What are Facebook applications? How do companies use them to access your personal information? This workshop encourages middle school students to think critically about the social network sites they use.

I’m a skeptic. When people tell me that something is free I generally don’t believe them. There is always some cost and while I may not be taking my wallet out of my pocket there is always some payment that has to be made.

Because of this mindset, the idea that social media is free isn’t something that I bought into right away. The idea that our school could use social media to communicate, market and share information with our vast constituencies was incredible. To my joy, as I looked at some of the major sites and service I would be using I found that they were indeed, for the most part, completely without cost.

Have you caught Hans Mundahl’s latest edSocialMedia video (Social Media and the Carpentry Puzzle)? If not, take 5 minutes, it’s worth every second.

His post provides an ideal segue into edSocialMedia’s latest podcast. Hans & I began with a conversation about the tensions that pop up as schools begin to participate in social media and from there focused on the student produced livecast New Hampton TV. He spoke about the program’s growth, the technological & communication lessons learned by the students, and some of the surprises they’ve faced along the way.

I’ve become a big fan of the power of social media in general and live video in particular to help me reach learner outcomes and create student engagement. This video goes into how I got …

Working at an independent school offers plenty of great opportunities to produce video: plays, games, gatherings, graduations, celebrations, traditions and more. You don’t have to shot everything, but if you pick your spots and produce a couple of pieces, you will strengthen your internal communications channels, and possibly even some external channels as well.

We’ve had a lot of requests for examples of schools with Facebook fan pages. Thanks to the hard work of our intern, Brian, we now have a great resource for anyone looking for school pages.
If …

In an earlier blog post I wrote of my addiction to Twitter and my thoughts on the service as a professional development tool, however now through our use of MKA’s Irish Studies Program Twitter profile …

For the next few months, I’ll be sharing best practices from schools like yours across the U.S. and abroad. This month, we’re starting with a bit of a surprise…

For over 10 years, The Montclair Kimberley Academy’s (MKA) Irish Studies Program has been taking seniors to Ireland as part of our school’s May Term Program. Typically, we have been telling our stories through standard, …

This one comes from John Carson who worked with Upper Canada College from June 2007 until May 2008. Their efforts were awarded The Canadian Council for the Advancement of Education’s 2008 PRIX D’EXCELLENCE Bronze Award for Best E-Innovation in University Advancement and also the Council for Advancement and Support of Education 2008 Circle of Excellence Bronze Award. Read more to learn how they did it.