Activity 7: Social media in teaching and professional development.

What is social media (SM)?

‘‘Social media’, associated with what are also called Web 2.0 technologies, may be defined as the suite of tools and platforms which are ‘participatory, characterised by user-generated content and peer critiquing’’ (Conole 2010,).

http://whatis.techtarget.com defines Social media as “the collection of online communications channels dedicated to community-based input, interaction, content-sharing and collaboration. Websites and applications dedicated to forums, microblogging, social networking , social bookmarking, social curation, and wikis are among the different types of social media.”

The most common SM is Facebook followed by twitter and google+ etc.

What are some key features of social media that is beneficial to teaching and learning?

Social media has very aptly planted its foot in our 21^St century education system. Children of today and younger teachers find social media a necessity to function from day to day. Those teachers who are older and less confident with the social media find it a nuisance and wish the children never knew how to use them. Parents who have been to school in the last 10 to 15 years have a better understanding of the social media compared to parents who were taught in schools during sixties and seventies.

Children of today find the use of You tube, Facebook , Twitter, Google+ , Snapchat etc   a part of their daily routine. I believe, as educators of 21^st century we can use this to our advantage in our classrooms.

Social media has its pros and conswhen used in a classroom. So what features can we employ to our advantage as teachers?

i)                    Most children of today are familiar with social networking sites. They can be an asset to you as a teacher and you could learn a few tricks on the go.

ii)                  For educators, it is an ideal opportunity to make yourself familiar with issues pertaining to social media surrounding the students. In other words, you as an educator have to be conversant with various social media to resolve unethical issues arising in a classroom. For example cyber bullying or online harassments etc.

iii)                Students and teachers have access to a vast wealth of information via social media. Here the students are able to improve their research skills and sieve in relevant information. A skill that is needed for 21^st century workforce. Teachers are able to exchange information, resources and provide feedback to their colleagues and students.

iv)                Social media allows for improved communication between the students and the educators. This could be posting homework and content of a particular topic, sending reminders for homework, project collaboration, school events and tests.

v)                  Educators can utilise social media to teach Digital Citizenship that can be built within a learning context. It also allows us to share relevant learning materials.

vi)                Social media has the potential to accommodate students with different learning styles and students who find social interaction in class difficult, can use online interaction to collaborate and contribute. Thus allowing for more engagement in class.

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

The notion of students being on a social networking site in a classroom sends a chill down the spine of most teachers. Firstly, the teachers themselves are not fully conversant with the concerned social networking site.  Whilst those teachers who have spent most of their lives around social media, find various ways to use it in a classroom.

Constant monitoring of students using monitoring software would be appropriate. However, not all schools are in a position to invest heavily in such robust monitoring software. Moreover, even if a teacher wanted to use a social media such as Facebook or Twitter, they would find that such sites, were blocked by the school. The fear of students being subjected to unwanted material, cyberbullying and harassment is of concern to senior administrators and the board of trustees. Hence, social media sites have become a no go zone.

Some schools are warming up to the idea of using social media. This has happened in schools where the younger generation have moved in as teachers with various degree of expertise and knowledge of social media. This in returns has allowed the schools to provide training and ongoing support to staff who have been reluctant to employ social media in teaching and learning.

Teachers need to keep abreast of the technical and security changes that happen on social media. This will allow them to manage the students and the teaching that takes place in a classroom, much more efficiently.

The possibility of malware and phishing for scammers to attract adults and children to exchange personal information to access computer networks is of concern. The school’s network site administrator needs to have robust network security system to avoid such mishaps. 

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

My professional development happens via two or three social media platforms. The first is You Tube. This platform, allows me to grow both intellectually and built my knowledge base. I enjoy learning things online that I want to learn to improve myself as a teacher.

The second platform that I enjoy using is Twitter. This platform provides a tweet of less than 140 characters regarding the area of interest. Built within the tweet will be an address to a blog or a content of interest. For me, my interest lies in receiving tweets about education in 21^st century, science, physics and digital technologies. 

The third platform that has grabbed my interest recently is the blogger. Having written some blogs for two assignments, I have found a liking to it. I enjoy reading blogs relating to education and would enjoy blogging about education.

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

My professional development has taken an exponential growth due to the social media.YouTube provides me with various videos that I can see, learn and develop intellectually. I have learnt how to filter and sieve relevant information regarding a particular topic.  Twitter allows me to go on to current topics in education and science. It also allows me to read other people’s blogs. Especially those I follow. As I mentioned above that blogging has grabbed my attention, I would like start blogging on issues in education. I would love to get feedbacks, criticism and constructive comments so that I can grow to be a 21^st century educator. 

References

Conole, G. 2010. “Facilitating New Forms of Discourse for Learning and Teaching: Harnessing the Power of Web 2.0 Practices.” Open Learning: The Journal of Open, Distance and e- Learning 25 (2): 141–151.

http://k12teacherstaffdevelopment.com/tlb/what-are-the-benefits-of-social-networking-for-teachers/