Week 30 - Social Media for Teaching and Learning

As a parent of teenagers the image at right is certainly one that flashes through my mind from time to time. And I'm afraid to say in my classroom also. Not 'anti-social' in the sense of having no 'real' friends as I see how this has become such an important/vital aspect of relationships for many, but 'anti-social' in the sense of not having those conversations face to face with the nuances and expressions and intonations that lie within. These elements are essential for true fluency, as they are in any language. graphic retrieved from:http://blog.gremln.com/2015/05/28/infographic-your-social-media-presence-good-vs-bad/

21st century skills demand this digital fluency and the ability to successfully navigate that terrain with safety, empathy and respect. As teachers we have a responsibility to ensure these are reinforced in the classroom by example and it is important to help develop those skills. Utilising social media as a teaching and learning tool will provide not only opportunity for engaging with the digital lives of our students but also the framework and environment in which to scaffold and direct how they engage within it.

Have I used it in the classroom to date? Not really. Do I intend to change this? Yes. What potential problems do I need to consider?

My lit review encouraged me to not only consider the importance of incorporating the digital lives of my students and how I may incorporate that but also the fact that not all students necessarily view technology use in the classroom the same way. Their levels of mastery and self-efficacy beliefs play an important role in determining how students approach may the use of digital tools in the classroom. I must be mindful of the different levels of ease my students may have and not assume mastery or interest that doesn't exist. I recently surveyed a Year 9 class on their technology use outside school and it provided some good data on which to build further resources or opportunities for learning.

Class Blogging - I think this is a great place for me to start and fellow members of the Mindlab Community have provided good inspiration for this. Investigating and following school guidelines will underpin my approach as will reinforcement of the etiquette and is a vital step in establishing a blog. I will discuss this with Senior Management and other teachers who are employing blogs in their classrooms.

Retrieved from: http://www.tulsaworld.com/scene/features/too-much-social-media-bad-for-kids-experts-say/article_160ec8cb-f303-5abd-a5f7-9f7bbe1458c4.html

How do I use Social Media for professional development? Not that much so far compared to some but getting there...

• The google+ community as formed the basis for some great relationships though and I have sought help and advice from fellow Mindlabbers and we regularly converse on Messenger.
• I'm developing a new relationship with Facebook and seeing benefits for PD there - I'm part of a PCT 2 group that has been a source for some interesting and relevant articles. Here is a great clip posted there (from tki) on enabling e-learning - well worth a watch and there are some interesting comments on the value of PLNs. Not sure if my embedding here is successful so here is the link: https://vimeo.com/35845467

• I've always regularly trawled internet sites and teacher resource sites in search of new and engaging resources or ideas from which to create my own. I now check-in on Edutopia and Pinterest for inspiration also.
• I must admit to logging on to Twitter only once during the Mindlab session and barely since. Partly a time-factor and of feeling slightly comfortable with a new format but also that I just don't 'click' with it. Who knows, maybe I'll get back to it one of these days when I have more time...
• I aim to improve my use of PLNs and hear good feedback  on Pond.

So, more to learn and process and embed in this ever-changing digital world of ours. As a few others have noted on their blogs there is certainly added time-pressure created by this and the mobile nature of it makes it even harder to switch off from the 'teacher day' I find.

References:

Melhuish, K.(2013). Online social networking and its impact on New Zealand educators’professional learning. Master Thesis. The University of Waikato. Retrived on 05 May, 2015 from http://researchcommons.waikato.ac.nz/bitstream/handle/10289/8482/thesis.pdf?sequence=3&isAllowed=y :The author presents an in-depth investigation into the use of online social media networking in teachers’ professional development
Joosten, T.( 2013. October 22). Pearson: Social Media for Teaching and Learning. Retrieved from http://www.slideshare.net/tjoosten/social-media-for-teaching-and-learning-27456257?ref=http://professorjoosten.blogspot.co.nz/2013/10/pearson-social-media-for-teaching-and.html