10 Social Media Competencies for K-12 teachers.

Doug Johnson is the editor behind The Blue Skunk Blog. If you are not subscribed to it, it is time you do it. Its editor makes the best effort to keep you updated about topics on education. Jonhson got inspired by a post written and published by Dean Giustini in the first place, where Giustine builds the Top Ten Social Media Competencies for Librarians.

Taking that post as a reference, The Blue Skunk Blog develops its own, to bring up the Top Ten Social Media Competencies for Teachers.

Add to list whatever you think it was left out:

1. Help students use educational networking tools to solve information problems and communicate digitally with experts, peers and instructors.
2. Know the major Web 2.0 categories and tools that are useful in the K-12 setting. Know which tools are provided/supported by one's school.
3. Use educational networking sites to communicate with teaching peers, students and parents.
4. Navigate, evaluate and create professional content on networking sites.
5. Use online networking to create, maintain and learn from a personal learning network.
6. Know the district networking guidelines, follow netiquette, conform to ethical standards and interact appropriately with others, especially students, online.
7. Understand copyright, security and privacy issues on social media sites and share these understandings with students and professional colleagues.
8. Understand the importance of identity and reputation management using social media and help students understand the long-term impact of personal information shared online.
9. Create and follow a personal learning plan to stay informed about developing trends, tools and applications of social media.
10. Participate in the formulation of school and district policies and guidelines related to educational networking and social learning.

After listening a couple of keynotes during the The Reform Symposium (#rscon10), the most important conclusion I got was: All teachers are learners. Whether you are convinced or not about this fact, at least reflect on the process all your students are living and get to it from a different angle. Social Media helps you to step ahead on you career.

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Milton Ramirez