One of the trends in instructional technology that I found very
applicable to my interests in teacher training in low resourced setting was
social media. Kaplan and Haenlein
(2010) defined social media as “a group of Internet-based applications that build
on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0 and that allow the
creation and exchange of user-generated content” (p.61). In teacher education I look forward to using
social media, particularly apps like Twitter, to extend my students’ engagement
in discussions and subsequently promote a deeper understanding on my part about
aspects of activities that might be challenging for my students.
How will social media impact learning and education? According to articles I have read, social media
can increase the quality and quantity of participation in online as well as
seated classes. It can promote
collaboration among students. It could
even promote socialization among students of mine who live in rural areas and
who may not feel like part of the learning community in online classes. In another context, social media such as
Facebook and/or teacher blogs could be used by teachers for their classes and
could provide parents with information and insights about what occurred during
their children’s school time.
As an
instructional technologist, what do you need to do to keep up with this trend? To keep up with this particular trend, I
think that I would need to schedule time to learn the apps and to teach the
relevant apps to students of mine who are non-traditional students. I would need to read about the ways that
other educators are using the tools and perhaps become part of a group of
educators who are developing applications to their classrooms.
Provide
three resources (an article, web url and a video) that provide more information
on this trend and explain why these resources stood out to you.
Blog
This
article is interesting to me as it was written by a teacher who was attempting
to describe how students use Twitter during in-class back channel activities,
outside class discussions and in-class discussions. He found that one of the most common uses of
Twitter was student sarcasm about his teaching and topics—which he used to try
to understand the ways that students were engaging with materials. I liked reading this as it put “snark” into
perspective as well as discussed the reality of encouraging students to think
“out loud.”
Video
I
enjoyed this video because it simply (and comically) presented Twitter as a worldwide
connection with educators. She described
what Twitter can be and do for educators, as well as cautioned educators about
ways that Twitter could be overwhelming if not used in a focused fashion.
Wang, Y. (2013). Social media in schools: A treasure trove or hot potato? Journal of Cases in Educational Leadership, 16(1), 56-64.
Wang, Y. (2013). Social media in schools: A treasure trove or hot potato? Journal of Cases in Educational Leadership, 16(1), 56-64.
In this article the author develops some fictionalized case studies of the struggles of administrators in K-12 settings as they attempt to navigate the uses of social media such as Facebook. The case made clear the struggles of teachers who are excited about the potential of Facebook for not only educational uses but for building relationships with communities. It also made clear the difficulties faced by administrators who want to support the enthusiasm of their staff and to use the potential of Facebook, but are nervous about unexpected outcomes in the legal areas of personal expression and expression of an institution. The author noted the existence of different stakeholders who play a role in both the decisions and outcomes for staff and administrators in schools.
An activity using Twitter in teacher education could include an
assignment that teachers record short examples of child outcomes in their
classroom in response to specific intervention strategies. The tweets could subsequently be gathered and
analyzed by one of the Twitter software apps, and the teachers could quickly
Here is the Tackk that I created for our social media unit.
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