Live Interview with William Kist on the Socially Networked Classroom

Join me for a live and interactive interview with Bill Kist, author of The Socially Networked Classroom.

Date:Wednesday , March 24th, 2010
Time: 5pm Pacific / 8pm Eastern / 12am (next day) GMT (international times here)
Duration: 1 hour
Location: In Elluminate. Log in at http://tr.im/futureofed. The Elluminate room will be open up to 30 minutes before the event if you want to come in early. To make sure that your computer is configured for Elluminate, please visit http://www.elluminate.com/support. Recordings of the session will be posted within a day of the event at the event page.
Event and Recording Page:  http://www.learncentral.org/event/60490
(Part of the http://www.FutureofEducation.com interview series.)

Web sites like Facebook and Twitter have transformed the way young people interact and communicate. With appropriate guidelines, students’ social networking skills can be harnessed to develop new literacies and deepen teaching and learning in the 21st century.

The Socially Networked Classroom demonstrates how pioneering teachers have successfully integrated screen-based literacies into their instruction. This book includes:

• Real-world activities and lesson examples with assignment sheets, assessments, and rubrics
• Ideas on fostering collaborative learning using blogs, wikis, nings, and other interactive media.
• Tips on Internet safety, blogging etiquette, protected blogging sites, and more
• Blog entries from classroom teachers

With this accessible guide for Grades 5–12, teachers of all levels of technological expertise can help students develop the new literacies necessary to succeed in a digital world.

William Kist is an associate professor at  Kent State University, where he teaches literacy methods courses for pre-service teachers in the area of English Education in the Adolescence to Young Adult Education Program. He also teaches graduate students in the Master of Arts in Teaching (M.A.T.) program and in Curriculum & Instruction.

He has been a middle school and high school language arts teacher for the Akron Public Schools (teaching at, among other schools, his alma mater, Firestone High School); a language arts and social studies curriculum coordinator for the Medina County Schools’ Educational Service Center and the Hudson City Schools; and a consultant and trainer for school districts across the United States, both independently and as a consultant for the National Council of Teachers of English.

Dr. Kist has been active on the state and national levels as a literacy educator, founding and facilitating the Ohio Language Arts Supervisors' Network and currently serving as Director for the Commission on Media for the National Council of Teachers of English.

Focusing on new literacies--broadening our conceptions of "literacy" to include alternative media such as video, blogging, and text messaging—Dr. Kist’s new book,The Socially Networked Classroom, explores classroom uses of social networking in classrooms. He has presented nationally and internationally, with over 40 articles or book chapters to his credit; his profiles of teachers were the essence of his book New Literacies in Action (2005) which was chosen as a National Council of Teachers of English Select Book Dr. Kist has been sought out for interviews in the popular press regarding new literacies including such publications as Racine Journal-Times, theHartford Courant, and Education Week’s Digital Directions.

Remaining active in video production work, Dr. Kist is the recipient of an Ohio Educational Broadcasting Network Commission (OEBIE) Honorable Mention for the documentary The Learning Age and a regional Emmy Award nomination for outstanding achievement in music composition for the documentary series Our Family. He has worked as a producer for the streaming video Project AdLit for the Ohio Resource Center for Mathematics, Science and Reading and is the writer/director of an independent feature Summer’s Journey, the result of a film collaboration that spans 17 years.

Also, a musician, Bill's musical training began at the age of six with piano lessons from well-known local bandleader Ange Lombardi and continued through graduate school at Kent State where his teacher was Margaret Baxtresser. He currently is studying with Jackie Warren, known as “the first lady of Cleveland jazz” Throughout his career as an educator, Bill has remained active as a professional musician performing at such local establishments as Lannings Restaurant, the former Cascade Club, and the Akron City Club. Bill lives in Akron, Ohio with his wife, Stephanie.