WEEK 30 Activity 6 PROFESSIONAL ONLINE SOCIAL NETWORKS

WEEK 30 ACTIVITY 6          PROFESSIONAL ONLINE SOCIAL NETWORKS
                                  


My current and potential use of social media networks to enhance teaching practice and professional development

This blog post will critically discuss the use of social media in my teaching and professional development.

On reflection, I have personally found that using social media in my professional development and teaching very helpful and with increasing understanding it has helped me to access information and provide useful ideas and activities to use in my teaching and sharing with other colleagues and students. 

It has enabled me to be more collaborative and communicate with a wider audience and with users of online social networks, comparing, discussing and sharing ideas and knowledge.

EXAMPLES Writing the blog and based on specific questions with the current course I am doing, has encouraged me to communicate in an online forum which I think I would not have otherwise done. I can communicate with a wider audience e.g. the place where I work on face book and now google plus community as a student.  

I have learnt alot and gained more confidence about using different programmes,  e.g.  blogging and sharing with others in a larger community, to be more reflective about my teaching practice and apply new ideas, and using digital tools and online social networks in the class and or learning setting,

Reading and viewing videos about various theories, writings, research and models. e.g. the Mauri Ora Process.  Indigenous issues, trends affecting education and globilization etc

Online social networks has encouraged me and helpled me to be more inquiry based in my teaching and in the new place of where I now work.

The children and students we are teaching are learning about digital devices, automation, robotics and science technology in the homes and with their peers, it is all around us and therefore when they come to school we have to be prepared to teach them and support technological advancement.

In the preschool where I teach, toddlers as young as two are looking at their parents mobile phones, looking at photos, playing games and talking to their family members via the mobile phone.

It is part of our culture and way of living that most homes use computers and online social networks, like textin, email, twitter, google and you tube etc.  In is inevitable that schools are teaching technology. Most libraries now use computers and ebooks to inform and teach their users and students. Online social networking enables students to make connections, maintain and build on their relationships with those in similiar learning situations and interests.

It is our responsibility as educators,  to teach others and our students about the risks of online social networking for example using sites like face book, Myspace where students are giving personal information about themselves and can be putting themselves at risk of public scrutiny and risk of physical safety.

Disadvantages

• I am sometimes very reluctant to use social media in my teaching practice and professional development due to safety and confidentiality reasons.  What I share might be taken out of context or misunderstood. 
•  I do not know whom I am talking to even though we might be in the same study group. 
• Risking my professional boundaries.
• Lack of confidence talking to others and if I am not sure about what to do or say. e.g. when I tried to access the Webnair the other evening I had trouble connecting this via my lap top. By the time I connected and joined the group, (40 mins later ) I had to use my PC after 30 minutes trying. I wasnt sure what to do and then this put me off even further to participate and then I had to read something and add this to a link.  This was a daunting experience due to very poor connection and poor lap top.   I do enjoy group discussions and I felt disappointed about it because I had done quite a bit of reading and talking about it with my colleagues at work.(Using the Webnair might be a new goal for me) Melhuish calls this accordance and components of a social network, more detail to follow)
• My lack of knowledge and confidence when using and applying certain programmes with the children. Takes time and practise which can be problematic. However I like the idea from the class video about the teacher Kathy Cassidy who used blogging with her children in her class and they used this to write about their learning in class for the year, they also took photos of their work which they added to their blogs.....again this might take time to read and mark everyones work so monitoring might be an issue.  A solution to this might be to do a class blog or a blog about a specific topic, learning experience, camp or topic and use this as a shared class project instead.
• Culturally I learn better face to face (person to person) kanohi to kanohi, I can see facial expressions and therefore body language helps with effective and meaningful communication.  Feels more natural and wholistic. Less chance of miscommunication.

SUPPORTING RESEARCH PROS AND CONS

According to Melhuish in a study about the pros and cons of professional online and social networking uses the terms accordance and components of a social network, "in the context of the study 'accordances are those components of a social network site that members of that site use in order to achieve their goals within that network."(Melhuish page 37)

Also according to learning through social media speaks about the advantages of learning over long periods of time and space and allowing people to come and go in their learning,in a collective and collaborative way.  That learning through social networking can allow students to discuss with others on a universal scale. ( Innovative Pedagogy report page 12-14)  It is also states 

"Where the pedagogy is successful, social media can give learners reliable and interesting content, as well as opportunities to access expert advice, to encounter challenges, to defend their views and to amend their ideas in the face of criticism. Where the pedagogy is unsuccessful, sites may present learners with inaccurate information, biased comments and hostile responses. Educators on social media sites designed to offer learning opportunities therefore have multiple roles that differ from a teacher in more formal settings. A facilitator is needed to initiate the project and to take on the tasks of filtering resources and engaging

people. Unless the projects have experts to inspire and engage people, the project falls
flat, because no one is required to participate. Anyone can engage at any time, anyone can leave at any time, but skilled facilitators can keep people engaged and actively contributing for many years." ( Innovative Pedagogy page 12)

Therefore I believe that online and social networks has advantages and disadvantages in my teaching practice and professional development. it can be used safely to enhance our teaching and learning. 

REFERENCES

Melhuish, K.(2013). Online social networking and its impact on New Zealand educators’ professional learning. Master Thesis. The University of Waikato. Retrieved on 05 May, 2015 from http://researchcommons.waikato.ac.nz/bitstream/han...(pages 36-44)

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 (pages 12-14)

Source: Tvoparents. (2013, May 21). Using Social Media in the Classroom.[video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=riZStaz8Rno