Social Media and the 21st Century Learner
What is Social Media?
Social Media is any website that encourages social interaction between individuals and between groups creating an online community of people with similar interests (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/social+network). These social networks include but are not limited to social networking sites such as Facebook, twitter etc; virtual worlds like Second Life and Sims; Video sites such as You Tube; and blogs ( O’Keeffe & Clarke-Pearson,2011). Research has shown that engaging in Social Media activities can benefit children by “enhancing communication, social connection, and even technical skills [providing] opportunities for connecting with friends , classmates and people of shared interests” (O’Keeffe & Clarke-Pearson, 2011, p. 800). Given that the 21st Century Learner are students who “use educational technologies to apply knowledge to new situations, analyze information, collaborate, solve problems, and make decisions” (21st Century Learning, 2013), it stands to reason that they would embrace the various attributes of Social Media and Social Networking.
Social networking allows for students to extend the borders of their educational world by providing opportunities to collaborate, gather information from a many different sources and increase their community of knowledge through interactions with others. As well, the use of social networking tools in the educational experience can teach the students that “knowledge is constructed in the exchange of voices, not in the voices themselves but the space between them. Learning grows from dialogue; it can’t happen in a vacuum“(Kitsis, 2008, P.30). This is pivotal as the whole nature of Social networking is to collaborate to make meaning of information. However it is important to note that although social networking is a collaborative experience it does not produce a collaborative product. What this means is that the content is user generated. For example, a blog consists of entries that are written by an individual, it is public and can be read and comment on by many, but the content is created by one person. This is the same situation as twitter and Facebook. The messages and content is created by the user and reflected on by others in the comment section, by likes and dislikes, by re-teweeting and number of views. This is an important distinction to make, as it pertains to the next section entitled collaboration and the 21st Century learner.
In the classroom Social networking can be used in many different ways. One example of this is Twitter. Twitter is a considered a micro blog because of its 140 character limit. It can be used to help students synthesize their thoughts, keep students on track with continuous feeds of upcoming assignments due, connect classrooms, connect blogs etc(50 Ways to Use Twitter in the Classroom, 2007). Twitter is instantaneous and can be used with any mobile device thus making it portable and effective (see Artifacts and Reflections section for more information about twitter).
Another example, of Social Networking to enhance learning is the use of blogs. Blogs are essentially online diaries. They are a natural extension to twitter as they allow you to express your thoughts on specific topics in more than 140 characters. Blogs are a great way to create a collaborative experience online. When used in an educational setting it can help students to express their thoughts and reflect on others thoughts about a topic. As well, the audience of a blog is not limited to the classroom; it can go beyond the classroom to include parents and other community members. Obviously, teachers must monitor the blogs constantly to insure that interactions are not harmful to the student (Kitsis, 2008). However, sites like Nings, achieve the same results while limiting the audience to only those invited to participate.
With all of these positives of Social Networking there are also some criticisms. For example, Social networking can only work if everyone has access to the internet. As well, students must understand that in some cases there can be a lag between feedback especially on blogs which require more thought provoking responses (Kitsis, 2009). As well, Social Networking can become harmful if students abuse the trust of the others using it. There are numerous cases of cyber bullying and net depression and even death which has resulted from the above mentioned (O’Keeffe, 2011). The use of these networks should be monitored by both teachers and parents. Safety is paramount and students need to be taught about Net safety and digital etiquette.
My experience in this program has been that social networking is central to the 21st Century Learning experience. In most if not all of my classes I have been a part of a community Twitter hastag. As well, Wiki’s have been used to create collaborative informational pages designed and reflected upon by the class as a whole. The discussion board on Blackboard has been used in numerous classes to facilitate discussions between classmates about classes which have occurred. These tools they are designed for interaction with others and are a great tool to use to engage the 21st Century learner.
Please continue to the artifacts and reflection page.
Social Media is any website that encourages social interaction between individuals and between groups creating an online community of people with similar interests (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/social+network). These social networks include but are not limited to social networking sites such as Facebook, twitter etc; virtual worlds like Second Life and Sims; Video sites such as You Tube; and blogs ( O’Keeffe & Clarke-Pearson,2011). Research has shown that engaging in Social Media activities can benefit children by “enhancing communication, social connection, and even technical skills [providing] opportunities for connecting with friends , classmates and people of shared interests” (O’Keeffe & Clarke-Pearson, 2011, p. 800). Given that the 21st Century Learner are students who “use educational technologies to apply knowledge to new situations, analyze information, collaborate, solve problems, and make decisions” (21st Century Learning, 2013), it stands to reason that they would embrace the various attributes of Social Media and Social Networking.
Social networking allows for students to extend the borders of their educational world by providing opportunities to collaborate, gather information from a many different sources and increase their community of knowledge through interactions with others. As well, the use of social networking tools in the educational experience can teach the students that “knowledge is constructed in the exchange of voices, not in the voices themselves but the space between them. Learning grows from dialogue; it can’t happen in a vacuum“(Kitsis, 2008, P.30). This is pivotal as the whole nature of Social networking is to collaborate to make meaning of information. However it is important to note that although social networking is a collaborative experience it does not produce a collaborative product. What this means is that the content is user generated. For example, a blog consists of entries that are written by an individual, it is public and can be read and comment on by many, but the content is created by one person. This is the same situation as twitter and Facebook. The messages and content is created by the user and reflected on by others in the comment section, by likes and dislikes, by re-teweeting and number of views. This is an important distinction to make, as it pertains to the next section entitled collaboration and the 21st Century learner.
In the classroom Social networking can be used in many different ways. One example of this is Twitter. Twitter is a considered a micro blog because of its 140 character limit. It can be used to help students synthesize their thoughts, keep students on track with continuous feeds of upcoming assignments due, connect classrooms, connect blogs etc(50 Ways to Use Twitter in the Classroom, 2007). Twitter is instantaneous and can be used with any mobile device thus making it portable and effective (see Artifacts and Reflections section for more information about twitter).
Another example, of Social Networking to enhance learning is the use of blogs. Blogs are essentially online diaries. They are a natural extension to twitter as they allow you to express your thoughts on specific topics in more than 140 characters. Blogs are a great way to create a collaborative experience online. When used in an educational setting it can help students to express their thoughts and reflect on others thoughts about a topic. As well, the audience of a blog is not limited to the classroom; it can go beyond the classroom to include parents and other community members. Obviously, teachers must monitor the blogs constantly to insure that interactions are not harmful to the student (Kitsis, 2008). However, sites like Nings, achieve the same results while limiting the audience to only those invited to participate.
With all of these positives of Social Networking there are also some criticisms. For example, Social networking can only work if everyone has access to the internet. As well, students must understand that in some cases there can be a lag between feedback especially on blogs which require more thought provoking responses (Kitsis, 2009). As well, Social Networking can become harmful if students abuse the trust of the others using it. There are numerous cases of cyber bullying and net depression and even death which has resulted from the above mentioned (O’Keeffe, 2011). The use of these networks should be monitored by both teachers and parents. Safety is paramount and students need to be taught about Net safety and digital etiquette.
My experience in this program has been that social networking is central to the 21st Century Learning experience. In most if not all of my classes I have been a part of a community Twitter hastag. As well, Wiki’s have been used to create collaborative informational pages designed and reflected upon by the class as a whole. The discussion board on Blackboard has been used in numerous classes to facilitate discussions between classmates about classes which have occurred. These tools they are designed for interaction with others and are a great tool to use to engage the 21st Century learner.
Please continue to the artifacts and reflection page.