Get Connected! Social Media for Art Educators

Our webmaster presented a workshop at the KAEA Fall Professional Development Conference about using Social Media to network with Art Educators. By reading this blog, you are already engaging with KAEA through Social Media. Here are some basics to help you continue on your Social Media journey. You can view and download the PowerPoint of the presentation here.

Social Media includes services like Blogs, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, and more.
Did you know that KAEA is on Facebook, Twitter, Blogger, and Pinterest?

Professionalism is key-

• Consider anything you post public. If you wouldn't say it to your principal or a parent, don't post it online.
• Follow etiquette- if you don't know it, look it up!
• If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all!
• Remember that it's about sharing, not just self-promotion.

Blogging- from the term "weblog", started as journaling and now you can find blogs on virtually any topic. Servers like Blogger or Wordpress allow you to write your own blog for free and follow blogs you are interested in.

Reasons to blog- 

• Visual and verbal reflection
• Share ideas and resources
• Connect with other professionals
• "Meet" people from all over the US as well as other countries
• Get answers and help solve problems

"Blogosphere" Etiquette

• Cite your sources and inspiration and link to it using a Permalink
• Comment to let people know you are there
• Share differences of opinion in a respectful way to add to the conversation. Don't attack. Remember there's a real person behind the blog.
• Don't link to your blog unless extremely relevant- this could be seen as spamming.
• Respond to comments from your readers.

Starting your own blog

• Choose a host like Blogger or Wordpress
• Consider your goal and target audience- other professionals, parents, students?
• Consider privacy and permissions- you can approve and moderate comments on your blog.
• Visuals add interest. Use your own visuals whenever possible, Illustrate process and product, Don't use others' visuals without permission.
• Consider adding a watermark or copyright symbol to your blog.

Pinterest- Pin + Interest. Allows you to "pin" images with saved link like a visual bookmark.

• Lets you access your pins and boards from anywhere with an internet connection.
• Not just for recipes and cleaning tips- Collaborate with group pin boards, pin reference images for lessons and research, share ideas and sources.
• Great tool for blogging- lets you track your inspiration sources.
• Share your links but don't pin exclusively for self-promotion.

Twitter- post and view short messages called "tweets", limit of 140 characters.

• Not just for celebrities, increasingly used in education.
• "Follow" accounts- Art Educators, museums, organizations, magazines, companies, etc.
• Connect with others, collaborate, share blog posts, pass on links and resources
• RT- Retweets pass along tweets written by others to your followers.
• "@" in front of texts identifies it as an account. Typing "@" tags the account in your post.
• "#" is called a hashtag. Can be a searchable term like #ArtEd, #Elem, #KAEA2012, or something just for fun like #YouMightBeAnArtTeacher

Facebook- "friend" individuals and "like" pages. Besides connecting with family and friends...

• Like organizations
• Participate in discussions
• Share resources- links, images, ideas

Ning- another social network used in education. NAEA has official Ning

The SmARTteacher- Art Education community

• Participate in discussions
• Create, share, and "keep" resources
• Monthly contests- upload resources, lesson plans, etc. and be eligible to win prizes including supplies