But the days of paper flyers are over!

They’re over because of 1) an increased awareness of paper waste and environmental issues… and 2) because technology, the Internet, cell phones and social media has changed the way we communicate and share information.

In this article, I’d like to take a look at the issue of communication and propose a new way of looking at the Internet and social media as a means of keeping parents, teachers, students, and community members informed about what is actually happening in our local schools. But more than anything else, I’d like to look at these new technological advacements as a powerful tool for collaboration and what could soon become the greatest educational instrument ever created.

The Way The World Communicates in Changing

The way we share information and communicate with one another is changing. In case you’re unaware, newspapers all across the world are dying! Print and paper is the way of the past… and the Internet, social media, blogs and cell phones are the way of the future.

A single person working behind a computer in his home is now accomplishing what an entire newsroom or magazine does with a team of 20-100 people in its office. Businesses with 50 employees are being beat out by two man operations being run out of a garage in the middle of Kansas. And smart marketers who are witty enough to use the power of the Internet are outranking Fortune 500 companies with millions of dollars in the bank on Google.

It’s All Happening Because Of The Way We Communicate!

Instead of walking outside, grabbing the paper, opening it up and searching for any relevant news or information… the new generation of information consumers (our students and community) are getting their information delivered to them automatically via RSS feeds, email newsletters, Google alerts, and social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, LinkedIn, Plurk… and many more!

Our society is on information overload. We are producing way more information than we can ever consume. Because of this, people are even more pressed for time and even more weary of taking on additional and unnecessary information.

This is why newspapers, flyers from teachers, and newsletters from superintendents don’t have the pull they once did. They don’t resonate with this new generation of information consumers because the information delivered in these old manners is… well… old.

By the time you drag in the paper each morning and find the article you were looking for, the new generation of info consumers have already checked their email, read a dozen blog and website articles, watched a handful of online videos, and communicated with hundreds of people around the world.

If you’re delivering information the way it was done 10 years ago, you’re moving too slowly for the new generation of students, parents and teachers.

Problems With Technology In The School System

When I first started reading into the problems schools have had with technology in the past, much of it seemed to revolve around the misuse of technological tools by either the teachers, the students or the administration.

For example, school administrators fear that by having computers in the classroom, students will be tempted to play games, instant message with their friends, or even look at pornography instead of paying attention to the instructions that are being given in the classroom.

And while student responsibility is a key area of concern, teacher responsibility seems to be an issue as well. With teachers interacting with underage students online, calling them on their cell phones, or posting pictures to their Facebook and MySpace accounts, many school administrators fear a breach between what should be a work environment (school) and what should be considered personal (home.)

And while that all sounds quite obvious, the worst infraction of all may be school administrators who view the Internet and social media as a way of spying on their students, teachers and staff. A number of schools and school systems have policies in place that say in one degree or another, “if we catch you doing or saying anything online that is illegal, immoral, or simply against our rules, you’ll be punished for it in the school system.” But that’s not the way social media is supposed to work!

While these fears may sound a little absurd to someone like myself who knows how to use these new technological tools appropriately, the fears and concerns expressed above are founded in reality. There have been numerous cases of teachers inappropriately interacting with their students. There have been cases where online videos made by students got them arrested or in trouble once they returned to the classroom. And there have been multiple cases of students viewing inappropriate material while on school grounds. Sadly, technology is caught in the middle of each of these stories… and it is for this reason that the Internet, cell phones, and social media get a bad wrap in our school systems.

That being said, most (if not all) of these cases were created because of an error made by a person – not a machine! The tools are not the problem. The people are the problem.

How Social Media Should Be Used For Education And Community Outreach

That being said, I think social media, the Internet and technology in general is giving schools an incredible opportunity to communicate with their parents, teachers, and students in a way that has never been done in the past.

The fact of the matter is, the way we communicate and interact with the people around us is becoming ever more transparent. The worlds between work and play are colliding. The lines between business and personal are being crossed and the way things were done in the past won’t be possible in the future – unless, of course, you disconnect yourself from the grid entirely.

If our education system is ever going to catch up with the rest of society and jump on board the Web 2.0 bandwagon, we’ve got to change the way we think about technology in our classrooms and in our community. We can no longer view the Internet as something for the home, because it isn’t!

I honestly believe that if these new online technologies were used appropriately in the classroom, students could learn more on the Internet in a matter of weeks than they could learn in a traditional classroom in a matter of years. The trick to this progression in thinking and learning, however, is an appropriate use and understanding of how the Internet and the new social medial tools are meant to be used.

My Proposal To School Districts Everywhere

If I were in charge of my local school district, I would view social media, the Internet and technology something like this:

I would view myself as the leader of a tribe. My tribe includes my teachers, my parents, my students, my staff, my community and my neighbors. My job as the leader of this tribe is to help, inspire and educate my tribe.

To do this, I first of all need to be able to communicate with my tribe and reach them in a way that is both comfortable and convenient for them. I need to be able to reach my tribe when, where, and how they want to be reached.

For this reason, I don’t want to rely solely on one means of communication. Instead, I want to be everywhere and anywhere my tribe might be. This might mean that I communicate with my tribe via my website, my blog, my local newspaper, my community websites, magazines, email, postal newsletters, RSS, Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, Plurk… and anywhere else my tribe might be found.

The key to communication in the future is going to be communicating with your “tribe” when, where and how they want to be communicated with.

Think of this new revolution in Internet technology as a funnel. At the top of the funnel are all these new communication devices. RSS, Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, text messaging, YouTube, etc. These tools are at the top of the funnel and by communicating with your “tribe” in these areas, you funnel your tribe members back to your home – which in this case is likely your school district’s website and/or blog. Once your tribe reaches your website/blog, you can then share with them the information you feel needs to be shared.

You don’t push your message down your tribe’s throats on your website or on these various social media sites, but instead, reach out to your community by way of social media. Once you’ve gained their trust and built your community on these sites, those who want to learn more about you and what you are doing can easily visit your website where your message is then delivered.

Social media, the Internet, and technology as a whole are changing the way we communicate with the world in which we live. Which brings me to my next point – collaboration.
Instead of viewing these new technological advancements as something that should be controlled and widdled down, start thinking of these new tools as a means of collaboration.

With these new technologies, a student in a California classroom can learn Spanish with a real student in Spain. With these new social media sites, students in Mexico can work on science projects with students in Japan. And with live video conferencing and instant messages, forums, and community boards that span the globe, teachers and administrators alike now have the tools to collaborate, intersect, and learn from the greatest minds in the world. Why wouldn’t you want to use these tools to your advantage?

If I were a teacher, a parent, a student, or a community member who was aware of these ever-changing technological advances (which most young people are nowadays), I’d want to know that my school was doing everything in their power to ensure that my education and the tools I was given to succeed in the future were the best and most state of the art that they possibly could be.

If I were in charge of my local school district, I wouldn’t view the Internet and social media as a distraction, a negative influence, or a toy. Instead, I would do everything in my power to get these new tools into the classroom as soon as possible and I’d start viewing the Web 2.0 revolution as what could possibly become the greatest education tool ever created.