The more tools we discuss the more I wonder how else we can use them for learning. Pinterest is a platform that I can spend a lot of time on when it comes to trying to find new material. I've noticed though, that I typically use it to find ideas for a lesson or workshop, rather than looking at ways to use the platform in the classroom/to teach/as part of the learning. This sort of ties into one of our themes for this week, curation. I mostly use Pinterest to curate my ideas for things I could do with students rather than actually using Pinterest as a tool in learning.
The University of Southern California Rossier Online Blog provided 14 Ways Students Could Utilize Pinterest in the Classroom. I thought it was great that #10 was Lessons on Copyright and Digital Rights given our topic for the week! I wish it would have given more ways to use it for this, but I guess in the interest of creating my own content, I'll have to think of my own. Another favorite of mine is #12, Global Connections. In the career world right now, NACE Career Readiness Competencies are a high priority, one of them being global fluency, so I thought this showcased a fun and interactive way to learn more about the global world (for more on NACE competencies click here).
One of my work projects right now is writing lesson plans for our upcoming three-week new advisor training. I'm determined to integrate at least one of these tools into my lesson plans. We have a few iPads we can use and I think it would be great to forego the typical PowerPoint and get the advisors on there, I just have to figure out which topic would fit best. This list has given me a great start, but I also struggle with the logistics. Do I create a generic Career Advisor Pinterest account just for this training, exactly what do I tell them to look for, what if they find the exercise futile? For me one of the biggest deterrents for incorporating new technology/platforms/diversified strategies is thinking about creative ways to use it. Teaching is not a primary part of my job, however I do a lot of workshops and have the opportunity to lead group activities if I wanted to. As a whole, we would love to move away from the lecture-style workshops and integrate activities but it is a work in progress.
Anyone out there have any tips on how they've used Pinterest, or something similar, as an activity in their class or workshop? I'd love to hear your ideas!
The University of Southern California Rossier Online Blog provided 14 Ways Students Could Utilize Pinterest in the Classroom. I thought it was great that #10 was Lessons on Copyright and Digital Rights given our topic for the week! I wish it would have given more ways to use it for this, but I guess in the interest of creating my own content, I'll have to think of my own. Another favorite of mine is #12, Global Connections. In the career world right now, NACE Career Readiness Competencies are a high priority, one of them being global fluency, so I thought this showcased a fun and interactive way to learn more about the global world (for more on NACE competencies click here).
One of my work projects right now is writing lesson plans for our upcoming three-week new advisor training. I'm determined to integrate at least one of these tools into my lesson plans. We have a few iPads we can use and I think it would be great to forego the typical PowerPoint and get the advisors on there, I just have to figure out which topic would fit best. This list has given me a great start, but I also struggle with the logistics. Do I create a generic Career Advisor Pinterest account just for this training, exactly what do I tell them to look for, what if they find the exercise futile? For me one of the biggest deterrents for incorporating new technology/platforms/diversified strategies is thinking about creative ways to use it. Teaching is not a primary part of my job, however I do a lot of workshops and have the opportunity to lead group activities if I wanted to. As a whole, we would love to move away from the lecture-style workshops and integrate activities but it is a work in progress.
Anyone out there have any tips on how they've used Pinterest, or something similar, as an activity in their class or workshop? I'd love to hear your ideas!
I think that at face value, Pinterest would definitely serve as more of a brainstorming storyboard collage of ideas type of Web 2.0 app. It is great to layout ideas and let the layouts themselves stimulate more ideas. At the same time, if used creatively, I have no doubt that entire courses could be taught using Pinterest.... I don't see what not. There would definitely be some limitations as to how media was moved back and forth, the depth of the discussions taking place, and upload down aspects.... but it could still be done. However, I think a good question to ask would be.... how enjoyable would that actually be. Because enjoyable-ness is extremely relevant as to how students absorb the information.
ReplyDeleteLeah, your comment "I mostly use Pinterest to curate my ideas for things I could do with students rather than actually using Pinterest as a tool in learning" describes how I also view this Web 2.0 tool. I use Pinterest to generate ideas and inspiration, rather than integrating Pinterest into learning. Though, I guess I do learn how to cook when I pin different recipes and such... Maybe we use it for more learning than we think but our definition of learning is skewed.
ReplyDeleteI think creating a Career Advisor Pinterest account and adding the new CA's as collaborators to the account sounds fun! Perhaps each day you highlight a new pin someone shared and discuss the content of the pin and how the pin can be used in practice. This may generate great discussion on resume and cover letter basics, and so many other topics! By engaging your pinners with discussion the next day (sort of a flipped classroom approach) they can use the material in training and afterwords!
I think a Career Advisor Pinterest is a great idea! I actually had a thought the other night about having the Career Advisors create Pinterest boards for each of the NACE Career Readiness Competencies. This could really help us as we try to integrate competencies throughout all of our work, but also find lessons and ideas that are in more student-friendly language. Thanks for brainstorming!
DeleteThank you for posting this! I was feeling th same way in the fact that I use Pinterest personally to curate my own ideas for the classroom but was unsure how to use with students. This gives me some good ideas to play around with.
ReplyDeleteNext week we'll start to focus more heavily on how to use different tools for teaching. I've seen some cool projects with Pinterest -- all depends on what you are trying to accomplish. Examples: Having pre-service teachers create pinboards about how they would design their future classrooms. Using them as character and scene development inspiration for creative writing.
ReplyDelete