Pros and Cons of News Sharing Sites

The big pro of news sharing sites is that you are able to stay up-to-date on topics of interest to you. For example, the site that I have chosen, Delicious, allows you to add links - and I believe that when new articles and posts are made to those links, they show up. I am not really sure of this, though. I did a little research and found out they are bookmaking sites. I know that diigo sends an e-mail to everyday with links to things are new on the topics that interest me. This is very handy for selecting resources for use in the classroon and for my PLN.

There seems to be one major con to the news sharing sites - the veracity of the articles. Students tend to believe whatever is on the internet.... and the articles gleaned from those sites need to be vetted for accuracy and bias.

Recently the students in my Creative Design Media Class (also known as Tech Ed) created games by coding using the scratch.mit.edu website. Here is a Ted Talk about the importance of coding.

Media Sharing

Social media sharing for middle school students provides opportunities to use current, relevant tools for student learning. The articles read for the class highlight a number of ways that several tools can be used, and in our discussion board postings we were able to share the pros and cons of media sharing in general, and specific ways we are (or are not) using media sharing. The reasons against using media sharing centered on student privacy and behavior online. After reading the articles, considering the discussion board posts, and asking others what media sharing tools they used, I decided to create a fan page on Facebook to post student work. I have already posted products that two of my students created in honor of Teacher Appreciation Week. I also posted an animation that one student created in which she highlights why Miller is such an exceptional school. The link to the Facebook Fan Page is: https://www.facebook.com/MillerTeacherLibrarian Enjoy!