ITTT Specialized Course

Teaching English Online

TEO 005

Unit 5 Social media

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Where the world is your classroom
Unit 5 Social media

5.1 What is social media?

n 5.1 What is social media?
n 5.2 How do I use it?
n 5.3 Typical resources
n 5.4 Unit 5 comprehension text

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines social media

as follows:

Forms of electronic communica-

tion (such as websites for social
networking and microblogging)
through which users create
online communities to share
information, ideas, personal
messages, and other content
(such as videos).

Fundamentally, social media is any online platform

where people can communicate with each other and
present and discuss ideas. Blogs, forums, YouTube
and online English teaching are just some examples.

Social media can be interactive or you may use it

passively. Mainstream media, such as T.V. and
newspapers now actively use Social Media to increase
their reach.
Social media definition

https://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/social-media

Posted by: Margaret Rouse, WhatIs.com

social media

Here are some prominent examples of social media:

Facebook is a popular free social networking website that allows registered users to create profiles, upload photos and video,
send messages and keep in touch with friends, family and colleagues.

Google+ (pronounced Google plus) was Google's social networking project, designed to replicate the way people interact
offline more closely than is the case in other social networking services. This website is no longer offered to new users and plans
to shut down remaining accounts in 2019.

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Unit 5 Social media

LinkedIn is a social networking site designed specifically for the business community. The goal of the site is to allow registered
members to establish and document networks of people they know and trust professionally.

Pinterest is a social curation website for sharing and categorizing images found online. Pinterest requires brief descriptions but
the main focus of the site is visual. Clicking on an image will take you to the original source. For example, clicking on a picture
of a pair of shoes might redirect users to a purchasing site and an image of blueberry pancakes might redirect to the recipe.

Reddit is a social news website and forum where stories are socially curated and promoted by site members. The site is
composed of hundreds of sub-communities, known as "subreddits." Each subreddit has a specific topic such as technology,
politics or music. Reddit site members, also known as, "redditors," submit content which is then voted upon by other members.
The goal is to send well-regarded stories to the top of the site's main thread page.

Twitter is a free microblogging service that allows registered members to broadcast short posts called tweets. Twitter members
can broadcast tweets and follow other users' tweets by using multiple platforms and devices.

Wikipedia is a free, open content online encyclopedia created through the collaborative effort of a community of users known
as Wikipedians. Anyone registered on the site can create an article for publication; however, registration is not required to edit
articles. Wikipedia was founded in January of 2001.

Brian Solis created the following social media chart, known as the conversation prism, to categorize social sites and services into
various types of social media. (See a larger image)

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Unit 5 Social media

Business applications of social media

Social media is becoming an integral part of life online as social websites and applications proliferate. Most traditional online
media platforms include social components, such as comment fields for users. In business, social media is used to market
products, promote brands, connect to current customers and foster new business.

Social media analytics is the practice of gathering data from blogs and social media websites and analyzing that data to make
business decisions. The most common use of social media analytics is to mine customer sentiment to support marketing and
customer service activities.

Social media marketing (SMM) takes advantage of social networking to help a company increase brand exposure and broaden
customer reach. The goal is usually to create content compelling enough that users will share it with their social networks. One
of the key components of SMM is social media optimization (SMO). Like search engine optimization (SEO), SMO is a strategy
for drawing new and unique visitors to a website. SMO can be done two ways: by adding social media links to content such as
RSS feeds and sharing buttons, or by promoting activity through social media via status updates, tweets, or blog posts.

Social CRM (customer relationship marketing) can be a very powerful business tool. For example, establishing a Facebook
page allows people who like your brand and the way you conduct business to like your page, which creates a venue for
communication, marketing and networking. Through social media sites, you can follow conversations about your brand for
real-time market data and feedback.

In terms of customer feedback, social media makes it easy to tell a company and everyone else about their experiences with that
company, whether those experiences are good or bad. The business can also respond very quickly to both positive and
negative feedback, attend to customer problems and maintain, regain or rebuild customer confidence.

