What?
What is Social Media?
Many people have the misconception that social media is limited to social sites where people share their lives and photos, such as Facebook, Snapchat, and Instagram. However, WhatIs.com (2016, September) gives a broader definition as, "Social media is the collective of online communications channels dedicated to community-based input, interaction, content-sharing and collaboration."
The incredible depth of sites dedicated to social media can be seen in this diagram by Brian Solis and JESS3 (2017):
 |
| http://itknowledgeexchange.techtarget.com/writing-for-business/files/2015/05/JESS3_BrianSolis_ConversationPrism4_WEB_1280x1024.jpg |
So What?
Social Media in my Professional Development
 |
| https://hadme.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/social-media-kids1.jpg?w=500&h=503 |
I use a large range of the tools in the above diagram, from Linkedin and Picasa to Google+ and Pinterest. In terms of my professional development as a teacher, my first port of call (in order of use) are:
- Twitter (@ijakk2)
- Facebook (colleagues plus two closed groups: NZ Teachers (primary ) and Waikato GATE Group)
- Youtube
- Virtual Learning Network
My main go-to is Twitter because I can see new blogposts, research, ideas and ask questions. I feel like every time I visit I come away with a new theory, learning or something I can use in my class.
Social Media in My Classroom Programme
I run a Blog and a Google Site for my class. The blog has been going for several years, but keeping it updated beyond the agenda (daily homework/reminders) hasn't been happening whilst I've been studying.
The students use the following as a part of their schoolwork:
- Google sites
- Youtube
- G-suite
- Blogger
- Wikipedia
- TED
However, when this small list is compared to the plethora of apps and sites in the above diagram, there are so many opportunities available to students which I don't guide them to or make a part of my programme.
School Imposed Limitations
My school has chosen a number of sites which are blocked to students through our firewall - these include Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat.
Most of these aren't an issue for me, except Twitter - I would love them to be able to use this network to connect with other classes and students, as well as learning from topic-related people and organisations (for example, we've been looking at our place in the universe - it would've been great to connect with the ISS and NASA, as well as individual astronauts).
The school has just put limitations on students' use of their phones at school due to cyber bullying and the distraction in class time from non-education related sites and games. We now collect students phones at the start of each morning.
Teacher Imposed Limitations
If I am honest, the biggest limitation on my students' use of social media in the classroom is me. Getting the students up and running, organising connections, overseeing their usage, organising enough devices and still fitting in a full programme in limited time can seem just too hard.
What now?
I found two of the videos on our class notes this week very inspirational.
This video reminded me of the benefits of making connections with schools and students around the world. I did this several years ago, with a school in Canada and one in Wales. The students loved it and learned a lot about other people's lives. I will get back to making connections.
This video reminded me of the importance students being good digital citizens - we teach them what to do and not do in terms of cyber safety, but this is different from teaching them to optimise their social media use for their learning.
What it comes down to is, "Social media make it possible to involve and draw on the experience of people around the world." (Sharples et al, p.14)
References
S. (2014, August 15). Social Media For Kids® The Social Media Education Experts. Retrieved June 24, 2017,
from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2rOekhi20E
from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2rOekhi20E
Sharples, M., de Roock , R., Ferguson, R., Gaved, M., Herodotou, C., Koh, E., Kukulska-Hulme, A., Looi,C-K,
McAndrew, P., Rienties, B., Weller, M., Wong, L. H. (2016). Innovating Pedagogy 2016: Open University
Innovation Report 5. Milton Keynes: The Open University. Retrieved from
McAndrew, P., Rienties, B., Weller, M., Wong, L. H. (2016). Innovating Pedagogy 2016: Open University
Innovation Report 5. Milton Keynes: The Open University. Retrieved from
What is social media? - Definition from WhatIs.com. (n.d.). Retrieved June 24, 2017, from http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/social-media
T. (2013, May 21). Using Social Media in the Classroom. Retrieved June 24, 2017, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=riZStaz8Rno
No comments:
Post a Comment