As an educator, to me, social media is a way to connect our students with others outside the classroom. When we open the doors of the classroom to others, wonderful things can happen. During the past academic year, I started a blog with my students, and we were able to use it to connect with students in Argentina to share movie reviews; we listened to voice recordings of people in various countries talking about their favorite sweets, and we interacted with experts in the fields of graphic design and wedding cake design. Through this session, I hope to learn how to encourage the same kind of positive interaction through other social media tools, such as feedreaders, social bookmarking tools, and photo sharing tools. Constantly pushing the edge of the classroom further and further…
For my class, I could have chosen to use a different environment, such as an LMS, and consequently the edge of the classroom would not have extended so far into the world. The social tools we are working with in this session are different from an LMS because they are open. Blackboard, Moodle, and other LMS are only open to those enrolled, primarily the students in a course, the material shared on social tools is potentially available to anyone, depending on the privacy settings the user chooses. During the 2007 Blogging for Beginners workshop, I had the pleasure of attending an online session given by Bee where she introduced this concept; after the session finished, I blogged “Week Four Summary” about what I learned from the presentation, how social media tools and LMS differ, and how the choice of tools may impact the students’ learning experience.
My main feeling about social media is that just like anything else, the more you put into it, the more you’re going to get out of it. One common thread among the social media tools being used in this session is the ability to share content with others. In the Webhead community, openly sharing seems to be favored; then, everyone can learn and benefit. However, in some circumstances publicity may not be desired, and most social media tools have the option of being set to private, or varying degrees of privacy. When working with students, we have to take many factors in to account when working online, such as safety concerns. However, what about shy students who don’t feel comfortable sharing their work? Even though I tend to be reserved, I have found that sharing my work online has been an incredibly empowering experience and it has helped me to gain a professional voice. Although I hope students see the value of sharing, the best way to know how university students feel about using social media in the classroom would probably be to engage in an informed dialog about the subject.
I think you are right about how empowering it is to publish your work online. To me, this is one of the greatest gifts we can give our students — and ourselves!
I am reserved too, and find being online empowering. I love it when my students find the same.
It is interesting having an LMS at work (Blackboard) particularly when they are introducing blog, podcast and wiki tools – still don’t cut it with me compared to the open web based stuff. While I feel the latter is better for my students, there is still the imperative to use what we have at our institution.
Thanks, Nancy and Karen, for taking the time to visit my new blog. I am really enjoying participating in the Social Media EVO session, and hope to share what I will learn to help teachers and students find their voices in the blogosphere too!
Dear Mary, so great to run into you at your wordpress blog for Social Media. I was in the Open Webpublishing session with Bee, Patricia and Graham last year and learned tons about social spaces. I did have my reservations, though, because of the political tension in my country where you never know what might happen if you are opposed to the government. I have seen too many things going on and close friends flee the country for political reasons. I try not to be so public anymore.
I don´t know how you manage to be everywhere and still co-moderate in B4Ed this year. Congratulations on being so active and efficient. I really admire your energy !!!
Love from cool Caracas, Berta
Dear Berta,
Thanks for your comment, and for finding my blog on social media. We have run into each other in the Music session too this year! Actually, my classes have finished for the year, so I have more time to work on professional development now. As part of the week two tasks and for other reasons, I have been thinking about the risks of using social media, and it is something to consider carefully, as you mentioned. Although the Webheads community is built on openness, sometimes we have to be more cautious. Keep in touch,
Mary