Activity 6: Using social online networks in teaching and professional development
The use of technology has grown in an exceeding rate in our classrooms with devices being a more accessible to school. In my classroom there has been a real shift away from using the devices - ipads and chrome books for 'games' to activities that involve more creating, problem solving and sharing / teaching others.
Don't get me wrong there is still a place for those but there seems to be more buy in from the children when they see their final product on the screen being shared with others from all over the world.
As a school we use Facebook and our blogs to connect with families. I am just trialling Seesaw at the moment with the hope to include parents next term. As a class we use twitter and skype to connect and broaden our horizons. We have a private class account with You Tube as many videos are shared to the parents using this. As a professional I use Twitter, many pages on Facebook, electronic publications such as Mind Shift, Pinterest and now Google+ to build my scope on teaching ideas. At my school we all have our own Teacher Action Inquiry (TAI) that drive our professional development and teacher registration requirements. As a result of this week’s activity, I now realise the value of social networking and social networking is now going to be a larger part of my TAI process. We have been asked to create our TAI as a digital document and up to now it has just seemed like another thing to think about as paper is easy but I am sure this is my step going forward - to create my professional digital footprint.
I have found, particularly this year, the range and options of courses that are more to my interests and needs online. I feel attending conferences, while beneficial for face to face and networking will become not as important to attend and I can do all of those things online and at a time that suits me, which is really important with having my own family to think of. I think it is really important to still have a balance in your life no matter how interesting and stimulating your work is.
While using social media within the classroom, I am aware of what I can use as I have a class of younger children who are not yet 13 and many media sites have an age restriction on them. I am aware many of these children have their own accounts at home but I will not endorse them at school. Concerns about privacy, both for themselves and for their students, and about maintaining the class as a private
space for free and open discussion, have been at the top of the list of concerns in all of reports conducted in Pearsons: Social Media for Teaching and Learning. (Seaman, 2013)
Through regular participation, I would improve my ability to self-direct my learning, which would motivate me continue my personal development (Melhuish, 2013). Social media networking would continue to make it possible to connect with people around the world that I would otherwise not communicate with (Sharples et al., 2016), and it brings the world to the children.
Social technologies can provide new opportunities to
engage learners and many educators are discovering impactful strategies for using them in face-to-face, blended
and online classrooms. (Seaman, 2013)
References -
Melhuish, K.(2013). Online social networking and its impact on New Zealand educators’ professional learning. Master Thesis. The University of Waikato. Retrieved on 12 March, 2017 from https://app.themindlab.com/media/32455/view
Sharples, M., de Roock , R., Ferguson, R., Gaved, M., Herodotou, C., Koh, E., Kukulska-Hulme, A., Looi,C-K, McAndrew, P., Rienties, B., Weller, M., Wong, L. H. (2016). Innovating Pedagogy 2016: Open University Innovation Report 5. Milton Keynes: The Open University. Retrieved from http://proxima.iet.open.ac.uk/public/innovating_pedagogy_2016.pdf
Seaman, J., & Tinti-Kane, H. (2013). Social media for teaching and learning. Babson Survey Research Group. Retrieved from http://www.onlinelearningsurvey.com/reports/social-media-for-teaching-and-learning-2013-report.pdf
Hi Kay,
ReplyDeleteYou clearly make good use of social networking both in your teaching and professional practice. I agree about the need to protect children while they are under the legal age of holding their own accounts on these networks. Initially we all got excited about games apps but they really don't fulfill the needs we have in the classroom today. When I look back over the last 10 years of teaching and consider the changes that have happened, I realise just how connected our children have become. They take this social, global classroom quite for granted. I can't help wondering where it will take us in the next ten years.
Hi Kay, You make an interesting prediction on no more conferences or time out of class to meet others for PD. I read the same comment on another blog. This sounds great until you realize that the expectation will be that PD is now done in our own time on social media for instance. It is a huge commitment. Clearly there is value in PD, things are changing fast and we need to keep up with changes especially the changes our kids will be facing so I jump at opportunities for PD. But with all that reading and checking notifications and making postings, it takes a lot of time. If this is done out of class hours, the government saves money (a good thing ...) but what about work life balance? Just saying, we happily do this without realizing how it impacts. Personally I find the face to face PD more 'real' and more energizing. I hope the expert-lead PD day does not disappear.
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