Professional Online Social Networks

Using social online networks in teaching and/or professional development

This week’s reading has been food for thought – I have a slightly uneasy relationship with social media! Admittedly, I have been a ‘consumer’ of social media in my personal life for 7-8 years (i.e. facebook) but have limited my social space to those I ‘actually’ know and I very rarely post (‘create’). I have tried to maintain a boundary between my personal and professional life by not ‘friending’ people I work with (unless we establish a ‘personal’ connection). Of course, this is getting harder to keep separate. A year ago, on the advice of a course facilitator, I set up a Twitter account to establish a ‘professional’ presence on social media. To date, this hasn’t been very successful as I rarely have time to check my feeds, and I certainly haven’t managed to be a ‘creator’ of anything interesting to share!

The requirement of this course to interact online has been a real challenge for me too. I’ve definitely had to step out of my comfort zone to be commenting on, and inviting comment on, ideas and questions from people I don’t know.

We know that social media is ubiquitous, and its use is only going to grow. Therefore, it is pragmatic to consider how best to use it as a tool both in terms of preparing students for 21^st century learning and providing access to rich learning resources and materials. It is also essential that we teach students about digital citizenship and the potential impact of their online activities (John Parsons, http://www.simulate2educate.co.nz/education-protecting-and-valuing-identity-primary). Personally, it is an area that I still need to develop confidence in.

What are some key features of social media that are beneficial for teaching and learning? Why?

The vision of our New Zealand Curriculum is that our students will be confident, connected, actively involved, and lifelong learners. ‘Connected’ means more that relating to others and being a member of our local community, it is also all of the ‘online’ social connections that we will make along the way.

One of the key benefits includes the anytime, anywhere access to information that social media provides. The opportunity to ‘learn in the moment’ surely increases motivation and engagement and also enables personalised learning as people can follow their own questions / interests. Although mostly a viewer, the NZ Primary Teachers facebook page has been a great resource of ideas and resources – especially late at night, when my own ideas can be slow to form!

I can see a role for social media in connecting diverse classrooms and even areas and people outside schools with students to provide more authentic learning experiences. An example we had this year was when we were able to skype a bach owner near Awaroa Beach to talk about the campaign and sale of this slice of New Zealand’s coastline. This opportunity gave the students a great chance to learn about and connect with a significant current event. Also, if students are connecting with classrooms in other cultures, they will be building cultural awareness and empathy, as well as accessing authentic contexts.

With respect to my own professional development, social media has provided access to information, readings and ideas that I may otherwise not have come across. Facebook introduced me to Jo Boaler (youcubed.org), her amazing work in maths pedagogy, and her online MOOC that I’m enrolled in, and it also introduced me to MindLab!

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

Of course, I also think I’m right to be nervous, as we know that having a social media presence can open us up to dangers online. As teachers, we have a responsibility to work alongside parents to support students to develop their digital citizenship. As well as cyber-safety programmes, this also includes modelling how social media can be used effectively and safely. Managing feeds, appropriate posts and content, advertising etc. are all challenges that need to be overseen within the busy classroom when you're using social media - it's almost enough to put it in the 'too hard basket'! We also need to consider and teach the students about privacy and consult parents’ views on this.

A key question for me is also around purpose – is the use of social media adding value or meaning to the learning experience, does it have a purpose in this instance? Personally, finding the purposeful integration of social media in particular learning areas is still a challenge. However, social media has also introduced me to the power of ‘yet’ (Carol Dweck) so I’ll rephrase that … and you never know, maybe you’ll find my class and me on the next online forum for ‘Chapter Chat’ in reading time…

References

John Parsons - http://www.simulate2educate.co.nz/education-protecting-and-valuing-identity-primary

Ministry of Education. (2007). The New Zealand Curriculum: for English-medium teaching

and learning in years 1-13. Wellington, New Zealand: Author.