The rapid expansion of blogs, Twitter, wikis, and virtual worlds has dramatically transformed the landscape of education. Through highly accessible networks, these new media can integrate students into a learning community by enabling them to create, customize, and share content online. Using Social Media Effectively in the Classroom shows educators how to:

• utilize social media to best support learners
• resolve potential problems
• create a powerful sense of community within user-centered Web 2.0 technologies.

Moving beyond basic explanations of technologies and how to use them, this book provides research-based, jargon-free, practical examples of what works, what doesn t, and why when it comes to social media. Organized according to the systematic process of instructional design, contributors describe innovative strategies for incorporating social media into educational settings as well as significant issues to be taken into consideration at each phase of planning, designing, teaching, and evaluation.

The rapid expansion of blogs, Twitter, wikis, and virtual worlds has dramatically transformed the landscape of education. Through highly accessible networks, these new media can integrate students into a learning community by enabling them to create, customize, and share content online. Using Social Media Effectively in the Classroom shows educators how to:

• utilize social media to best support learners
• resolve potential problems
• create a powerful sense of community within user-centered Web 2.0 technologies.

Moving beyond basic explanations of technologies and how to use them, this book provides research-based, jargon-free, practical examples of what works, what doesn t, and why when it comes to social media. Organized according to the systematic process of instructional design, contributors describe innovative strategies for incorporating social media into educational settings as well as significant issues to be taken into consideration at each phase of planning, designing, teaching, and evaluation.