another room to party in.
Worried about privacy issues, feasibility, cyberphobia? I'll tackle that in the next blog entry.
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