Introducing Students to Online Communication
"Accomplished teachers of students with exceptional needs know the importance of communications in learning. They know how to use communication skills to help students access, comprehend, and apply information; to help them acquire knowledge; and to enable them to develop and maintain interpersonal relationships." (NBPTS)
The title of this section implies that I teach students the basics of online communictaion. That is, of course, not the case. My students, middle and high school age, are well versed in the chatter of Facebook and MySpace. My plan for the online activities, one of them actually using Facebook, is to introduce students to the academic and intellectual benefits of online communication by providing them with the tools to build relationships through their communication.
Below are links to the online tools and discussions of their applications in the classroom. The links will only go to the introductory pages. In an effort to maintain safety for our students, the groups that I use are 'member-only' and carefully moderated.
Peacepals - Google Group
My first attempt at fostering online communication took place in a Google Group. The group has twenty-five members from American International School in Egypt and Eastern High School in the U.S. I sent an email to my colleagues in the U.S. to announce the group to the high school students. I moderate the closed group, so any new member must be approved. My only instructions to the students were to introduce yourself and reply to someone else. It was a nice place to start.
PB Works - Online Collaboration for Education
The next online venture was a class assignment for my ninth graders in Egypt and a ninth grade class in the U.S. The cooperating teacher and I planned together to coordinate our timing and our lessons for the study of Romeo and Juliet. We used the online collaboration tool called PBWorks (PBWiki at that time) to provide students with weekly prompts, which they answered in a post, and then they replied to the postings of others.
During my second year in Egypt I was contacted by a social studies teacher in Florida. He wanted to establish some international pen pals for his students. We had our students exchange a series of letters through email. The students discussed culture and customs around the holidays. The response and enthusiasm on both sides of the world was delightful. We decided to take it a step further. Neither of us knew how to use Facebook, but the students were obsessed with it, so we chose to get on board with them.
We created a space for dialog and called it Kerwood-Hill, his name and mine. We wanted to give the conversation some specific direction, so we would post an assignment for students to respond with some guidelines for the response. A typical prompt would be "Post a photo and tell who is in it and what is happening. Use at least three to five complete sentences." The students responded so well that I would like to continue the project, but Facebook itself is fraught with privacy issues.
My co-teacher and I continue to use PBWorks now that I am back in the U.S. Currently we are using it for novel reviews. Our students are required to read a novel of their choice each nine weeks. Then, they must complete a project based on the novel, and they have to post a reflection online and reply to a classmate's reflection. We view this activity as necessary for the students' literacy in the coming years. For now, it truly is their first step in learning how to communicate in an online community.
Google Groups did not catch on with the popular culture in the way that other social media have done. So, even though the Peacepals group is active, there are very few comments these days. Facebook, on the other hand, was immensely popular with the students, but I would not sponsor it again, at least not at this time. The network is constantly undergoing unannounced changes, and it offers activities that are not appropriate for teens. Of course, Mr. Hill and I were not aware of these things in the beginning, and fortunately, we had no problems, but I am glad that I know now that there are many safe and appropriate options for my students.