Using social media in education for classroom teaching, student learning, and educator professional development
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Authors
Laird, Tabitha
Date
2014-05-27
Type
project
Language
en
Keyword
Social Media , Education , Teaching , Learning , Professional Development
Alternative Title
Abstract
The ubiquity of social media in today's highly connected society has brought about changes in our teaching and learning. Although there are negative aspects associated with increased connectivity through social media applications, there are also many positive characteristics of social media, which have the positional to engage students in a quality learning environment. Social media promote a sense of community through networking, the co-construction of knowledge through collaboration, and individualized spaces where learning can be differentiated to cater to a variety of learning needs. There are, however, issues surrounding media literacy and accessibility that must be addressed for social media to be effectively incorporated in education. Educator professional development on social media must also be adopted as some educators remain unfamiliar and uncomfortable with these emerging technologies.
This project includes a literature review of research pertaining to the positive uses of social media, the societal concerns, potential uses of social media in the classroom, and educator professional development. The product of this project presents sample blog posts to demonstrate both how educators can use social media (in this case, blog posts), and discusses through the blog posts uses of social media in the classroom and issues educators may encounter in relation to social media adoption.
The final reflection concludes the project and addresses my own social media use for personal and professional purposes, and my barriers to learning in relation to social media usage. Overall, however, findings suggest that social media have the potential to provide opportunities for teaching and learning in a formal educational setting.