Social Media in Teaching

Week 30 - APC - Professional Online Social Networks

Educators are working in an increasingly challenging and rapidly changing environment. It is exciting! We are grappling with a myriad of new research,  theories and pedagogies and it is becoming more and more important that we are open to continuous improvement. In the past the way educators access professional learning was a structured process - where one person would deliver new learning or "knowledge and skills" to the rest of the staff at a staff meeting. That person would have had responsibility for a certain area of the curriculum, would probably have attended a recent curriculum course and would probably be regurgitating what they had learned at the course.

There are problems with this approach. Calculations would show that following the one staff meeting per week or fortnight formula will never be enough time to bring staff up to speed with the continual changes that are occurring. Another problem with this approach is that the transfer of knowledge from one to many in this form is not the most efficient nor effective approach. This is true of teaching students or staff, classrooms lessons or staff meetings/ professional development. 

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

Nesloney & Welcome state that technology puts a limitless world of learning at our fingertips. (2016, pg 156). 

Social media provides us the opportunity to learn from and with educators all over the world - at anytime that suits us; ubitquitous learning.

Social Media offers an opportunity for educators to be learning any time, any how, anywhere. It offers us the chance to get involved in learning when it suits us. It offers us choice. An example of this is when a few weeks ago I participated in a webinar organised by #edchatnz on a Sunday morning - someone tweeted that it was PD in your PJ's - while amusing it highlights the ubiquitous nature of this professional learning. 

Couros argues that being in spaces where people are sharing makes us smarter and that networks are crucial to innovation. He also promotes blogging as one of the ways we as educators can share our learning and that all educators can benefit from our thinking being made visible. (2015, pg 52) 

"Innovation (and enjoyment) flourishes when teachers collaborate to learn and practice new strategies, isolation is often the enemy of innovation". (Couros, 2015, pg 53)

My experience of using social media for learning has been very positive and has changed the way that I approach professional development and learning for good. When I started using Twitter - I, like most people, just lurked in conversations. I began following people who were tweeting about ideas that resonated with me and the list of people I followed just grew and grew making me realise that are just so many people out there who had something valuable to say and share. One day reading a blog post written by George Couros - The Prophets in Your Land made me realise that not only were there a lot of educators that had something valuable to share - that I was in fact one of them. This was the push that I needed to stop lurking and start sharing and that is when I began to start writing on a blog. 

I believe that sharing on social media is imperative for educators to help us move forward and keep up with the rapid scale of change. I do believe that when we share with our colleagues we are promoting continuous improvement and this will help our students. We need to promote  a culture of continuous improvement - a culture of sharing,  and the many social media programmes and apps and the use of technology is how we can enable this.

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

The answer to this question is so simple for me - Twitter.

Over the last three years Twitter has opened a lot of doors for me. Twitter is a platform that allows us to connect with people all over the world - people who share the same passion for education and continuous improvement. I have connected with some dynamic educators who have just been so willing to share and challenge ideas. I have joined twitter chats and followed hashtags. Following other educators led me to visit 5 schools while in Canada - thanks to the hospitality of my Twitter Personal Learning Network (PLN).

Twitter also enables me to share interesting finds with my PLN and ask for advice. A quick tweet asking for help almost always gets a response straight away because my PLN has people from all over the world.

Couros uses this diagram in one of his posts Has Twitter Changed or Has Our View? talks about the five stages of becoming a twitter user.  (Couros, 2016)

I can definitely recognise these phases as ones I have been through and think that I now sit in phase 5 - 'A Part of Life' - I have been able to work through and get myself to a point where professional learning in areas that I choose, is pushed to me through this platform.

I use Twitter to share ideas with colleagues, not just those who are in the same school community but a much wider circle. 

I use Twitter to build a larger audience for my blog posts, school community notices.

I use Twitter to curate interesting articles, blogs, ideas that I want to go back to to investigate further.

I use Twitter to connect with educators who are blogging about  subjects that I want to know more about.

I use twitter to follow people who have a passion for future focused education.

It is definitely worth creating an account and diving in - the way I use twitter in the future may change however at the present time this is the platform that best supports my professional learning.

References
Couros, G. (2015) The Innovator's Mindset. 

Couros, G. (2016) Has “Twitter” Changed or Has Our View? retrieved from http://georgecouros.ca/blog/archives/5965

Couros, G. (2013) The Prophets in Your Land retrieved from http://georgecouros.ca/blog/archives/3945

Nesloney, T., & Welcome, A. (2016) Kids Deserve It. Dave Burgess Consulting Inc, San Diego, CA.


Trust, T. (2012. Professional Learning Networks Designed for Teacher Learning. Reprinted with permission Journal of Digital Learning in Teacher Education, Volume 28, Number 4
http://acce.edu.au/sites/acce.edu.au/files/pj/journal/27_1ProfLearning_Networks_p34-38.pdf

Wagner, T. (2012). Graduating All Students Innovation Ready retrieved from http://www.tonywagner.com/1140