This is the Opening Keynote Presentation I offered for Jim Burke's English Companion Ning site's inaugural summer Webstitute 2010 (July 2010).

1. Social Media in
English Education
or
(Social Media: It’s Not the Enemy!)
Laura Nicosia, PhD
Associate Prof. English
Director, English Education
Montclair State University

2. Who am I?
This is the iconic Bell Tower of College Hall at Montclair State University in NJ

3. My upcoming book is: Educators Online: Preparing
Today’s Teachers for Tomorrow’s Digital Literacies
Peter Lang, Publishers

4. In my book, I attempt to
dispel numerous myths
and anxieties regarding
Web 2.0 uses and social
media participation--
specifically regarding
educators.

5. A recent study* of over 1000 educators shows:
Only 16% of English/LA
teachers are frequent users
of technology, as opposed
to 33% of all social studies
or science teachers.
* Report by Grunwald Associates LLC June 2010: www.grunwald.com

6. Why Is That So?

7. Their answer is:
49% say: “The device [technology]
isn’t necessary for my lessons.”
* Report by Grunwald Associates LLC June 2010: www.grunwald.com

8. But teachers who use technologies frequently in their lives
and classes report greater benefits to student learning,
engagement and 21st century skills.
Collaboration Global Awareness
Accountability Innovation
Communication Leadership
Creativity Problem-solving
Critical Thinking Productivity
Ethics Self-direction

9. This Begs the Question:
If English/LA teachers choose not to use
Web 2.0 technologies & social media to
deliver instruction or in their own lives, how
can they model valid uses of these tools?

10. “In the 21st Century, educators
must be given and be prepared
to use technology tools; they
must be collaborators in learning
—constantly seeking
knowledge and acquiring new
skills along with their students.”
Arne Duncan, U.S. Secretary of Education March 3, 2010: Grunwald pp. 5

11. Let’s discuss a few select Web 2.0
sites and social media first as PD and
second, as to their importance for our own
personal growth and enjoyment.

12. Don’t be fooled into
thinking that you can’t
DO technology—
You CAN!

13. I wasn’t trained in Web 2.0 tools and
wasn’t born a digital native*

14. Regardless, I’ve effectively used
several technologies in my classes.

15. These are some I currently use*
Twitter* Flickr*
Plurk Glogster
Ning* GoogleDocs*
Diigo* Delicious
Facebook Wordle
Pandora Linkedin
Wikispaces* SlideShare* & YouTube*
Second Life* Skype
* These are the tools & sites I use with my English and English Education classes.

16. These sites can be
grouped into like
“genres” & we can
talk about them after
this slide show

17. Collaborative
Work Spaces:
GoogleDocs
Wikispaces

18. Social Bookmarking:
Diigo*
Delicious
Flickr*
Pandora*
SlideShare* & YouTube
*These are “crossover” tools and can be categorized in several “genres”

19. Micro-Blogging:
Twitter
Plurk

20. Social Networking:
Ning*
Diigo*
Facebook
Skype
Linkedin
*These are “crossover” tools and can be categorized in several “genres”

21. Creative Production:
Glogster
Wordle

22. 3-D Virtual Reality Environments:
Second Life
(think of Webkinz
or the Sims)
My SL avatar: LauraMaria Onomatopoeia

23. Frankly, I’ve learned
more from my
professional learning
network [PLN] than
in any PD course I’ve
ever taken.

24. “The social benefits of internet use will far outweigh the
negatives over the next decade...because email, social
networks, and other online tools offer ‘low-friction’
opportunities to create, enhance, and rediscover social
ties that make a difference in people’s lives.”
-Pew Research Center, 2 July 2010. www.pewinternet.org

25. Since our time is limited, I’d like to talk about:
Twitter
Wikispaces
Diigo

26. Have You Twittered Today?

27. What IS Twitter?
It is the most popular micro-blogging system
It is robust, elegant and simple
Has 75 million users*
Permits numerous mash-ups & open source
applications

28. Twitter is a Microblog
It is a mini-blog of 140 characters or less
answering the question, “What’s happening?”

29. This is my Twitter Homepage

30. Twitter pages are vertically
oriented, linear and very ‘clean’

31. You may ask, “So, what’s the big deal?”

32. I post Tweets because I:
Meet colleagues from around the world
Make friends
Collaborate with my peers
Share information and resources
Receive links, insights and advice
Share my scholarship with peers

