Activity 7: Social Media in Learning and Teaching Professional Development

Social Media plays a big part in our everyday lives. We are always checking Facebook, tweeting someone, posting on Instagram etc. I have no doubt, given the opportunity, students would love to use social media within the classroom. What a way to engage students into demonstrating their learning, having constant communication with others, giving and receiving feedback etc. Sounds fantastic. Also, for teachers, what a powerful way to engage with other teachers and professionals to share ideas and resources. In this blog post I am going to talk about Social Networking in a teaching and learning environment using provocations to guide my discussion.

How do/would you use social media to enhance your professional development?

Social media has lots of benefits to enhancing my practice. Online there are lots of ways to share tools and resources e.g Facebook pages, twitter, blogging and emailing. Pam Moran discusses how her school no longer has a 'mote' around it but students and other teachers have access to what's happening in the school because of Twitter (Edutopiaa, 2015). The video is about how using Twitter can create effective connections to people from all over, which is one of our key competencies. From the same video, Michael Thornton (Edutopiab, 2015) discusses the process of using Twitter in a cluster from other schools in the district. They consistently tweet each other to show what they're up too, and use a hashtag to connect all tweets together. David Cutler (Edutopiac, 2015) guides his students into creating a positive digital footprint to encourage students to create original posts that distinguish them from the masses. He shows his students his Facebook page and blog to show them what his digital footprint looks like, pointing out his interests, some of his photos and feedback he may get from his editor. Social networking allows for teachers to collaborate effectively by sharing ideas in real time on a global scale. Also, the children's learning is now viewable on a global stage, seeking feedback online. Apart of one of the group assignments this year, a colleague and I meet once at the beginning of our assignment and once more before it was due. Everything else was done via Google Slides and texting. We used our time so efficiently that we never had to meet and there was no stress.  

What are some key features of social media that you have identified as beneficial for teaching and learning?

Collaborative: Talked about above, teachers are able to connect digitally more often and share resources and ideas without having face to face contact. 

Global: Children, and teachers, are able to search for resources and receive feedback about their learning from people all around the world. Making connections with other classes can be effective. Kathy Cassidy (2013) says that it builds empathy in her students as they connect with others and believe that her children have a different view on the world. When the Nepalese earthquake hit my class were able to connect with a kiwi lady who experienced them. She shared her experiences and sent us photos. One thing that my children are building were an awareness of others, being empathetic. The stories being told really got the students thinking about their own lives. 

Real Time: Digital learning can happen in the moment instead of waiting for the teacher. Flipped Classroom is a good example of students leading their learning at their pace. Also, receiving and giving feedback can be instant when posting and looking at blogs.

Relevant: It is relevant to use digital technology in class because the children are familiar with it. Devices are everywhere. I'm not sure I can think of one person who doesn't know what Facebook is. Cassidy (2013) believes that it's important to use digital tools when teaching because children understand these tools and feels that by having them, the environments that home and school provide would be closely related. 

What are potential challenges that teachers need to be aware of when integrating social networking platforms into teaching activities?

P.D: teachers need professional development. Social Media in the classroom is a new concept for most and with the implications around how it's used, it can be scary. Teachers need to be scaffolded into the uses of Social Media into the classroom e.g a hash-tag being set for teachers to put all their articles and resources accumulated. Also, they can be shown how students can use Twitter, Instagram, Edmodo, Blogger etc. 

Cyber Safety: the content placed on Social Media can be questionable. People place things up that we wouldn't our students exposed too. Cutler (Edutopiac, 2015) teaches his students how to be good digital citizens by modelling his own Social Media pages and explains that everything that he puts up reflects the image he wants people to see online. Also we want to teach children what to do when inappropriate images and videos appear e.g Vines. A clear treaty around Cyber Safety is vital.  

What social media platform do you feel best supports engagement with your professional development? Why?

Connecting to different learning avenues via Social Media make development much easier. For people who are time poor and have poor research skills, being connected online is highly recommended.

Facebook: Being connected to Facebook pages such as Edutopia, Teachers Pay Teachers and NZ Teachers allow for articles and resources that they post to sit on my home page. I can share their posts onto my page and leave them there to read later or refer back too. Time spent searching for articles is less as I can see them appear while I'm scrolling through in my own time.

Twitter: Twitter is still new to me. I use it the same as Facebook except there are different twitter pages that don't appear on Facebook. My next step is to try create a circle of colleagues from the same community and use a hashtag to connect, share resources and ideas.

Blogger: This is a great place to leave my reflections. It's a centralised place where I can keep online and not flick through large amounts of paper. I must admit, I don't take the time to read others blogs unless a colleague directs me too.

Google tools (Docs, Slides, forms etc): Google tools are used to collaborate with colleagues in real time except we don't have to be in the same room to do it. This allows for personalisation as we are working at our own pace.

References

Cassidy, Kathy. (2013, May 21). Using Social Media in the Classroom. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=riZStaz8Rno 

Edutopiaa. (2015, October 19). These teachers use social media to take learning BEYOND their classrooms! #DigCitWeek [Facebook status update]. Retrieved from https://www.facebook.com/edutopia/videos/10153732366669917/?pnref=story

Edutopiab. (2015, October 19). These teachers use social media to take learning BEYOND their classrooms! #DigCitWeek [Facebook status update]. Retrieved from https://www.facebook.com/edutopia/videos/10153732366669917/?pnref=story

Edutopiac. (2015, October 23). Show students how social media (used well!) might help them get into college: http://edut.to/200YEE8 . #DigCitWeek [Tweet]. Retrieved from https://twitter.com/edutopia/status/657492354232885248