Week 30
The use of social media in my teaching.
tweeties_free_twitter_icons1.jpg

Being a learner at The Mindlab has allowed me to be a part of a community of practice which has given me the experience and opportunities to learn with other professionals. It has most certainly highlighted the need to move my teaching practices in the direction needed for our students. A large component of this 21st century learning involves social media as a learning tool. Being fairly new to the use of social media within my professional life, means that its use in my teaching is in its very early stages.
From my research for this blog I have summarised the following benefits of including social media as a everyday learning tool in the classroom.

  • Understanding what students are actually thinking. Communicating online is usually very different from the way we do it in person. Those learners who  are reserved and shy in the classroom often communicate and contribute openly through social media
  • Easy access to real-time materials. As social media enables us to share information directly with one another, you will get instant access to important news and relevant resources
  • Connecting your classroom with others. Now almost all academicians, experts in various fields, scientists, authors and celebrities have some public social media accounts which enables their followers to communicate with them directly. You can also use Skype in your classroom and invite guest speakers for video conferencing.
  • Expanding your reach. One of the greatest benefits of social media is that it allows teachers to effectively communicate with their peers in different parts of the world.
  • Interacting with families. Social media can help you to easily connect with the parents of students. You can tag them in relevant posts and keep them updated about the class. Most parents prefer to get continuous updates regarding what their children are learning
  • Encouraging students to learn outside class. Using social media in homework and assignments can help teachers to make students more engaged and involved in lessons not only in the classroom, but even after they leave it

These points show the tremendous benefits social media has to offer the classroom, unfortunately I currently only use two of the points summarised, they are Easy access to real-time materials and Interactions with families, and on reflection these two are done with much teacher direction.

So what is stopping me embracing and integrating more social media within my class and allowing more student agency?
I guess there is still uncertainty in my ability, anything new is often faced with caution. I wonder how my particular primary school community would embrace such concepts, do they acknowledge social media as a learning tool, or simply a “social” interaction in platforms such as facebook, which has an age restriction.
I do however feel empowered and confident to use my teacher agency to research and justify decisions I make within the class, allowing me to take full advantage in the use of Social media.

The video clip by Netsafe (https://app.themindlab.com/media/23162/view) has a helpful recommendation when planning on using social media. It is recommended that you ask yourself, what is the purpose of using the social media? What is the benefit for my students and/or me? It continues to say that teachers safety concerns should not be something that stops a teacher using social media within the classroom.  I agree, there are many steps you can take to ensure safety and privacy to your students.
It takes a good plan and communication with your school and wider community for the full benefits of social media to be realised.


So where too for me and social media in the classroom? I see team planning for the start of a new term a perfect way to start the process of social media integration into the curriculum areas. This way I have a group of people to work with me giving support,  advice and to help keep me accountable.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Week 31 Professional context crossing boundaries