Looks like more and more cities are following the lead of NYC and embracing the use of social media in schools. Most recently the Chicago Public Schools has put together toolkit of resources—video, documents, and links to other sites—for principals and staff who want to use social media to connect with their school communities.
The toolkit, has useful resources that will be helpful regardless of what city or town you work in. It highlights creative and effective social media use by schools with a focus on Twitter and Facebook.
The toolkit includes:
- A "Social Media Trailblazer" video series.
- Social media resources for Twitter and Facebook
- Thought exercises for principals
- Guidance on School Social Media for principals:
- Sending mass text messages via Twitter
- Teaching social media ettiquette
- Managing a school Twitter page
- A school's principal is the only person with the authority to authorize an official school social media presence.
- Principals who authorize a school presence on social media are ultimately responsible for its content and maintenance.
- Principals who delegate all or part of maintaining their school's social media presence should think through their decisions carefully utilizing the resources in this toolkit, including the thought exercises below.
You can checkout the toolkit by visiting http://www.cps.edu/pages/socialmediatoolkit.aspx.
Lisa Nielsen writes for and speaks to audiences across the globe about learning innovatively and is frequently covered by local and national media for her views on “Passion (not data) Driven Learning,” "Thinking Outside the Ban" to harness the power of technology for learning, and using the power of social media to provide a voice to educators and students. Ms. Nielsen has worked for more than a decade in various capacities to support learning in real and innovative ways that will prepare students for success. In addition to her award-winning blog, The Innovative Educator, Ms. Nielsen’s writing is featured in places such as Huffington Post, Tech & Learning, ISTE Connects, ASCD Wholechild, MindShift, Leading & Learning, The Unplugged Mom, and is the author the book Teaching Generation Text.
Disclaimer: The information shared here is strictly that of the author and does not reflect the opinions or endorsement of her employer.
