EDUC+515+Case+Study

__** [|Pinterest]: Case Study **__ [|Pinterest] is a virtual pinboard that allows you to organize and share ideas and things that you find on the web. Pinterest allows you to browse pinboards created by others to discover new things. Pins are images added to Pinterest. Each image contains a link back to the website it came from. Users can install a “Pin It” button on their browser to make pinning faster and easier. Boards are sets of pins based on a topic chosen by the user. Following allows the user to have other users pins posted on your homepage. Repining can also occur when the user wants to pin another persons pin to their wall. **__ Ethical Implications of Pinterest: __** There are many new ethical implications of using [|Pinterest] in the classroom with students and teachers. Students can access any information on the web whether it is appropriate or not. Pinterest contains no privacy settings or search settings. Students can easily be taken to inappropriate pages that are off topic from the assignment. Parents also can not monitor their students boards with out creating an account themselves. Student boards can also be followed by anyone and it is not possible to block people from viewing your boards. This creates huge uncertainties for students safety.

Teachers also need to be cautious of the negative issues of using Pinterest. While Pinterest can be a great educational networking tool for teachers it still lacks critical privacy settings. Teachers can be networking with other professionals on educational topics, but other personal boards can be seen by everyone. Teachers might not realize that these security settings do not exist like in other social media sites. Boards can also be followed by others with out you needing to approve them. Other social networking sites like Facebook, you can set your privacy settings so certain people can see certain aspects and others useres can be blocked, Pinterest does not allow for this to occur. For example, on Pinterest I can search for my cousin and see all of her boards, but on Facebook I can not see her wall unless I am added as a friend.

How do you think fellow colleagues would react if they were to see this pinned on your "This is me every night!" board?



Or how about these pictures of your hobbies?



"Moral turpitude is a legal concept in the United States that refers to "conduct that is considered contrary to community standards of justice, honesty or good morals". Both of these have the potential to put teachers in danger of legal action on the grounds of moral turpitude. Teachers might have social lives outside of school that they do not want to share with other colleagues.

Teachers, students, and parents can also be legally found liable for copyright violations. It is still unclear if Pinterest violates copyright laws. An article by [|Dave Copeland] states that "Pinterest is able to avoid violating U.S. copyright laws thanks to a provision in the Internet Service Providers Act, which gives immunity to sites that publish information provided by others". Pinterest does however have to remove any material that is requested to be removed by the author. New programs are being developed through Pinterest to give proper credit to the pins author.

Others still argue that Pinterest users can be held liable for any copyright information that they pin to their boards. media type="youtube" key="mZZisjayoQQ" height="315" width="420" align="center"

__** Implications for the Classroom Environment: **__ Pinterest can easily be used to address the learning needs of all students. Verbal/Linguistic students can read through pined comments to find information. Logical students benefit from the organization of the site including the easy ability to categorize onto boards. Visual/Spatial learners have visual icons of resources that have been pinned to their boards. The visual layout of simple images with short quotes can help these students tremendously. The physical pinning of the resources to boards is a tool for kinesthetic learners. Songs and other videos can be pinned onto boards as well. Intrapersonal learners can have their own independent boards and intrapersonal learners can collaborate with peers.



__Teachers Use in the Classroom:__

Teachers can use Pinterest in the classroom in several ways. First, teachers can find sources for lesson plans through the search tools. Teachers can search "volcanoes" to find a vast variety of information on creative lesson plans with the topic of volcanoes. Teachers can also use Pinterest to share ideas. Ideas can be pinned and refereed back to for later reference. One of Pinterests most enticing qualities is its use in organization. Thousands of teachers have unorganized desks and can quickly find organizational solutions which suit their needs. [|Edudemic] points out that there is also the aspect of the "Education" category that allows for endless browsing of educational resources. While browsing you might find a board already created from other educators on the topic you are looking for.

The most beneficial resource for teachers using Pinterest is that you can pin and organize your resources. Teachers often bookmarks to organize their information which are difficult to search through. Pins allow for easy access and identification of resources. Teachers can also post to their boards various resources for students and parents. Teachers can post resources such as reading, writing, math, and science boards for students to refer to. Teachers can also revamp old lesson plans by finding fun new ideas for [|projects.] Several blogs also site [|37 ways to use Pinterest in the classroom.]



__Students Use in the Classroom:__

One of the most instrumental uses of Pinterest in the classroom is for collaboration. [|Teachers] can have students use boards to organize resources for class projects. Students can create visual tools with images and [|videos.]Students can track their research for reports by pinning them to their specific boards for that assignment. This can make it simple for students to refer back to when writing a bibliography or resources page. Students can also share resources by looking on other students boards. Commenting on pins also allows for student to comment on the reliability or usefulness of resources. Students can write if they found a resource useful, or give a brief description of the resource. Students can also create photo journals through Pinterest, pinning images of particular topics.

Several teachers have started using Pinterest to collect information on student interests. Teachers can have students pin ideas that they might find interesting to their Pinterest boards. Teachers can then look at the students boards to choose upcoming projects for particular topics. Having pinned assignments allows for student input in the classroom. Students can use Pinterest as a researching tool to help them find information for research projects. Many pictures are links to useful websites that students can easily browse through.

media type="youtube" key="BQQW4XwWCbY" height="315" width="560" align="center"

__** The Evolution of Pinterest: **__ Pinterest is a relatively new technology that was launched by [|Ben Silbermann] just over two years ago. In December 2011 Pinterest became one of the worlds top 10 [|social networking]sites. Users also are now spending more time on Pinterest than on Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+ [|combined.] I believe that the future has much in store for Pinterest. I think that stricter privacy settings will allow for better networking and more confidence in its users. Increased and more detailed tags will also allow for better searching capabilities for users. More detailed tags would also allow teachers to search for curriculum easier than its current settings. Citations for copyright permissions would also help increase the websites use. I am planning on using [|my Pinterest] to help develop future lesson plans and my classroom. I think that the future of Pinterest will also include a version that has stricter search settings to allow for more use by younger members. Pinterest overall is an excellent tool for teachers to use in the classroom. It allows for collaboration among members and to share ideas. Most importantly it expands on teachers creativity and sparks new interests. [|Read Write Web] can help students in a variety of ways. First teachers can stay up to date on current technologies. There are top ten lists of various topics including social media and educational resources. It also hosts a variety of topics of new media which can help teach all learners. There are so many social media sites today and Read Write Web can help teachers find the ones that are most applicable for their students.