Online networking - is it working for teachers?
At the turn of the millennium, Google, Yahoo! and Microsoft started the revolution that has now become so deep-rooted that it has connected the slums of Mumbai to the mansions of Manhattan and everything in between. I have been using social media such as Linkedin and Orkut since 2006. Later I joined Facebook and Twitter. Today, Disqus, Slack, Google Plus, Wordpress, Instagram, YouTube and a host of other platforms have opened up, which I use often for engaging with my students, share ideas with other professional communities and for professional development. Social media has resulted in a lot of benefits for me.
Content creation and sharing – YouTube videos, EdPuzzle, NearPod and Explain Everything lessons, Padlet collaborative tasks, Kahoot, Socrative Quizlet and Quizzizz games – all have been part of the content that I have created and shared with my colleagues or students and also used from those available online. Connecting with peers – Disqus, Twitter, Linkedin groups provide me with ways to interact with old connections and create new ones with similar interests. Messaging or commenting on shared posts often takes me deeper into the topic being discussed. Clarifying doubts about some concepts with other teachers in Google groups is another way that I have used social media.
Professional development – I have gained certification and upskilled myself with the help of some online PD providers such as Flipped Learning Global initiative, Apple, Google, EdPuzzle. Mindlab also has half of its PG Certificate course online.
I have often learned from looking at the practice of other teachers and reading research on the effective use of blended learning and online platforms. This has seen me trialing tools like Facebook groups, pages, Google classroom, Flip learning (Gilboy, Heinerichs, & Pazzaglia, 2015). Some of it has worked, but tools like Facebook groups and pages are dependant on school policies, hence cannot be successful universally. I started FB groups in a previous employment where teachers made special FB account for school work and students were encouraged to join the subject page/group of their teachers. Events were promoted and co-ordinated by FB events and Instagram posts. However, when I joined a new school, the policy was different hence a different strategy to engage with the students was necessary. I started using Google classroom and communicating through emails.
The challenge was how to make students use what they perceive as a “School thing” and different from the platforms they use such as FB, Instagram or Snapchat. I started uploading Socrative and other quizzes, videos, some self-made and others from content available with questions in EdPuzzle. Another way I thought of engaging the senior students was by sharing interesting news videos of current, relevant developments. This encouraged them to keep on checking the Google classroom whenever there is an update.
Example –
Some recent events such as the Facebook data-leak, action taken against a teacher for misuse of social media and complaints against politicians for using Snapchat with young people, have forced me to rethink some of my practices involving blended learning. It is true that FB and other such platforms provide 24/7 material for all generations to peep into the world without any restrictions, but the same resource can be misused. So, it should be used with proper security and common sense. The Education Council of NZ has also included this in Teacher guidelines.
However, for my professional development, I have found social networking a very big help. The Pond, created for NZ teachers, is one such resource where support is easily available for all subjects and levels. Forums such as NZ Accounting teachers and CETA have helped me to update and improve my pedagogy.
Bibliography
Gilboy, M. B., Heinerichs, S., & Pazzaglia, G. (2015). Enhancing Student Engagement Using the Flipped Classroom. Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, 47(1), 109–114. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.JNEB.2014.08.008
NZ Education council - https://www.teachersandsocialmedia.co.nz/guidelines-ethical-use-social-media
Melhuish, K.(2013). Online social networking and its impact on New Zealand educator professional learning. Master Thesis. The University of Waikato.
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WOW Manish that is an exhaustive list of online tools and experiences you have for both personal and professional reasons. I feel, like you that the opportunities that exist online for us as educators to network, collaborate, learn and pass on to our students and colleagues, far out way the possible pit-falls.
ReplyDeleteWhat we are battling in our school is that new teachers come in with an experience in another platform (we use Google tools for all our staff/student/caregiver interaction) and want to use something else that they are familiar with. We have gone fully BYOD, we have a simple set of tools to use in the classroom and online to make teaching and learning streamlined for both staff and students. We didn't want to clutter our online interactions yet at the same time we do allow individual teachers the flexibility to build on the schoolwide platform by adding the interesting stuff in their own subjects.
In your first couple of paragraphs you mention multiple apps and that is the very thing we didn't want our students to have to deal with. Yet our younger teachers seem to think the students can do it. We know they can but it appears to be at the detriment to effective learning. Some classes are spending more time learning how to put a simple website together than learning their history.
This won't always be the case especially as technology evolves further but for now our school strategy is keep social media learning tools as simple as possible for everyone.
It's a really interesting discussion to be having.
Alister
Dear Alister, Thanks for your comment. I understand the perception that using a plethora of apps may result in missing the forest for the trees - however, it is entirely dependant on the user and their understanding of the tools. For instance, initially the enthusiasm of learning and trying out newer tools may take precedence over the pedagogical value, but with help of PD and support from PLN, one can easily start filtering the most important and effective tools from the large offerings available.
ReplyDeleteAlso about the difference in platforms used across the schools - Google Suite, Office 365 and others - I would not worry too much as the students are going out in the world which runs on different platforms - some universities have Blackboard, others have Moodle and many have their own variation. Businesses run on SAP or other ERPs and that is what the students need to prepare for and us as teachers, should be preparing them for, by accepting and embracing the current situation.