Digital Strategies: Why One Teacher WANTS His Students to Use Social Media

One amazing teacher can have a profound impact. Many of us can remember at least one teacher who changed the way we thought about ourselves, about learning and about our place in our communities. I remember my third grade teacher who was so captivating that she made me want to do my best. Decades later, I still remember her style, humor and passion for teaching. She made it cool to be smart and she changed the way I thought about school. I thought of her again recently when I spoke with Jason Shaffer, High School Education Technology Teacher for the North Broward Preparatory School in Coconut Creek, Florida. Jason is on the leading edge of educators who want their students to use social media. He is an inspiration to me and to his students, watch my full interview with Jason and you will soon see why.

Mr. Shaffer has been teaching for 13 years. About 6 years ago he was asked by his Director, Dr. Joan Mcgettigans, to lead an iPad pilot program. Along with a team of educators they sought to develop a new, more immersive tech curriculum. Jason was asked to teach the course and he took it and ran with it. Instead of just replacing textbooks with tech, he had an idea for a new way to teach his students. He wanted them to employ technology for its ultimate capabilities to create, share, collaborate and connect. His Personal Branding and Digital Communications class was launched and became a required course. Students were initially skeptical, thinking that they did not need to learn to use social media from school, and they did not want to hear another lecture about cyber-bullying. They soon discovered this class was designed not to scold them on what not to do online, but teach them how they can use the digital skills they already have to promote their interests and share their stories.

Jason first had to deconstruct an outdated computer class, and move away from simply doing the same type of instruction and learning with a new medium. Jason thought, “How can we take a technology class that is required for graduation, really update it, make it personal, make it relevant for the kids so they are learning the skills they are going to need as they enter the workforce.” The goal became to first encourage his students to respect themselves, discover their passion and then use the powerful connection capabilities of social media to showcase this to the world.

In effect, his Personal Branding and Digital Communication course does deter the students from the risky behavior we typically hear about with teens online because they are taught to want potential schools and employers to Google them. By the completion of the course, the students have designed an online profile they can be proud of and one that attracts the right kind of attention. “I’m embracing the power, and really giving them the tools that they already love” to reflect themselves, their character, and their story online for all to see. This powerful message of creating an online profile that reflects who you are and where you want to go is the best deterrent for making poor and impulsive online choices like sexting, cyber-bullying or hate-filled speech.

So I am sold on this approach, but how do the students feel? I got the chance to speak to a few students from his class, and they had nothing but positive feedback. I first spoke with Samantha Hreschak, she is 17 years old and entering her senior year. Samantha took Mr. Shaffer’s class her sophomore year. She says on the first day she realized, “it was not just an internet safety class.” Her biggest takeaway from the course was that the class was “built around us and what we are interested in” and through the exercises she discovered more about herself, defined her passions and found a way to share that online. “Hiring managers are looking you up on the Internet so it is beneficial to students to be professional online to get where you want to go in the future.” Ms. Hreschak says she uses Instagram to post her art, Twitter to connect with colleges (she was surprised at how easily she was able to connect with colleges of interest to her, and get them to respond) and her personal website to share her skills and professional experience.

Next, I spoke with Spencer Gitlitz. Spencer is 15 years old and entering his sophomore year of high school. He took the class his freshman year. At first, he too thought it was going to be an Internet safety class but by the second week understood it was “about marketing yourself online.” Spencer was not a big user of social media prior to the class and only used it minimally for fun. His big takeaway was that students need to “hone in on your interests and present yourself online.” He also thought the class was important to learn practical skills like “how to properly caption a post” and the class teaches “the best things to post online, how many posts and spacing out what you are posting” to get the best outcome. He too quickly received a ‘like’ by a college he was interested in on Twitter. His message to Mr. Shaffer, “Thank you for giving me the experience on how to use social media to my advantage… and how you have impacted my life.” You can see Mr. Shaffer’s impact and how much Mr. Gitlitz has to offer by visiting his personal website.

At the end of 2015, I wrote about how I hoped that the digital citizenship community could move beyond lecturing kids on what not to do online, and instead focus on how they could use the Internet to its full potential – for connection, community and collaboration. As an example, you don’t teach people how to cook by telling them not to put their hand on the hot stove. You teach them the fundamentals of planning, measuring and preparing a meal and in that process inform them of safe practices and dangers along the way. It’s the same online. We should not teach our kids about cyberspace by scaring them; instead we need to show teens how to use the Internet in all its power for information, entertainment, connection and communication so they will see the benefits of using it appropriately.

You can watch my entire interview with Jason Shaffer here.