The TWAIN blog

TechNewsWorld cites Facebook as the top social networking site. The article states that Facebook “has had 132 million unique visitors for a 153% growth rate since July 2007″. Myspace is in second place with 113 million visitors. A third site is Hi5 with 56 million unique visitors.

The visitors rate isn’t the same as the number of members. An article on CNN.com says that “MySpace had 72.8 million national users in June versus Facebook’s 37.4 million”.

Statistics for which one isn’t the issue in this post. The issue here is the article in CNN about Teacher-Student Facebook connections. The article can be read by clicking the link above or by clicking here: http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/08/12/studentsteachers.online/index.html

I like that this article is posted to start the conversation out of our edu-tech blogs and into the real world. Teachers are using Facebook and Myspace to connect to their students and to use the tools to provide information about their classes. Teachers are using cell phones to text students. These tools are permiating the social networks outside of school and in school. They are in use!

Are teachers misusing these tools? Sure. Some. The headline-makers. The teachers who aren’t out for the safety of their students. These teachers will use ANY tool inappropriately! The article does refer to this and redirects that the tools aren’t to blame. And I greatly appreciate that!

But it is that idea of being stuck between a rock and hard place. We are in that fine line area of using these tools while some districts are starting to block them and discourage teachers from engaging in accessing these tools.

The fact is that Facebook offers the ability to reach the students better than a district hosted website. If your students have you as a friend in Facebook, the updates from a teacher are immediately posted to the student’s Facebook site. Facebook is the most used social network site by students in middle to high school. It is the most filtered site. And yet it is the site that students use any proxy bypass to get around our filters each day. It is the most requested site by the students to get access to.

And you know what else? Students don’t need our web access to get to it. They are getting to it via their phones anyway.

So…a teacher who posts notes, information about tests, class information, etc. in Facebook is able to get that information sent directly to students via Facebook and their cell phones are stuck between a rock and a hard place.

Is Facebook the new teacher web page?

How safe can we be if we aren’t even recognizing and using the power of Facebook to teach proper use of social networking?

Here’s what I want for our schools: I want our middle schools and high school to have a Facebook presence with multiple editors and administrators (site-admins can be multiple). They can post news items, pictures, and links to resources on the page. Alternatively, the administrators can view student pages and offer suggestions to them to remove suggestive pictures and information. How else can we help our students learn to use the tools than to teach them to use them appropriately?!?

Today while sitting in the dry sauna at the gym, I listened to a podcast about 21st century skills and district leadership. I turned it off when I got in my car and started thinking about applying the conversations I have been part of in Twitter, blogs, wikis, and at conferences to a district that hasn’t been part of those conversations.

How do I start catching teachers and administrators up to speed without scaring them away?

I am sure I could show Twitter to a group of people and lose them in the outset. I also know that mentioning the word “blog” to some teachers is the equivalent of some not so nice other four letter words.

What is the conversation starter?

Do I go with a video? The monks sharing how to use a book? Karl Fisch’s videos on the future?
Do I go with a presentation by our forerunners? Ian Jukes? David Warlick? David Jakes?
Do I go with a book? Will Richardson’s? Daniel Pink? Thomas Friedman?

I think of the pieces that have added to my conversation. Pieces. Puzzled pieces. This conversation has been going for about 4 years now in the tools of Web 2.0. Its been a lifelong conversion, I know but the resources I use now online for social networking and communication have been used for about 4 years.

I think of Wes Fryer’s post for his local school district and the passion by which he explained 21st century skills as a need to know NOW skill and not something to start planning for the future. I want to say those same things but I also know that to an entire district, it would be overbearing on my part.

How do you do it? How would you do it? How would you start the conversation? What are your puzzle pieces?

I just checked my blog and noticed that I never posted my job change information.

As of July 1, I will be the new Chief Technology Officer for the Kerrville ISD. I am currently in the process of packing my home up for a move to my new place. I have posted pics on my Flickr stream that should be showing up soon on this site.

I am really excited about the new job and role I will be taking on in Kerrville. I have always been routed to one campus in my previous roles. This new job is district-wide and I plan to be mobile for the most part of my job. “Have laptop, will travel!” I told my administrative team that I would prefer to be housed at the campuses rather than at the administration building.

This is also a new position for the district. They have had a tremendous technology support team for years! I met them and I agree. But in the past year, the technology planning committee challenged the administration to find a person to come in and help them learn to use the technology in the classroom. The teachers requested that this job be created so that they could take the learning to the level of application in their classes.

I am going in just the way I like it: without a plan and without a pre-conceived notion of what should be done. I want the teachers there to help me devise the best method for helping them learn and apply technology tools. How can we all learn together? We are all in this Web 2.0 world together and the tools will always be changing. I will be learning along with them and sharing as we work together.

I am really excited about the possibilities and for living in Kerrville. Its a population of about 20,000 which is different than all the other places I have lived. I think this difference is going to be the best thing for me!

I will be attending NECC this summer starting on the 30th through the 2nd of July. I am really excited and have set my planner online for the sessions I want to attend. I am really trying to find some time to visit the exhibit hall in between the sessions I am already trying to make time for.

One of my new district leaders will be joining me for the sessions. I am excited to have him come with me so we can find resources for the Kerrville school system. Most of the sessions I am attending will be about planning new strategies for staff development, some research studies, new tools for teachers, and ways to help staff use the tools in their classrooms.

It will be great to see friends from other districts from around the state but to also see our national colleagues as well!