Enterprise social networking allows a company to connect individuals who share similar business interests or activities.
Internally, social tools can help employees access information and resources they need to work together effectively and solve
business problems. Externally, public social media platforms help an organization stay close to their customers and make it
easier to conduct research that they can use to improve business processes and operations.

Social media is also often used for crowdsourcing. Customers can use social networking sites to offer ideas for future products
or tweaks to current ones. In IT projects, crowdsourcing usually involves engaging and blending business and IT services from
a mix of internal and external providers, sometimes with input from customers and/or the general public.

On the other hand, the integration of social media in the business world can also pose challenges. Social media policies are
designed to set expectations for appropriate behavior and ensure that an employee's posts will not expose the company to legal
problems or public embarrassment. Such policies include directives for when an employee should identify himself as a
representative of the company on a social networking website, as well as rules for what types of information can be shared.

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Unit 5 Social media

5.2 How do I use it?

Here we consider some of the ways you could use
social media to help your teaching.

1. Blogs

Create classroom and individual blog accounts where

students can share ideas and learn how to
communicate online by posting and replying to
comments.

Here is the ITTT blog:

https://www.teflcourse.net/blog/

2. Social media accounts

Set up a social media account for the class on spaces

such as Twitter or Face book.

https://twitter.com/TeachThought

3. Google Meet

https://apps.google.com/meet/

Video calls and meetings for everyone.

Google Meet is one service for secure, high-quality video meetings and calls available for everyone, on any device.

Meet safely

Meet uses the same protections that Google uses to secure your information and safeguard your privacy. Meet video
conferences are encrypted in transit, and our array of safety measures are continuously updated for added protection.

Meet from anywhere

Get the whole crew together in Google Meet, where you can present business proposals, collaborate on chemistry assignments,
or just catch up face to face. Businesses, schools, and other organizations can live stream meetings to 100,000 viewers within
their domain.

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Unit 5 Social media

Meet on any device, anywhere

Guests can join from their computer using any modern web browser—no software to install. On mobile devices, they can join
from the Google Meet app. Guests can even join meetings and calls from Google Nest Hub Max.

Meet clearly

Google Meet adjusts to your network speed, ensuring high quality video calls wherever you are. New AI enhancements keep
your calls clear even when your surroundings aren’t.

Meet with everyone

With live captions powered by Google’s speech recognition technology, Google Meet makes meetings more accessible. For
non-native speakers, hearing impaired participants, or just noisy coffee shops, live captions make it easy for everyone to follow
along (available in English only).

Stay connected: Simple scheduling, easy recording, and adaptive layouts help people stay engaged and connected.
Share your screen: Present documents, slides, and spreadsheets by showing your entire screen or just a window.
Host large meetings: Invite up to 500 internal or external participants to a meeting.
Join from your phone: Use the Google Meet app to join a video call, or join audio-only by calling the dial-in number in the
meeting invite.
Take control: Meetings are safe by default. Owners can control who can join the meeting; only people approved
by the meeting owner can enter.
Broadcast internal events: Live stream events such as town halls and sales meetings for up to 100,000 viewers within your
domain.

4. Canvas

A good alternative to the more general social media accounts, Canvas is targeted for schools, is worldwide and is used by
students and teachers.
www.instructure.com/en-au/canvas

5. Virbela

A new way to approach remote education, with virtual realistic classrooms, avatars and interactive lessons.
www.virbela.com

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Unit 5 Social media

Social media sites in China

You should be aware that China accounts for well over half of all English learners online and that many of the social media
websites mentioned here are not available in China.

The following blog articles give a whole range of alternatives which are available to use in your teaching.

an St
re o
Visit these websites for more information: d
se p
www.dragonsocial.net/blog/social-media-in-china/ a
rc
www.echinacities.com/career-advice/5-Awesome-Free-Online- h
Resources-for-Foreign-ESL-Teachers-in-China

In summary, social media can create useful spaces for you, your students and if you are going it alone, your business. As
an online teacher you should make as much use as possible of online resources such as these.

