Reflective Entry - Activity 6: Using social online networks in teaching and/or professional development

You know when…social network sites like Bebo and Myspace came out in early 2000, it was the biggest phenomenon of the time.  The students that I taught then couldn’t get enough of these sites - well more like they taught me what Bebo did and what a social network site was.  Since then I’ve come to realise that it is more about connecting with others and the sites are the platforms for which we can do so.  Despite the rise and fall of Bebo, Myspace, Facebook and Twitter, connection with others in my opinion is the most significant link to the use of social online network sites.  

   

Elana Lioni (2013) says “it’s the number one necessary thing to be a 21^st century educator, is to be connected.”  For one thing, this will support existing social networks and at the same time help the people who are searching to connect, based upon their same interests and activities.  By the same token, people can connect based upon their shared language and cultural, religious and political viewpoints.  Furthermore, people can view, access, share and communicate new information via blogging, photos, videos, smartphone connectivity.  Melhuish, K. (2013), shares that “System components, such as groups and forum threads, can enable collaboration, connectivity, openness and information sharing, as well as providing platforms to generate new knowledge, co-ordinate resources and participation, and access diverse perspectives.”

In contrast, “social network sites were also criticised for the lack of quality control, poorly thought through ideas, issues related to privacy, identity, message control and management of information overflow” (Greenhow, 2011 Social Network Sites Journal Article). This also becomes an issue in and out of school, which can cause conflicts in relationships in the social networks and communities we connect with too.  To help with the emergence of unsafe social online practices, the Ministry of Education put out a ‘digital technology; safe and responsible use in school’s guide’ to help students, educators and whanau to be cyber safe and to use digital etiquette responsibly.

In a word until you know when, “just because one is sharing information in a social network site does not mean that the comments one provides are theory-driven or particularly formative in ways that impact on practice,” (McLoughlin & Lee, 2010 Social Network Sites Journal Article).

Resources:

p36-44 in Chapter 3 of 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/handle/10289/8482/thesis.pdf?sequence=3&isAllowed=y

http://www.education.govt.nz/assets/Documents/School/Managing-and-supporting-students/DigitalTechnologySafeAndResponsibleUseInSchs.pdf

Source:Office of Ed Tech. (2013, Sep 18). Connected Educators. [video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=216&v=K4Vd4JP_DB8

Journal Article

Social Network Sites: Definition, History, and Scholarship

boyd d, Ellison N, Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication

2007 vol: 13 (1) pp: 210-230