Over the past several years, social media has become a tool many people utilize in their everyday activities. The advancement of technology allows users of all ages to access many different things ont he web. Hicks (2013) states, "Sharing status updates, photos, and links while playing games, instant messaging, or hanging out in a video-based chat room... it's all possible, whether from the smart phone in our palm or our desktop monitor" (p.137). Many of us use social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram on a daily basis. We post pictures of activities we are doing, family members, food, and even share photos of ourselves to our friends on those platforms. As we are doing so, we are giving others just a small peak into our everyday lives.
While most of us use social media as a recreational tool (i.e. scrolling through Facebook when we are bored or watching a cooking tutorial on Instagram), other users utilize these media sites to communicate with others around the world and share ideas that can be useful to others. Teachers, especially, find us in YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, and other types of social media to not only enhance student learning but also to communicate with parents and other teachers from all over the world. When I was in school, students utilizing social media to create projects or even watch videos on YouTube to learn more about a topic was unheard of. The school I attended had the whole YouTube site, as well as Facebook and Twitter, blocked. We were not able to view any part of the websites, even if it was for educational purposes. Today, students can access some parts of these websites at school. However, it is our job as educators to make sure they are utilizing these social media platforms in a beneficial manner. "Depending on what youth aim to do online-and how they act as digital writers in doing it-they are constructing identities, building (or destroying) relationships, creating new opportunities for learning, and remixing various digital media to produce new compositions such as blogs, wikis, and videos" (Hicks, 2013, p.139). There are many different ways educators and students can use social media in the classroom. Utilizing social media can help drive instruction, as well as, further engage students in a lesson.
There are many different social media platforms to utilize in the classroom. Twitter is a very popular option for teachers and students to utilize in the classroom. It is an easy to use platform that allows communication between users who share the same interest. "Even though Twitter has only a fraction of the number of users other social networks have, its impact on conversations between people around the world with common interest has been significant" (Hicks, 2013, p.141). Twitter allows students to share their thoughts and interest with people around the world. However, this can be tailored to suite each teacher's use of Twitter in the classroom. Many teachers shy away from using social media in the classroom because they are afraid for student privacy. "While social media can pose risks to student privacy, these risks can be managed with informed, intentional use" (Higgin, 2017).
As with many aspects of teaching, it is important to allow students to learn about the use of social media through exposure of such sites. It is a great idea to teach students the ins and outs of social media platforms before allowing them to create their own projects. One way of doing so is to utilize a mentor text to allow them to see different ways they can create and respond to questions or videos on that particular platform. Teachers can utilize the Turner and Hicks MAPS heuristic to determine if a source to show students is a beneficial means to use in teaching different ways to utilize social media. Turner and Hicks (2017) break down the definition for MAPS as mode, media, audience, purpose, and situation (p.13-14). Below I have included a screenshot of a conversation on Twitter that could be used as a means for teaching students one way to utilize social media.
The posts above were retrieved off of Twitter and the mode of this post was inforamtive. The tweet was posted by a teacher asking for advice on things other teachers have learned through the e-Learning/ distance learning process we have all asked to implement over the last several weeks and for the remainder of the school year. Therefore, the purpose of the post is seeking advice from other educators to enhance other teacher's instruction for online learning. The audience is educators and even parents who are trying to work through the ins and outs of distance learning. As you can see, other users are posting their own experiences, as well as, tips and tricks they or their child's teacher have utilized to enhance distance learning. Further down in the posts, users began posting links and videos of websites they have used to help them get through this teaching process.
After analyzing this post using MAPS, I believe this would be a good mentor text to use with students in older grades because it shows that Twitter can be utilized to help people solve a common problem through videos, texts, links, and personal experiences. It also allows students to see how easily it is to comment on a thread and become part of the conversation. For younger students, I would use something like Google Classroom because it is more private and easier to navigate but uses the same types of features as Twitter.
Although there are many pros and cons to utilizing social media in the classroom, our students are exposed to social media daily. Whether they see their parents using Facebook or they are old enough to have their own accounts, they are aware of the many different types of social media. Some parents teach their children the correct ways to use social media but others simply do not have the time to sit down and explain the pros and cons of using social media. As educators, we could take this opportunity to teach our students more beneficial ways to utilize social media in order to help them become a more digitally literate individual.
