Week 30 - PRACTICE - Professional Online Social Networks

Activity 6: Using social online networks in teaching or professional development

In beginning this weeks task I came to realisation that I although I use many devices in my class and have lots of websites and online resources that I use with my class in no way (other then them thinking that Google Classroom is like Facebook), do I use any social media with my class. This made me really have to think about why? It's not like I don't use most of the social media options personally so there isn't a 'I don't know' factor, Sharples et al (2016), talks about how social media such as Facebook and Twitter are accessed by millions to exchange information and contact friends and family. And in China, even though they have blocked the main social media sites that everyone uses, they still have WeChat that people use to send photos, messages, have video conferences, read the news, transfer money and buy goods. Within my own professional development it has only been since doing The Mind Lab that I have really started to use social media, I have started blogging, joined twitter and Facebook groups related to education.

It was interesting to read from Melhuish, (2013), when he talks about teachers only will use social media if there is enough evidence to say that it will effective towards their students and teaching. This seems like the common reply from teachers when new things are brought to them. I think this links with myself as well. What evidence is there to say this is helpful for my students? After watching the video Connected Educators I can see the many benefits of how connecting to with other educators can help my teaching practice. I can access Professional Development (PD) whenever and wherever I like and learn at my own pace. I think this links well with how I discovered Google for education. I saw this as something I could really use well and because my school was not yet a Google school I began trailing and learning how to use all the Google tools for my class. I can see the benefits with Google as if you need to know anything, you just "Google It". I have adopted this approach with the classes I have had and teach my students that if they need to know something, you can quickly find the answers using Google. I really liked the article The 5Js approach. This talked about how these 5Js can help you in understanding and choosing the right content for your online PD. 

I guess the biggest reason why I haven't really used any social media with my class is that its not really been a push at my school and that I've seen it have too much red tape around the set up around doing this. A study by Silius et al. (2010) found that social media can help enhance the motivation of students. I am always keen to find ways to help motivate and have my students engaged, and from talking with them and listening to things they talk about in class they are all using some sort of social media, from Snapchat, Facebook, Musically and Instagram. After having to write this post, I can now see how many benefits using social media in my class have.  Education Council (2012), talks about teachers need to have a purpose behind using this and not have it as just another social media platform. I do see the implications around setting this up and that it could a long process in having students and families understand that it will be used for learning.

I guess my next step would be to look at what social media platform will best fit my class and look at how I can get my school and community onboard with it as well. 

References

Education Council.(2012). Establishing safeguards.[video file]. Retrieved from https://vimeo.com/49216520

Melhuish, K.(2013). Online social networking and its impact on New Zealand educators’ professional learning. Master Thesis. The University of Waikato. Retrieved on 05 May, 2015 from http://researchcommons.waikato.ac.nz/bitstream/han...

Office of Ed Tech. (2013, Sep 18). Connected Educators. [video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=216&v=K4Vd4JP_DB8

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 http://proxima.iet.open.ac.uk/public/innovating_pedagogy_2016.pdf

Silius, K., Miilumäki, T.,Huhtamäki, J.,Tebest, T., Meriläinen, J., & Pohjolainen, S.(2010) ‘Students’ motivations for social media enhanced studying and learning.’ Knowledge Management & E-Learning: An International Journal, 2, (1). Retrieved on 7th May,2015 from http://www.kmel-journal.org/ojs/index.php/online-p.