33. Tweets are, by
definition, to-
the-point. They
take little time to
write and less
time to read.

34. Tweets can be used to share
links to websites and articles.

35. Here are some sample Tweets I’ve archived

36. With Twitter, you don’t have to be alone
when traveling at a conference.

37. You make a request...

38. You get
responses
almost
immediately

39. Tweets can be used in class, too.
You can keep up with the newest YA titles and authors...

40. You can even offer one-question quizzes, short
answers or extra credit questions using Twitter.

41. You can use
Twitter to teach
creative writing in
round-robin
storytelling
fashion

43. I’ve taken attendance with Twitter

44. and I’ve used it for polling students

45. I’ve even used it with writing tasks:
Students have Tweeted their titles
or their Thesis Statements
or their Topic Sentences
or even Summaries

46. When I want more depth & development...
I use Wikispaces.

47. I create a new Wiki for
every class I teach and
nearly every PD I offer.

48. I prefer Wikispaces.com
They offer Ad-Free educational spaces

49. You can create a Wiki EASILY

50. You use simple icons to manage and administer your wiki

52. You can even send
email ‘blasts’ to all
or some members of
your wiki or to all
your wikis.

53. I’ve used Wikis in Literature Classes

55. Here are
some of the
students’
individual
pages for
their tasks
When students research topics, however...

56. The Web 2.0 tool we use is Diigo.

57. Diigo
This is my profile page

58. With Diigo you can
annotate & highlight
articles as you read them.
These notations will remain
there. That’s pretty cool
already. But you can also
send those articles as emails
and/or as URLs.

59. When you sign up with Diigo
you download a tool bar menu
Standard Tool Bar:

60. You create bookmarks
(like filing cabinets) for
resources, links and
articles you find useful.

61. Imagine the possibilities for researching a
new text or for a student doing a research
paper. Bookmarked articles can be
mailed via email. You can also comment
on articles with a stickie note and mail
those commented-upon articles.

62. Here’s how you bookmark, tag and send an online resource:

63. Here is the Bookmark box

64. This is a portion of my TAGS
(arranged in size by frequency of my use)

65. These tools have been instrumental in
keeping me active, productive, current and
continually learning. I encourage you to
explore these tools--for YOUR use and
for your classroom implementation.

66. Let’s Talk:
Any questions or comments?
Dr. Laura Nicosia
Montclair State University, NJ

67. Image Credits: Flickr.com (unless otherwise noted):
Slide 2: http://www.flickr.com/photos/joemorgan/4613982435/
Slide 3: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bunnyrel/4309044350/
Slide 4: http://www.flickr.com/photos/stabilo-boss/93136022/
Slide 5: http://www.flickr.com/photos/66312989@N00/199538463/
Slide 7: http://www.flickr.com/photos/17877600@N03/3502818574/
Slide 10: http://www.flickr.com/photos/93813154@N00/400841798/
Slide 12: http://www.flickr.com/photos/pointofdesign/2371903317/
Slide 13: http://www.flickr.com/photos/trywhistlingthis/3949360768/
Slide 17: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dylanmurphy/3550585942/
Slide 18: http://www.flickr.com/photos/69659670@N00/2475156004/
Slide 19: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nochuckingaround/2526794634/

68. Image Credits: Flickr.com
Slide 20: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bjoernehlers/456462870/
Slide 23: http://www.flickr.com/photos/krish4u/3367656155/
Slide 25: http://www.flickr.com/photos/brainbikerider/4358972488/
Slide 26: http://twitter.com/about/files
Slide 31: http://www.flickr.com/photos/flaneur/2646032688/
Slide 33: http://www.flickr.com/photos/34930587@N05/3362529958/
Slide 34: http://www.flickr.com/photos/cml/241395048/
Slide 37: http://www.flickr.com/photos/belljar/18171527/
Slide 40: http://www.flickr.com/photos/shreddedrabbit/1780373693/
Slide 42: http://www.flickr.com/photos/46783336@N00/905120/
Slide 43: http://www.flickr.com/photos/pikturz/3497330484/
Works Cited
Slide 23: www.pewinternet.org
Slide 27: http://themetricsystem.rjmetrics.com/2010/01/26/new-data-on-twitters-users-and-engagement