References
Common Craft. Twitter in plain english. [Video]. YouTube. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com
/watch?v=ddO9idmax0o&feature=emb_title
Hicks, T. (2013). Crafting digital writing: Composing texts across media and genres. Portsmouth,
N.H.: Heinemann.
Higgins, T. (2017). Protecting students privacy on social media: Dos and donts for teachers.
Retrieved from https://www.commonsense.org/education/articles/protecting-student-privacy-
on-social-media-dos-and-donts-for-teachers
Turner, K. & Hicks, T. (2017). Argument in the real world: Teaching adolescents to read and write
digital texts. Portsmouth, N.H.: Heinemann.
Although there are many pros and cons to utilizing social media in the classroom, our students are exposed to social media daily. Whether they see their parents using Facebook or they are old enough to have their own accounts, they are aware of the many different types of social media. Some parents teach their children the correct ways to use social media but others simply do not have the time to sit down and explain the pros and cons of using social media. As educators, we could take this opportunity to teach our students more beneficial ways to utilize social media in order to help them become a more digitally literate individual.
References
Common Craft. Twitter in plain english. [Video]. YouTube. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com
/watch?v=ddO9idmax0o&feature=emb_title
Hicks, T. (2013). Crafting digital writing: Composing texts across media and genres. Portsmouth,
N.H.: Heinemann.
Higgins, T. (2017). Protecting students privacy on social media: Dos and donts for teachers.
Retrieved from https://www.commonsense.org/education/articles/protecting-student-privacy-
on-social-media-dos-and-donts-for-teachers
Turner, K. & Hicks, T. (2017). Argument in the real world: Teaching adolescents to read and write
digital texts. Portsmouth, N.H.: Heinemann.
I agree that students must be shown and taught how to create meaningful posts on social media sites. Students view social media so often and not once consider it as a way to share information. According to Turner and Hicks (2017), "to build students' mindfulness in social media spaces, we first need to help them see their participation in those networks as real reading and writing" (p. 113). As educators, we must make the connection for them by using social media in the classroom. Naturally, using social media in the classroom may come with some challenges, such as student privacy and chance exposures to content that is not school appropriate. However, as you mentioned, there are alternatives to the popular social media platforms that offer the same structure. It is just up to the teacher to research such platforms and decide which one will work best for their students. It is possible to show students that social media can be used to do more than post updates about their lives. All one has to do is make an effort.
ReplyDeleteReferences
Turner, K., & Hicks, T. (2017) Argument in the real world: Teaching adolescents to read and write digital texts. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Jordan, Technology sure has come a long way. When I was in high school, the only technology we used in school was hand-typing on computer screens that were the newer versions of the green and black screens! Ha! These days, my students are about half and half on paper and computer. Your example would make for a great mentor text. I can see an upper elementary or secondary teacher using this Twitter thread as a mentor text while also teaching the MINDFUL and MAPS heuristic when reading then when writing their own threads. The questions that Turner and Hicks (2017) asks in the table are thoughtful questions that every student should ask himself/herself when having an argument. Even my 2nd Graders could benefit from the MINDFUL heuristic. Just imagine if everybody followed it, how much wasted information would disappear.
ReplyDeleteReferences
Turner, K., & Hicks, T. (2017). Argument in the real world: Teaching adolescents to read and write digital texts. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
I too remember growing up in schools where they had certain websites automatically blocked even if they could potentially be used for educational purposes. Looking back on that, I can truly see the error of their ways! According to Hicks, "Our uses of social media are only as powerful as the teaching that supports these uses," which simply reiterates the fact that we must be willing to teach our students and children the proper way to utilize social media so that they can be further educated in this digital age (2013, Pg. 140). As a teacher, my number one job is to keep my students safe and I can contribute to their safety when I take the time to properly teach them how to use social media the right way in the classroom!
ReplyDeleteReferences:Hicks, T. (2013). Crafting digital writing: Composing texts across media and genres. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.