In 2013, I dove headfirst into the world of Twitter. First, I used it primarily for professional learning, lurking on Twitter chats, collecting resources, and doing research. Very soon I began to participate, sharing what I was doing and openly accepting suggestions from others on how to improve or which tools to use over several subject areas. The learning curve was extensive and steep at first, but eventually became comfortable. In my case, Bates (2014) was absolutely dead on in his assessment that professional learning through social media promotes global collaboration, digital literacy, networking, and individually-driven learning.
In contrast, November (2012) misses a crucial part of what kept me coming back to professional use of social media: relationships. It was the people that I was following and who took the time to support me that were the most important part of my experience. I began filtering professional knowledge in my brain in a different way than before: it wasn’t what I knew, but what the people I followed knew. For example, I know to turn to Alice Keeler for information about Google Tools or to Gallit Zvi and Joy Kirr when I’m thinking about Genius Hour. There are countless other human resources in my PLN who have specialities that are ready and waiting to be tapped into. I even made this video in my first MET course for a project on Twitter – it outlines the stages of using Twitter for professional development
Following this pattern of my own steep professional growth, I wanted to lead my students through a similar experience of discovery and learning with social media. I set up a class Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and Remind accounts under the name @EduMinions (our class theme). We set up Mystery Skypes with other classes around the globe, participated in global projects such as Global Read Aloud, and shared daily student work to hashtags like #mathphotoaday. My students also temporarily worked on a project on Twitter called #grammar911 where they could compose and edit each other’s grammar including capitalization, organization, punctuation, and spelling. Social media became a digital gallery walk or an announcement spot for fun news as we shared to the common hashtag #eduminions. There were many ways that we used social media as an exploratory tool that helped us to connect further with each other, families at home, and with other global classrooms.
Students began to learn the pros and cons of each tool, what they were used best for, and who should be using them (adult vs student). We worked through digital citizenship curriculum (which was also glossed over in November’s (2012) article but briefly nodded to in Bates’ (2014)). Students began to see that global connections were possible and began asking questions about other cultures, regions, or languages. Sometimes this led to self-directed or guided inquiry opportunities depending on class interest. An understanding of audience was also gained by students. They were very aware that people would see their posts and worked hard to perfect their work; perhaps even more so than if it had been just me reviewing it.
Courses do not necessarily need to be re-designed to fit around social media, but instructors certainly need to know the affordances of social media before attempting to harness them for use in a classroom space. Because there are so many types of social media, it’s a bit of a tall order to ask teachers to understand the affordances and constraints of them all. However, the primary audience needs to be considered – are you doing this for the students to see/experience? Or for a parent community? Or to connect with global classrooms? Each of these scenarios may call for a different tool with a different set of affordances. If you pick the wrong tool for the job, re-design may be necessary then. Time needs to be integrated in class to read, interact, and reply to these posts as well.
References
Bates, T. (2014). Pedagogical differences between media: Social media. In Teaching in digital age. Retrieved from http://opentextbc.ca/teachinginadigitalage/chapter/9-5-5-social-media/ (Chapter 7, point 6)
November, A. (2012). How Twitter can be used as a powerful educational tool. November Learning [Weblog] Retrieved from http://novemberlearning.com/educational-resources-for-educators/teaching-and-learning-articles/how-twitter-can-be-used-as-a-powerful-educational-tool/
This is a great post Victoria, I loved reading about how you’ve already integrated social media into your classes, it sounds like a blast! I haven’t had the same successes yet, and have sometimes felt constrained by the secondary curriculum in terms of how to best fit in such endeavours, but I think I just need to be willing to take risks and give it a shot. From what I’ve read in your post and others it sounds very worth it!
Hi Kate,
There is certainly something to say for the contrast of elementary vs secondary experiences when it comes to social media. For example, students in elementary are not all already on social media (depending on the grade of course), and it’s an opportunity to teach digital citizenship skills and what appropriate online interaction looks and feels like. The additional bonus is that kids can see how social media can be used for learning, not just for sharing what they had for lunch. In elementary settings, teachers typically have their classes all day and can work on these skills and through any issues that arise. In secondary, you might not have access to that same luxury of time, and might need to get kids to use their own social media accounts to respond to questions. Do a Twitter search for @MsSandersECS – she has done some great work with school-based social media and in-class work with secondary students. Something definitely worth connecting with!
Victoria
Hi Victoria,
Just saw Gallit Zvi at a digital dinner the other night; the organizers made note of her being there because her book had just recently been published (well, 3 months). The amazon link is here. http://www.amazon.ca/The-Genius-Hour-Guidebook-Fostering/dp/1138937436
I think your post has the “relationship theme”
you write about the knowledge that comes from the relationships in your PLN,
all that you could do with your students because of the relationship you had/have with them,
the deepening of relationships between school and home, AND between school and the world.
I agree with you with regards to the primary audience. Social media is a tool — A GREAT tool, but still a tool. Using the best one for the task is our job to figure out.
Always a compelling read,
Keri
Hi Keri,
Thanks for the comment. Relationships have easily been the biggest part of my professional growth and some of those people have become very good friends. And you’re right – that always led to new and exciting things that I was able to bring to my students, with support from the source right behind me. These relationships are also why it can be hard to simply speak about the “power of social media” to other educators; they have to experience it for themselves to really feel it. You can’t have someone sign up and instantaneously create supportive relationships. They have to watch, listen, participate, and strike out to forge those on their own.
Victoria
Hey Victoria,
Are you back from the other side of the world?
It was nice to visit your class’s Twitter page and see how you used it with them. Very impressive, some lucky kids in Langley!
As far as add to vs. redesign around, as you basically said, it depends. I was thinking before it depends on the subject matter, the age and maturity of students, and of course the access to technology. Now, you’ve added to my list that it also depends on the type of social media and the potential audience on that particular social medium.
Hey Randy,
I am, indeed. Perhaps my posts are being put up at reasonable times of day now! 🙂
Thanks for the kind words. It’s been pretty cool to watch colleagues on Twitter and Instagram and what they are doing with students of all ages and all subject areas. I suppose that’s why I hadn’t considered those elements as a re-designing element. What I see happening more often is teachers bringing the element of digital citizenship curriculum into their work with students, applying the principles as they use social media to share work.
Victoria