Using Facebook to Enhance Your Teaching

I have a Facebook account that I use for work only. I use it to connect with colleagues and students from my campus. But its best use is conversing with colleagues from across the country and across the globe. 

When you attend conferences, you meet great colleagues: some are the speakers and some are the casual conversations between presentations, at dinner, etc. When I return, I look for those folks on Facebook and request to be their "friend". I also look at my favorite blogs to see who can be followed on Facebook.

Status updates tell what people are doing, offer suggestions and new ideas, answer questions, and can become conversations.  

Some examples from recent weeks. People were:

• Attending an event hosted by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching
• Reading a great article. Link was attached and it was inspiring.
• Contemplating the use of a new technology in the classroom. (that led to a conversation).
• Writing a proposal for a conference. (I decided to write my own proposal. Wish me luck.)

Also you can become a "fan" of professional organizations, periodicals, newspapers, etc. Then you get updates of interesting content. I often "share" content with my Facebook colleagues about Mathematics and Teaching and Technology. It's easy!

My suggestions:

• If you already have a Facebook page for friends and family and games you play, etc., consider having a page that is just for work. It keeps those parts of your lives separate and private.
• If you don't have a Facebook page, see if your college or a colleague has one. Ask their advice.
• Try it. Log on once a day and just look for friends, read status updates, etc.
• If you post a status update, remember to make it relevant and interesting and o.k. if yous supervisor reads it! (I really don't care what you had for breakfast and your supervisor might not want you writing bad things about the college or your students).

Tell me your experiences with Facebook. And be sure to look for me!