The [only] advantage of having 4 meetings this week is that I get to learn much from my esteemed colleagues. (I think I am the last to post on this).
Hopefully the posted link will work. It is to a YouTube that conveys the flux caused by the interface of information and people. Much of this is also paralleled in the Bates (2014) article in his delineation of the features that make social media distinct.
The question of what new learning outcomes could the use of social media help develop could be more accurately stated, how has social media helped to bring to the surface and satisfy the real learning outcomes of those who are learning?
The traditional educational structure of top down information transfer is currently most evidently foiled (foil here means opposite) in learning constructs “mediumed” in social media where end users are empowered to access and change information. Bates (2014) cites the use of the term democratizing, with regard to the use of information.
In light of this, the question of would it be better just to add social media to the course or to re-design it around social media, would depend on the intents and purposes of those after that information. If they are in a top down structure, it will depend on who is on the top. If they are co-creators of information, then the end result will be up to those contributing.
However, I believe the intent of the original questions were to induct the strengths/weaknesses of social media in an educational context to our thinking, especially to one we are currently in. In order to be pedagogically useful Bates calls for a “middle ground,” where clear educational philosophy grounds and guides social media implementation. In the current K-7, Canadian/BC elementary school context [here meaning the schools where I work] , students are “using” social media only in the form of “being educated about the potential dangers of using it and creating a digital tattoo.” Tragic that the implied focus is that learners are passive receivers as opposed to active participants.
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)
Esteves, J. (2016, 01, 18). Did You Know 2016 [YouTube]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqZiIO0YI7Y