Posted to Diigo 07/06/2011

Google Plus: Is This the Social Tool Schools Have Been Waiting For?

• three forces at play when it comes to education and social media
• first is a lack of force
• second is the force of fear
• third force is that of more and more educators who are embracing social media and advocating its use on- and off-campus – for student learning and for teacher professional development alike
• a lot of potential with Google+: better student collaboration through Circles, opportunities for blended learning (a combination of offline and online instruction) with Hangouts, project research with Sparks, and easier school public relations with targeted photo-sharing, updates, and messaging
• granular level of privacy afforded by Google+ that is the key to making this a successful tool for schools
• while Twitter has been embraced by many educators – for both professional development and for back-channeling in the classroom – there’s still that “always public” element of Twitter that makes many nervous
• sharing online isn’t simply about weighing privacy concerns; it’s also about sharing with the right people
• many teachers are already talking about the possibility of not just face-to-face video conversation but the potential for integration of whiteboards, screen-sharing, Google Docs, and other collaborative tools