Activity 5 - Professional Online Social Networks

Descriptive:

My first foray into the world of social media on a professional level, was with Twitter. Since I felt I was an empty vessel, I was a ‘lurker’ or ‘stalker’ and read as much as I could. It was invaluable as I was able to pull information from several source and start to see trends and ideas that were more enduring in nature, in the world of e-learning. Have found Tweetdeck as a great way to keep your hashtag groups organised and a tool to sift through the mountain of information available on your feed.
Next I moved onto Zites (since gone), which as an app that gave you access to articles based on your interests. This along with the Twitter feed gave me a grounding in what were useful resources and pedagogical practices associated with integrating ICT into the classroom.
Facebook and the VLN came along and by then as participants were asking questions I found that by now I felt I could start to join in the discussions.

Critical Reflection:

Facebook is like a very big staffroom. There are some professional conversations and ideas for the classroom, others seeking advise on pedagogical or employment matters, people seeking affirmation or validation of their current practice and others offering anecdotes of “life as a teacher”.

Linkedin has morphed into almost a Facebook platform. “Connections” can share ideas and link their posts with information of interest. At this point in time, it is still a very professional platform and I have seen examples of unprofessional behavior not being tolerated.

Twitter can be multifaceted. By it’s very nature of limited characters in a message, it is used as a bulletin board, offering links to further readings, updates to software and blogs or an alert to the release of new digital resources. You can filter a lot of information in a relatively short amount of time, only venturing into areas of interest to you. There are the #Chats that are scheduled and gives participants a chance to enter professional discussions and gain a variety of perspectives on the subject to hand. It is the chance to build a network of like minded and expert people to seek advise and opinions from if you have any issues or queries. It has also been very handy when attending professional development to be able to enter into discussions about the content as it is being delivered, later to be Storifed as notes so you can refer back to the content.

The VLN has been a good technical platform and again an opportunity for teachers to join groups of interest and become involved in professional discussions. Google+ also gives the participant the option to join groups and share their ideas, join in on discussions as a community of learners.

If someone prefers to get their information visually and orally, there is Youtube and Ted Talks that can be very informative and inspiring. Since the participant is searching for the information, it will more than likely be relevant.

Often software such as Edmodo, ShowMe and Seesaw are supportive by developing a community around the use of their software and encourage teachers to share their practice. This is great, especially when you are starting out and building up your own practice.

Critical Reflection:

As with all social media, there is always the need to critique the validity of the information gained such as pulling information from a variety of sources. Since the participants are free to join in and leave at any time, it is valuable as ‘just in time’ professional development or self directed learning. In many cases, participants also have the choice of who they are connected to and can join groups which can refine the subject matter so it is relevant to their area of interest. You are able to indulge in professional development ubiquitously and with so much choice of platforms, you are more likely to find a platform that delivers the type of professional development that suits you.  As long as discussions remain respectful and professional, entering into discourse as a means to grow our perspective and pedagogical practice can be valuable.

Resources:

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 https://researchcommons.waikato.ac.nz/handle/10289/8482

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