There are two salient points that need to be made here: 1. The blocks are largely ineffective since those who wish to get around them can; and 2. The education of Chinese and foreign students here is being deleteriously affected. I want to direct my comments to the second point.

There are tens of thousands of classrooms throughout China which are using social media and networking as a focal point of curriculum delivery. I read recently that all upper primary to secondary students at the Shanghai American School, for example, are required to  blog. I have educated my students in the educational, organizational, research, and collaborative uses of media such as blogs, wikis, Facebook and Twitter. Almost daily, I am discovering new ways to use these tools, and my students are optimally engaged in classroom discussions and projects. I have seen research improve, writing acumen has grown exponentially, ownership and involvement in our discipline is as high or higher than it’s ever been. Needless to say, my students are upset by the recent actions.

No more can I use YouTube as an introduction to a topic, a jumping off point for a discussion, or uploading of student work. I’ve had to move student blogs from Blogger to WordPress to Ning, and now they’re all blocked. Some of my students were highly involved in expanding their research network on Twitter, but now they’re stifled. Facebook, for creating class and student groups and their corresponding content, and wikis are still available, but I really believe they will be blocked in the near future as well. My options: a) abandon the use of these tools–which I will not do; b) use a proxy server, which we’re now doing in a limited fashion, but it’s quite awkward; or c) set up my own server, which could be costly and labor intensive.

Ultimately, I would not have to make this choice if officials would carefully consider the long-term consequences of their policies. Hopefully, the powers that be will realize that the blocks are causing more damage than they are assisting them in their aims. Until then, I’ll have to continue to be resourceful.

Photo by s myers

Sometimes trying to keep up with all the social media out there becomes labor-intensive. Take a deep breath. Leo Babauta at Mashable offers tips for aggregating networks and not becoming overwhelmed.

Photo by Elias Pirasteh

• CEOs Who Use Twitter
• Keeping Momentum in Social Media
• Starting a Corporate Social Network. Don’t!
• and nine other links

Great info. Check it out.

Click to enlarge

Mashable reports that last month’s unique visitors numbers indicate that Facebook and Twitter continue on their torrid growth pace, while MySpace continues to lose ground.

Facebook’s growth, both in terms of the number of users, as well as visitors, has to slow down one day. Well, it is slowing down now, but it’s still huge given how big Facebook already is. Compete’s numbers for April show that Facebook has grown from 91,000,000 to 104,000,000 unique visitors, a healthy 14.35% increase from March.

Twitter, on the other hand, has looked tiny compared to these services mere months ago. Now it can definitely be put on the same graph, but to show its stellar growth I’ve given it a graph of its own. The growth has slowed down somewhat; the number of unique visitors has grown from 14,000,000 to 19,000,000, which is 38,56% growth.

I do most of my personal learning and information gathering in the following ways:

• aggregating feeds of interest into my Google Reader
• receiving news alerts of interest on educational and other topics into Google Reader
• searching for articles of interest in Digg
• Facebook–I get lots of good info from my friends, including video which is right on the page
• blogging–this is by far my most professionally valuable activity as it compels me to do research, consider issues, and basically get it right
• Ning groups

For personal and classroom collaboration, I recommend:

• Ning–create your own customized classroom or school network. A one-stop shop for much of what you’ll want to do.
• An online docs sharing network such as Google docs (not preferred due to formatting issues) or, better yet, Box.net
• Twitter (if it’s fully functional)
• Google suite of tools, including Google Docs, Google Sites, etc.
• Email still works
• Ustream for live presentations
• Slideshare for slideshows
• Class blogs for reflection and information
• Class wikis for gathering and making sense of information

Thoughts?

1. Polish your Google profile. Use the new features on your profile page so that you come out on top in search results.
2. Get your name reserved on a variety of social networks. You should especially focus on the biggies such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr, LinkedIn, etc.
3. Establish a personal online hub for your activities. 
4. Have a plan in place for managing your online reputation.
5. Promote your expertise with a “social media resume.”

I really love Schawbel’s articles; they’re always very timely and informative. You can check out the details here. 

Image by Matt Hamm

Betancourt’s identity theft prevention tips include the following:

 

1. Centralize Yourself — Create a central online location so that you control what information is on it. Then connect from that central location to other websites.

Establish an online version of yourself both professionally and personally. Jansons recommended having at least one blog and a personal website with your name as the domain and being active on at least one of each type of social media service so they work as your online resume and base of operations. Then use all of those services as you wish and allow your presence to grow.

2. Know Sites’ Terms — Know a website’s terms of service, privacy policy and the terms under which you’re contributing content. Find out who holds the copyright once that content is uploaded.

3. Document Your Work - Back up web pages, make PDFs of your clips or other work in case the URL may change or get pulled from the website on which it was published. Keep sources’ contact information, interview notes, writing drafts and hardcopies, photos, video files and any relevant reference material.

 

4. Archive Content – Add your URLs for inclusion in the Wayback Machine at the Internet Archive. The database tool makes a copy of a Web page and stores it with a data and timestamp. It gives a physical reference for when the content was online and what was there.

As people get more savvy with social media tools, they may be less likely to play fast and loose with their online identities.

McGeveran said many people find their tastes changing about the amount they choose to reveal about themselves in public. He added that because social networking sites such as Facebook are gaining importance and reach, to expect more problems like this to arise and that the law will need to adjust in response.

Top 10 Tools for Learners

The current Top 10 list of tools for learners, based on contribution of 47 Learners AS AT 4 APRIL is:

1. Google Search
2. YouTube
3. Firefox
4. Twitter
   Wikipedia
5. Delicious
6. Facebook
   Gmail
   Google Reader
   Skype

Top 10 Tools for Learning Professionals

The current top 10 tools for learning professionals to use in their own professional practice for creating learning “solutions” for others and their own productivity is AS AT 4 APRIL as follows, based on the contributions of 21 learning professionals

1. Delicious
2. Twitter
3. Skype
4. Slideshare
5. Google Reader
6. Google Docs
7. Audacity
   Google Search
   Moodle
   Ning
   PowerPoint
   SnagIt

I’m currently using almost all of these tools, and I’m slowly introducing more of them to my students. Many of the tools have had a profound impact on the way I teach and keep up to date in education, and on the way my students learn and produce.

I might also add Digg to the list as I use it often to find top articles on topics of interest.

First of all, any school curriculum that does not adequately include teaching learners about the past is no curriculum, in my mind. Moreover, as I’ve been pushing since day one on this blog here and here, it shouldn’t be an either/or proposition. History and the other core subjects are essential; and so is teaching students the skills they need in today’s world. There is time enough for a skilled teacher to fit them both in.