I watched this interview earlier today and was very impressed with how Commander Chris Hadfield was able to describe the benefits of using social media to educate and share in terms of his role as an astronaut on the ISS. I also loved his analogy with early world explorers who set sail to places unknown.
As teachers we are very lucky to have many great resources available to us. We can connect with scientists, world adventurers, politicians, authors and artists. We can follow twitter feeds that recreate historical events. We have Street View in Google Maps that can have us exploring places our classes may never really visit. We can email an author, politician, adventurer or sports person. We may be lucky enough to have a Skype session with grandparents who are travelling or an author who has just published a new book. We may even teach another class a new idea via Skype. These are only a few of the many ways that social media can find its way into our classrooms to extend their boundaries. By doing so we are showing our children that social media can have a purpose aside from finding out what we had for lunch. Mind you even asking that question world wide can be beneficial.