Should social media be used in the classroom? Should social media be used in the classroom? If so, which programs? For which grades? How should it be used?/For what purpose? Or, is there some other program that could be useful?

I am teaching new media subjects, graphic design and digital photography. Social media is widely used in these industries. Students need to learn how to use social media in a healthy way and create a web presence that represents themselves in a positive light. By not using social media in schools we are missing an opportunity to teach students a real world skill. The only social media site I would discourage use of is Facebook. It’s too easy to get distracted by the social aspect, and if sharing on Facebook is important to the project, there are many ways to upload images to Facebook via Twitter, Instagram, Flickr, etc.

Should you have an online presence as an art teacher, or a presence for your art classroom? What form will this take and what is the purpose? Should this mix with your other online identities? Why or why not?

I plan to maintain an artist/teacher blog, along with a blog for each of my classes. My only other online identity is my Facebook account with full privacy settings and little to no information; I do not think it is appropriate to be Facebook friends with my students.

How will you communicate with parents? What platform/program will you use? How often will you update it? What type of updates can you do that will speak to the interests of parents without contributing to your own burn-out?

Parents will have access to the class blog. I will also post a summary of each project on the blog, complete with lesson plan and visual resources. Parents will not be able to comment, but will be encouraged to email or call me with suggestions.

Source:
http://gawker.com/5845057/just-let-kids-use-the-damn-internet-at-school