Helpful Sites for Educators

There are some great blogs and websites that can provide information about teaching, learning, and technology for educators. Today, I’d like to highlight two of my favorites.

1) Free Technology for Teachers

This site is written by Richard Byrne, a Google-Certified Instructor and High School teacher. Richard believes “when used correctly, technology has the power to improve student engagement and student achievement.” As the name implies, Bryne provides free sources that can be used in education. Recent posts have discussed Google and Bloom’s Taxonomy, ways that students can share slideshow presentations online, and “If It Were My Home,” an interesting site that compares the U.S. with different countries. Each discussion ends with a note about how the online sources can be used by educators. While not all of the sources related to college teaching, many can be used by educators at any level.

2) Faculty Focus

The topics in this newsletter are almost always applicable to the college classroom, and often make me think about how I can improve or change my thinking. Unlike the previous website, this one doesn’t focus on technology, but on classroom teaching. If you go to the right side of the site, you will find topics that will surely peak your interest. Recent topics have included “Service Learning: Tips for Aligning Pedagogies with Learning Outcomes,” collaboration and test-taking, and how to deal with cheating in the classroom. You can download free reports on a variety of subjects if you click on the “Free Report” button on the top of the site. It’s a very thought-provoking site.


Learning never ends, especially when you're a teacher who cares about student learning. You can spend hours looking at the wealth of information on these two sites alone. Care to share your favorite sites that can help us improve our teaching?

My Facebook Experiment

I’ve been interested in using technology in the classroom for a long time. When I started planning for my SPCH 1321 Organizational and Professional Communication class, I wanted to incorporate many of the new ways of communicating. Since Facebook is so popular (500 million active users, according to Facebook’s statistic sheet), I wanted to see if this particular social network tool would work for classes, too.


All but one student either already had a Facebook account or had no problem in signing up for one. One student was concerned about privacy issues and is using EPCC’s SmartStart instead. On average, I post two to three times a week, usually reminding the students of upcoming events. I find that around six students are actively commenting, but other students chime in with questions or comments on occasion. The social networking aspect is kicking in a bit, since one student asked for help in a chemistry class the other day.  Students also use the "Message" element of Facebook to communicate with me.  They do have my EPCC e-mail on their syllabi, but I think it's easier for them to use my Facebook information instead.

The class’s current assignment, a PowerPoint research project, has to be uploaded to Facebook as a video. Most students had to learn some more-advanced computer skills, but it is something they can use in their futures. Once the videos are all uploaded, the students will select one or two videos to review and then provide comments.

I feel that students need to be aware of the power of social networking, and know that their futures will most likely include the use of Facebook or other networking tools. Other platforms, such as Blackboard, may have similar results, but since students were already on Facebook, I felt that it was an easier platform to use for this experiment.

Have you used social media for your classes? Feel free to comment below.