Throughout 2011, anyone who spends time online will have witnessed the increased focus on leadership in education, creative thinking, the spreading of Open Education Resources (e.g. MIT Open Course Ware , Open Culture, among many others) as well as the growing tide of free education, especially at post-secondary level. And of course, technology, technology, technology - in all its forms and areas of influence. Gaming in education is taken seriously as are other multimodular forms of presenting and engaging learners.
Which brings me to ask about the role of social media in education - is there a place for it? If so, why?
Let me begin by highlighting what I agree to be essential skills for today:
Which brings me to ask about the role of social media in education - is there a place for it? If so, why?
Let me begin by highlighting what I agree to be essential skills for today:
- Sense-making. The ability to determine the deeper meaning or significance of what is being expressed
- Social intelligence. The ability to connect to others in a deep and direct way, to sense and stimulate reactions and desired interactions
- Novel and adaptive thinking. Proficiency at thinking and coming up with solutions and responses beyond that which is rote or rule-based
- Cross-cultural competency. The ability to operate in different cultural settings
- Computational thinking. The ability to translate vast amounts of data into abstract concepts and to understand data-based reasoning
- New-media literacy. The ability to critically assess and develop content that uses new media forms and to leverage these media for persuasive communication
- Transdisciplinarity. Literacy in and ability to understand concepts across multiple disciplines
- Design mind-set. Ability to represent and develop tasks and work processes for desired outcomes
- Cognitive load management. The ability to discriminate and filter information for importance and to understand how to maximize cognitive functioning using a variety of tools and techniques
- Virtual collaboration. The ability to work productively, drive engagement and demonstrate presence as a member of a virtual team
(extract from 10 Key Skills for the Future of Work)
More than only for an unknown distant future, these are skills which learners today need to be comfortable and confident in. It is when they are at school/college that they can practice them in a safe, peer-level environment. From learning how to conduct efficient and effective online searches, being able to sift through the never-ending data available, to learning how to blog and use Twitter as a collaborative learning platform, educators have the responsibility to teach these skills, not only to motivate and engage learners, but to help prepare them for their futures.
I have frequently been confronted with the time-consuming argument that not all learners need to learn about social media and that "successful education" is really about passing exams.
Although I may understand this limited view of education (after all, it is an opinion among many other attitudes and approaches to education), it has certainly never been one that I share or practice. Not all skills may necessarily be labelled as "21st Century Learning Skills" - collaborative learning is how humans learn, after all. Throughout my life in classrooms and staff-rooms, collaborating in teams, with partners, with the local community, has always taken place. What is different today is how much broader and wider these collaborations can effectively occur. From the above list, sense-making, social intelligence and adapting to new ways of thinking are also not unique to "21st Century Learning". They have always been required as they are inherent features of what it means to learn.
What is strikingly new, is the need to guide learners with media or digital literacies.
This skill is not merely the ability to use a digital tool; it involves so much more. Let's take blogging, for instance.
Blogging contributes to a student's E-portfolio; SlideShare, creating a Prezi, participating in a Voxopop or any of the many tools available to all. Learners may be on social networks and attached to their mobiles, but it is quite another matter to use digital tools for learning. This where a teacher needs to facilitate and guide learners to develop their digital literacy skills.
not one that is tucked away in an institution's system or VLE, but one which is available anywhere, anytime - even when a learner leaves that particular institution. When regarding a blog as a portfolio, students can more easily demonstrate how they communicate with digital tools, whether these be image editing, uploading a PowerPoint presentation to
not one that is tucked away in an institution's system or VLE, but one which is available anywhere, anytime - even when a learner leaves that particular institution. When regarding a blog as a portfolio, students can more easily demonstrate how they communicate with digital tools, whether these be image editing, uploading a PowerPoint presentation to
There is so much to say about blogging, and so very much may be easily found as well (see references below as an example). What I would like to highlight, are a couple of other reasons why, in my view, blogging is an excellent activity for classrooms:
* Blogging encourages transparency - learners can share their blogs with friends and family; after all, so much of what happens in classrooms remains behind walls and doors. There is also no excuse of having forgotten a book or class project in the classroom (and sometimes, there are projects which need to be kept in the classroom) as a learner can share his/her blog with their family anywhere where there is an internet connection. Another consideration to bear in mind, is that this transparency also leads to a dialogue with the curriculum. More on that below.
* Digital Citizenship - Digital citizenship covers issues such as E-Safety, Cyberbullying, one's Digital Footprint but also issues as how to participate in online communities and maintain a digital identity. Blogging may be a flexible platform to show-case one's digital literacy skills, a space to develop an independent voice, but blogging is also space of dialogue - not merely a product of consumption. It this rich feature of dialogue that adds to a learner's motivation as well as to their abilities in dealing with one form of digital literacy.
* Blogging as Dialogue - In a recent conversation with John Goldsmith (@cyberjohn07 and author of De Tools of the Trade) John expressed how being a blogger is often an act of bearing the loneliness of the long-distance writer as there is seldom any immediate feedback. If, on the one hand, I too understand how time is never enough and that, I too, so often read a blog but fail to contribute a comment (and let me be honest - I read many, many blogs; I simply don't have sufficient time to comment on all of them, despite appreciating every single one!), adding a comment to a blog posting,
contributing to the open dialogue is an essential skill of blogging practice. Again, even though our learners may be digitally connected, providing constructive feedback, opening inquiry, adding to dialogue - whether their personal voice in an opinion/reflection, or related more closely to their studies and curriculum, these are skills which need to be tapped into and honed in. Effective digital collaboration comes with practice, while open dialogue leads to further learning and critical thinking.
contributing to the open dialogue is an essential skill of blogging practice. Again, even though our learners may be digitally connected, providing constructive feedback, opening inquiry, adding to dialogue - whether their personal voice in an opinion/reflection, or related more closely to their studies and curriculum, these are skills which need to be tapped into and honed in. Effective digital collaboration comes with practice, while open dialogue leads to further learning and critical thinking.
Learning is knowing how to face winds of change.
Classroom learning in safety leads to living more confidently, more securely in today's digital world.
How do you see the role of social media developing in classroom practices?
Further References:
10 Key Skills for the Future of Work
5 Reasons Why Our Students are Writing Blogs and Creating E-Portfolios
Digital Divide and Social Media: Connectivity Doesn't End the Digital Divide, Skills Do
Students Reflect on Their own Learning
100 Seriously Cool Classroom Blogs for Teaching Ideas & Inspiration
The Year in Education: Seven Innovations Changing the Way the World Learns
Imagination - Creating the Future of Education and Work
Updated Image - by Nick Gentry in Colossal
10 Key Skills for the Future of Work
5 Reasons Why Our Students are Writing Blogs and Creating E-Portfolios
Digital Divide and Social Media: Connectivity Doesn't End the Digital Divide, Skills Do
Students Reflect on Their own Learning
100 Seriously Cool Classroom Blogs for Teaching Ideas & Inspiration
The Year in Education: Seven Innovations Changing the Way the World Learns
Imagination - Creating the Future of Education and Work
Updated Image - by Nick Gentry in Colossal