Tag: blog

Using Social Networking to Build 21st Century Skills – Finding Common Ground – Education Week

By Peter  DeWitt on November 17, 2011

• 21st century skills are critical thinking, communication, collaboration and  creativity
• For those of us who have been educators for a long time we have always taught  our students how to think critically, communicate with others, collaborate on  projects and be creative.
• Today’s students are surrounded by many more distractions than we ever thought  were imaginable. Those new tools that educators often see as distractions need  to be used to positively engage the social network generation.
• With an increase in handheld devices, does the social network generation have  the same communications skills that we do? Or do they just communicate  differently?
• Whether we like it or not that is how students communicate with each other  these days. They actually thrive on connecting with their peers in numerous  ways.
• The truth is, I have become a huge fan of Twitter and I’m inspired by some of  the tools that my students have in our schools.
• We built an instant community of learners and ended up creating our very own  professional development session that lasted about an hour.
• I had the opportunity to follow up with some educators in one-to-one  conversations. They sent me blogs that I never would have found on my own. If  you’re an educator who loves education and connecting with other educators, you  should seriously consider joining Twitter.
• Using these amazing resources allows us to really teach students to think  critically, communicate with others, collaborate on projects and be creative. In  addition, students will see that we are not behind the times because we are  suing tools that we know students enjoy and use every day.

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