Social Media in my Classroom
As a teacher in a BYOD environment, I have a responsibility to educate my students in Digital Citizenship. Accessing appropriate sites is a part of this, however thinking about their digital footprint, online conduct and their personal responsibilities to themselves and others are important concepts.
I am using the Seesaw application as a scaffolded approach to support and guide students' choices when using social media sites. Students have been guided through using Seesaw by following the step by step implementation plan. This involves learners carefully considering what they are posting and providing descriptive captions detailing this. Thoughtful posting is the first step to the appropriate use of social media.
As part of the Chapter Chat programme, we attempted to take advantage of the Twitter feed opportunity offered for a specific timeframe each week. Unfortunately, we often encountered unforeseen changes in whole school activities which meant we missed these live feeds, and in the end decided we couldn't reliably participate. In fact, our programme got so busy we also found it difficult to maintain the momentum of weekly reading and activities.
Benefits of adding a Social Media component to existing practice and Potential Challenges
The setting I have chosen on Seesaw allows parents and teachers to like, love, question and comment on learners posts, providing the desired engagement and role modelling of appropriate online behaviours. The next step is to allow learners to be able to like and comment on each other's posts. Seesaw provides a safe and monitored environment for students to learn how to comment thoughtfully, and see how their comments have an impact on others and vice versa. Having this guided practice will hopefully result in positive benefits for future online interactions as their exposure to social media sites grows.
In her video file, Kath Cassidy (2013) discusses her use of Twitter and Blogs in the classroom. She identifies positive benefits from this interaction. Her students are learning empathy and have a different view of the world they wouldn't otherwise have had without their online connection. They will work in a world where communication with those who live in other countries will be the norm. Guided use of Twitter and Blogging in the classroom is showing them a safe and effective way to do this.
I can also see the benefits of re-introducing Twitter. Empowering students to connect with others outside their immediate community is the logical progression and will enable them to put into practice the positive behaviours they have gained in the supportive Seesaw environment. Opportunities to link with other learners on a global scale would be both highly engaging and invaluable learning.
Extending the Seesaw digital portfolio by exploring personal blogs would also be beneficial. Ongoing access to the current portfolios relies on the Seesaw teacher account remaining current, however, personal blogs would not have this limitation. Students can extend their blogging skills learnt through Seesaw with another real world social media platform.
As with all classroom online activity, it will be challenging monitoring appropriate participation. There will always be learners who will make poor choices despite having the knowledge to do otherwise.
References
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.pd
Tvoparents. (2013, May 21). Using Social Media in the Classroom.[video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=riZStaz8Rno
Tvoparents. (2013, May 21). Using Social Media in the Classroom.[video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=riZStaz8Rno
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