Facebook+and+Twitter

How to use Facebook for education:

 * create a teacher/educator ** profile **
 * create **groups**, I strongly recommend creating groups according to several **topics** :
 * courses (should you mix 101 and 301 students? So if you need to segment your “audience”, use groups, you can create as many as you wish for free)
 * subjects (very useful if you teach different subjects)
 * working groups and/or activities (you can create groups for specific tasks such as research groups, working groups, teams, activities…)
 * establish the ** rules **
 * if your students do not want to share their “personal” profiles and don’t know how to manage privacy, you can always encourage them to create another profile for educational purposes.
 * create ** events **: maybe you want to share some events with your students… meetings, concerts, seminars, or simply notify an extra activity like readings, tests… Do not forget you will instantly get to know who is interested in it and get some great feedback on which events are more popular among students.
 * don’t be afraid to use ** games **: a virtual farm or restaurant could be very attractive for students if they have their own community.
 * make questions and use forums to **// engage students in conversation //**
 * use **Youtube**: yes, share some interesting videos not just about your subject, but some funny ones to connect with them. You can also use videos to make discussions if you share a video that you can relate to a topic and make questions, make your students share their opinions.
 * remember you will always be ** notified **, real time, about all activities in your groups, so communication is faster and easier for them. Let your students know they can also send you private messages for specific topics, but encourage them to share their questions in the ** wall **, so that everyone else can answer. This way you are exchanging roles with your students and being a facilitator, let the lead to students.
 * turn Facebook into that other “** space **” your students feel comfortable with and be the Community Manager of your own courses.

How to use Twitter for Education

 * create a twitter ** account **
 * create ** lists ** with different interests, topics or students and find a hashtag for every list so that your students will easily find the trends
 * twitter is all about **// immediate and dynamic info //**, it’s an excellent tool for **// discussions and updates //**
 * you can share ** links ** instantly
 * allow students to directly ** mention ** someone to interact with and stimulates conversation and participation
 * print or save the ** conversations **
 * it’s an unique tool to ** exchange roles ** teacher/students
 * use it to share interesting ** sites and info **
 * encourage **// brainstorming and discussions //**
 * make your students aware of what ** information ** means and how important it is
 * help them ** connect ** to libraries, teachers, interesting people to follow and other students, to make their own lists
 * use twitter as a ** board ** to connect and ** communicate **
 * engage students into ** games **: creating stories or tales, trivia, contests…

Vela, Lorie. "How to Use Facebook and Twitter in Education." //Collaborationideas.com//. 30 June 2011. Web. 2 Sept. 2011.