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Unit 5 Social media

5.3 Resources
There are a huge number of free resources for EFL
teachers in general. You should take all the resources
you can get, try them out and then, from the results of
how well they work (or don't) in your particular teaching
situation, adapt them or radically change them.

Some examples:

https://busyteacher.org/20651-how-to-use-social-
media-esl-classroom.html
https://matadornetwork.com/abroad/30-free-
online-resources-for-teaching-and-learning-esl/
www.eslkidstuff.com/esl-kids-lesson-plans.html

Just put 'free ESL resources' into any search engine

and you will have access to all the resources you may
ever need.

an St
re o
For a brief overview covering all the previous aspects read the d
following article from the ITTT blog: se p
a
rc
www.teflcourse.net/blog/4-essential-tools-for-teaching-esl-online-ittt-tefl-blog/ h

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Unit 5 Social media

5.4 Comprehension text

Read the following text and additional readings.
Knowledge of the text will be tested.

The Best Apps to Have on Your Phone

While Teaching English Abroad
www.teflcourse.net/blog/the-best-apps-to-have-on-your-
phone-while-teaching-english-abroad-ittt-tefl-blog/

Apps for Inside the Classroom

Educreations
This app allows you to create an interactive whiteboard
filled with instructional videos that can be watched as a
class or at home. You can also annotate and animate your
content to make it more fun to learn for your students.
The best part about this app is that you can also invite
your students to share their ideas and help other students
with tutorials.

Kahoot
There is nothing worse than a boring lesson - for both the students and the teacher. However, with Kahoot, you can easily turn
any subject into a fun game that involves all of your students. You can create your own questions and answers and create a
game show style activity that can be played with the whole class. The best part is that your students don't even need to
download the app to play.

Epic! Unlimited Books for Kids

This epic app gives teachers access to over 20,000 popular children's books, including editions from National Geographic and
Goosebumps. This is especially useful if you have to create your own curriculum for reading classes or if your school doesn't
have an extensive student library.

Tip: Take our 50-hour Teaching English to Young Learners Course if teaching children is your dream!

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Unit 5 Social media

Instructables
Sometimes it can be hard to come up with fun school projects for your students. Instructables is a great resource for your next
fun project and your students will love it. Whether you are looking for a science project or an art craft, you will definitely find
something useful for your students here.

Apps for Outside the Classroom

Additio
Additio is likely going to become your new best friend. This nifty app keeps track of all your students' grades and attendance, as
well as your timetable, and it also lets you save class notes. You can even communicate and exchange ideas with fellow
teachers.

Slack
What is a teacher's worst nightmare? Your students didn't do their homework and you have to spend the whole lesson doing the
work during class and fall behind on your curriculum. But don't worry, Slack is a useful messaging app that lets teachers
communicate with students and send out messages and reminders for homework, due projects, papers and everything else
you'd like to remind your students of.

Teacher's Assistant Pro

Teacher's Assistant Pro is a very useful app that helps you to keep a record of classroom behavior. The app lets you create an
incident report, complete with date, time, location and even “evidence” photos. This is especially useful for parent-teacher
conferences to explain exactly what happened and to clear up any misunderstandings.

Remind
Similar to Slack, the Remind app also sends out reminders to students. The only difference is that you can even communicate
with the parents through this app. Moreover, the messages sent through the app can be translated into over 70 different
languages, which is perfect for overcoming the language barrier between foreign teachers and parents when teaching English
abroad.

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Unit 5 Social media

Classtree
Many teachers around the globe use Classtree to send out notifications to parents of upcoming projects, field trips, exams and
much more. It eliminates paper parent consent forms completely and also eliminates the chances of students losing these letters
to their parents. The app also shows you exactly who has read your message and who still needs to sign.

Edmodo
Another helpful app that we shouldn't miss from this list is Edmodo. With this app, you can simply post assignments, grades,
and notifications, and also share useful resources, calendars and even quizzes and polls with your students.

You should now be ready to attempt test 5. Go to the control panel to open and take the test.

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