Here is the article I wanted to share.
http://www.educationworld.com/a_issues/issues/issues423.shtml
This article is not from Edutopia, but I did come across this when I was searching. The author in this article brought up some really great points. I know this subject has been discussed before, but I wanted to share this because it reestablishes some important aspects when it comes to Social Media access in classrooms.
I just finished writing an essay questioning whether school districts should allow access to Social Media websites. I was sort of on the fence about this, because while I feel that some sites are appropriate for education, others may have little value. Twitter and Facebook, for example, are two sites I feel have minimal educational value when it comes to social media. YouTube, on the other hand, has so much educational value, but it can sometimes also have inappropriate content.
One of the great points in this article raises awareness to risks associated with allowing social media access. “Problems are associated with these social networking sites, but the sites themselves generally are not the problem.” Most of these sites, including YouTube have terms and agreements that users are expected to follow. The problem with this is that there are millions of users, and far less workers that are able to keep track of those rules broken. What is the solution to this? Well, with the proper education students would learn online social responsibility and etiquette. Teaching this responsibility to students and allowing them access to exhibit proper behavior can only increase success and cause less distractions.
Another great point was that “many parents are not paying attention to what their children are posting on the sites.” If parents are allowing students access to emails and internet access to social media sites, they should also continuously monitor their children. They should also help support the teachers by providing proper instruction and teaching good responsibility. Not posting personal information such as names, addresses, not spending hours on the computer so trackers are able to access, and not illustrating negative behavior or online bullying. These are risks generally associated with the user or lack of parent supervision, not the site.
Lastly, I wanted to touch on the topic of school administration and district participation. They should develop a clear policy that focuses on educational value. Plan ahead and evaluate some of these sites and weight out the positive and negatives. Collaboration is important when it comes to creating these guidelines. Additionally, properly educate the students about safety and responsible use. Monitor students and provide appropriate consequences when needed.
Additionally while I was searching, I came across a video when I was reading another. The article was interesting, so here is the link if you would like to read. http://www.edutopia.org/teaching-shakespeare-digital-media.
The video I came across happens to be with the use of Minecraft or an English assignment. I have an eight year old son, and he has been playing this game for a few years now, and I have seen it become increasingly popular. This student created a Minecraft world of Shakespeare’s Globe, and recorded a video tour of it.
Here is the link: http://youtu.be/cvjXy6aKAYY
I thought this was SO awesome. A really smart way to incorporate technology and history. Students are so creative in different ways. I love it.
JCarmell's blog 
I agree that parents and teachers need to teach basic safety and etiquette rules to follow while online. Certainly the sooner we teach these rules and skills the better. I think it would be ideal to teach some kind of blended lesson plan that introduces students to the basic components of the computer (hardware and software), basic components of the internet (web browsers, search engines, definitions and jargon, etc.) and internet safety and etiquette.
The Minecraft video you shared was pretty awesome! It’s amazing what kids are able to create =) And you know the kid that created that replica will probably remember what Shakespeare’s theaters looked like for the rest of his/her life! Great post…. thanks for sharing =)
I totally share your reservations regarding tools like you tube. However, I would hope that my fears of misuse would be kept in check by my digital-moral compass. I am so glad that you agree with what Nori talked about in class, and Jenna has mentioned before, digital citizenship. Digital Citizenship is very important. It seems to me that digital citizenship should be the over arching goal when applying technology in the classroom. Make it clear as day, at the beginning of the year, that misuse of digital technology is unacceptable. Hopefully you will have support from your school and district like you mentioned. That is so cool you wrote a paper about this topic, are you going to put in your file cabinet on your site. I ask because I would be interested in reading it. It’s funny, my parents were really awesome at a lot of things, teaching me technology was not one of them. Hopefully parents now have a sharper awareness about technology and how it affects their children. The one thing my parents did hammer away at me about was good judgement. Hopefully, if children are raised and taught to have good judgement, all that online riff raff will be understood as unacceptable. Awesome post Janice, you really have a good handle on this subject, keep it coming. Book team II!!