SocialEdCon: What the Heck Do We Do with Social Media? | Edutopia

SocialEdCon: What the Heck Do We Do with Social Media? | Edutopia:

Betty Ray is Edutopia's senior blog editor and community manager. She was one of the organizers for TEDxSFED in San Francisco and is a regular blogger for Edutopia. Follow her on Twitter @EdutopiaBetty.

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Greetings from sunny San Diego. I’m here for the annual ISTE conference and its innovative kick-off gathering, SocialEdCon -- the one-day unconference formerly known as EduBloggerCon. (Organizer Steve Hargadon changed the name to reflect the change in emphasis from blogging to the larger social media universe that brings educators together.)

Topics this year ranged from how to expedite technology adoption to the impact of technology on social and emotional learning; blended learning; and tools and ideas for making media in the classroom. (See the entire SocialEdCon schedule) Over the next week or so, we’ll hear from some of these participants as guest bloggers here on Edutopia.

In the mean time, I wanted to cover some of the many discussions around social media. Clearly social media is here to stay, yet many educators are still grappling with what the heck to do with it.

So, What the Heck Do We Do with Social Media??

Social media is arguably the single most disruptive innovation in the history of industrialized civilization. It’s redefining how we engage with each other, how we do business, how we get our news, how we spend our free time and how we revolt against repressive regimes. It’s no wonder that people are terrified of it. And to that end, it’s not surprising that many educators find themselves in schools where social media is blocked -- and/or with draconian social media policies in place.