Thursday, June 5, 2014

Pinterest Survey

I took a survey on how educators use Pinterest.  26 people participated through the One Drive Excel Survey.  Here are some charts that display the results.







 


Bibliography

Bibliography

Click the link above to see bibliography for all of the scholarly articles. (Exported from Ref Works)

Saturday, May 31, 2014

Teach Your Children.

Teach Your Children.: EBSCOhost


     This article only mentions Pinterest in passing, but it suggests a powerful point; We should be using social media to promote, share and teach STEM curriculum.  When you search STEM on Pinterest, hundreds of pins appear, and quite a few of them are from Teachers Pay Teachers.  Pinterest acts as a twitter(allowing you to follow) a bookmark (allowing you to save) and a search engine (allowing you to find exactly what you are looking for.  These components are an educator's dream because it opens up so many opportunities to find good ideas.  
     This article also suggests that Pinterest acts as a tool to help promote the investigative learning of our students.  Now that we are in a technological age, we can not continue to teach without the use of technological tools.  Pinterest is a tool that allows teachers to accomplish much more in terms of finding good ideas and sharing them with other teachers.  

Teach Your Children. (2014). International Journal of Metalcasting8(2), 5. 

Cool Tools, Social Media, and Curriculum

Cool Tools, Social Media, and Curriculum: EBSCOhost

     This article mainly serves as a short abstract that directs readers where to explore for ideas using technology in the classroom.  The thing about this article is it has so many links in it, it really might as well be its own Pinterest board.  Pinterest takes embedded links to the next level by intriguing readers with their visual component.  This engagement is what keeps people coming back to Pinterest, and what will keep students engaged in the classroom.  

Troutner, J. (2012). Cool Tools, Social Media, and Curriculum. Teacher Librarian39(4), 48-50.

Techspotting.

Techspotting.: EBSCOhost


     This article by Jody and Tim Green suggest some different technological tools to help cipher through the mountains of information found on the internet.  The nice thing about Pinterest is that it is customizable.  The authors themselves have 2 education boards they used, one for public use, and one for collaborative use.  Boards can have different settings, such as public or private, meaning that anything you pin can be seen by others, or you can set a board for private and it will only be seen by you.  You can also have personal boards, where you are the sole contributor, or collaborative boards, where one can invite those they follow on Pinterest and all those invited can pin to the collaborative board.  (This would be perfect in the classroom!) 
     
     They also mention a few ways that Pinterest can be used in the classroom by both teachers and students.  The beauty of Pinterest is that it can be used by anyone on any computer, tablet or smart phone.  With the rise of BYOD classrooms, and tablet availability, it is not unreasonable to assume that all students will soon have access to Pinterest via apps or through the website.  

Green, J., & Green, T. (2014). Techspotting. Techtrends: Linking Research & Practice To Improve Learning58(1), 11-12.

TO PIN or NOT TO PIN.

TO PIN or NOT TO PIN.: EBSCOhost


     This article dives into why people and companies want to use Pinterest. Maybe it is because in 2012 it had 20 MILLION monthly users, and in 2013, 70 MILLION, (http://expandedramblings.com/index.php/pinterest-stats/#.U40aIJROrSY) which means it is growing- and fast.  Shirley Rowe, the author of this article suggests that Pinterest is the new deal for Career Practitioners because it is immensely popular, its visual aspect appeals to the younger generation, and it is simple and easy to use.  The article goes on to describe all of the ways Pinterest can be used to share good ideas.  

Some of those good ideas look like this...

Share Resources
Track Websites you've viewed
Connect with other career professionals
DEVELOP LESSON PLANS
Build and develop your brand
Engage with people
Connect socially
Broaden your portfolio
Research Employers of Interest
Create a reading list
Follow Trends
Learn New Skills
Maintain a positive Online Presence


These reasons above are EXACTLY why we should be using Pinterest in the classroom.  Exposing students to this tool could make a huge impact on how they find, sort and interpret data they find on the internet.  

Rowe, S. (2013). TO PIN or NOT TO PIN. Career Planning & Adult Development Journal29(3), 45-56.

Pinterest as a Tool: Applications in Academic Libraries and Higher Education.

Pinterest as a Tool: Applications in Academic Libraries and Higher Educatio...: EBSCOhost



     This article is written by librarians from the University of Regina in Canada.  They describe how they launched a Pinterest account for their library and discuss some issues regarding copyright and Pinterest.  Turns out that there is a script certain websites, such as Flickr, Etsy, and Kickstarter, can use to prevent images from that website from being repinned.  Other companies, such as Penguin Books and Random House have encouraged the repinning of their book covers because it acts as free promotion for their products.  The library encourages pinners to evaluate copyright before repinning.

     While I understand the importance of copyright, I feel like because Pinterest is used to share ideas, it acts as a promotional feature.  Companies are creating Pinterest accounts because they WANT others to repin their material.  I feel like in general, pinners are pretty safe from copyright, unless they go a round about way to add an image to an imageless site to be repinned.  (like I did.)  But even here, one just needs to make sure that the image they use is licensed for reuse.

Hansen, K., Nowlan, G., & Winter, C. (2012). Pinterest as a Tool: Applications in Academic Libraries and Higher Education. Partnership: The Canadian Journal Of Library & Information Practice & Research7(2), 1-11.