Clear the ground

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Teachers are still cautious on social networks, in particular on Facebook, the most famous in the school world. Friendship relations between students and teachers generate talk, especially since minimum age required to open an account is set at 13 years.

Despite 500 million users around the world, Twitter is an emerging social network in education. When Sylvain Berube, a teacher at the Découvreurs school board, presented his project, his students could not help questioning him. “Twitter, what is it? Me, I'm already on Facebook. If the operation of the platform had to be explained to its young people who are yet tech-savvy, there is still work to be done to make it better known to parents, teachers and school administrators.

Brigitte Léonard mentions the importance of properly putting together your project and having it approved. “It was new,” she explains. I submitted my project to my administration and my school board before presenting it to the parents of my students. In our school board, social networks are open, but Twitter is not well known. "

Unlike Facebook, Twitter does not imply a reciprocal or friendly relationship. This can reassure more than one, but not all. “Some people are not at all comfortable with the public aspect of a social network,” says Annie Côté. They value their privacy very much. This is the case for parents, but also for students. Some teachers are not ready, either, to be completely transparent with what is going on in the classroom. "

Ms. Côté's students are 16 and 17 years old, so they have the minimum age required to open a personal Twitter account. They can submit their assignments without violating the terms of use from home or their mobile device. What about Ms. Léonard's first year students? The teacher opened an account for the class and the writing of tweets is done in class, under his supervision, using the computers at his disposal.

Sensitive to these irritants, the National RECIT Service for Mathematics, Science and Technology has made available EnDirect, a microblogging platform reserved for the world of Quebec education. "EnDirect only works by invitation," explains Pierre Lachance, educational advisor in ICT integration. Students 13 years of age or younger are admitted, as long as their topics of discussion remain related to education, learning and technology ”. The information published by the approximately 500 subscribers is secure. They are neither sold nor counted for statistical purposes. The interface is ad-free. “For the students, this is quite an advantage! He adds.

EnDirect is a free tool that a teacher can use to facilitate a class project. If I were Premier and the Hockey Night are two educational projects that took place this year.

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