How can teachers use Social Media in the classroom as both, part of the instructional approach in teaching as well as helping students understand the online web 2.0 environment?
To answer this reflection question I
first had to research the use of Social Media as part of the instructional
approach in teaching. I personally have not used social media or the online web
2.0 environment as a teaching tool. Please do not get me wrong, as a recent
certified Ontario teacher (2013), I am beyond comfortable with using current
technology and the Web 1.0. I regularly make use of Smartboards, iPads,
classroom websites (TeacherWeb and ClassDojo) and online assessment and
documentation tools (Sesame). What concerns me about incorporating social
media into the classroom is students’ privacy and security issues. The article
“Investigating Instructional Strategies for Using Social Media in Formal and
Informal Learning”, by Thomas Bryer and Baiyun Chen, found that my concerns are
common in academic institutions. As educators we are required to protect
student records. “However, a class discussion on social media might reveal
students’ identification to the public” (Bryer & Chen, 2012). I am taking
this course to educate myself on how to safely and effectively
use this online environment in my future classrooms.
As 21st century educators it is important to teach our
students higher-order skills such as collaboration, effective communication,
critical thinking and creativity. According to the article by Bryer and Chen
(2012), incorporating social media and the online Web 2.0 environment into the
classroom provides educators “with the ability to break the limitation of
course management systems, enables innovative and collaborative interactions,
connects textbook knowledge to real-world problems, and facilitates personalized
constructive learning”. The belief that students learn most effectively by
problem solving and collaborating with peers (under the supervision of an
instructor) stems back to Lev Vygotsky’s theory of social constructivism in the
1960s (Bryer and Chen, 2012). There is a great deal of research that supports
Vygotsky’s theory, however there still needs to be more current research
conducted on the impact of social media on academic performance (Bryer and Chen, 2012).
Teachers need to teach students that
when they post their work online it becomes part of the greater World Wide Web.
With a greater audience “students have increased motivation to carefully
consider their language, spelling, and grammar usage as well as how they draw
in outside information” (Edudemic Staff, 2015). Teachers must take this
opportunity to discuss plagiarism, voice, writing style, as well as the dangers
of posting personal information. “A piece of personal information or a picture
on the Web might lead to issues of identity theft or prevent them from future
career opportunities” (Bryer and Chen, 2012). Students know how to use
technology for entertainment (such as Facebook), but they need guidance on how
to use technology to assist them in their learning process. Incorporating
social media and the online Web 2.0 environment into the classroom can help
students to succeed in an ever-changing, technology-driven, globalized world.
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To
answer the question, I believe teachers can use social media as both,
part of the instructional approach in teaching as well as helping students
understand the online Web 2.0 environment in numerous ways.
Teachers
are able to:
- connect to other classrooms through social media.
- have students host a show or a podcast on
YouTube.
- create a classroom Twitter account and tweet
about student learning
- create Twitter accounts for a special interest projects.
-
have
students use Twitter to reflect on daily lessons and post any questions
they may still have.
they may still have.
- require students to create blogs where they can
reflect on lessons or
topics of interest.
topics of interest.
- showcase student work on Instagram
- start a classroom Facebook group
The
possibilities of incorporating social media into lessons are endless. I believe
teachers still need to model how to use social media appropriately and
meaningfully with their students. They need to have clear expectations of what
is acceptable and what is not. By incorporating the online web 2.0 environment,
students “recognize that there are
connections to be made beyond their Ontario classroom -- all while working on
their reading, writing, communication and collaboration” (Holland, 2013).
References:
Bryer,
T., & Chen, B. (2012). Investigating Instructional Strategies for
Using Social Media in Formal and Informal
Learning in The International Review
of Research in Open and Distributed Learning. Vol 13, No 1. Retrieved from: http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/1027/2073
Edudemic Staff. (2015).
How to Use Social Media as a Learning Tool. Retrieved from:
Holland, B. (2013).
Introducing Social Media to Elementary Students. Retrieved from: http://www.edutopia.org/blog/introducing-social-media-lower-elementary-beth-holland
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