Social Networks & Education

Social Media is such a big business, education cannot ignore it.

Echo Chamber

• You select what you want to read about it
• You make critical decisions on what you want to experience
• Your stream of blogs and microblogs
• The forums you want to be in
• You select the information based on who you trust

How students gain information

• How adults and youth gain information and use information is different
• Teens (54%) get news from social media
• More and more adults get news from social media, however, many feel this is a problem and are concerned by the mix of news that people see each day.
• Teachers use social media to get new teaching ideas, find resources, stay on top of trends and news and connect with other educators

Cybersafety is a major concern facing schools

• Teachers & schools need a social media strategy
• Strategies to increase learning engagement
• Strategies for inclusion
• Strategies for co-creation
• Strategies to protect student and teacher identity

Social media is an ecosystem

• It changes rapidly
• It is complex
• It is about people interacting with people
• It is about clear communication
• It requires cognitive input
• It is about influencing other people
• It is about networks

The challenge

• Enabling collaboration based assessment
• The classroom is about interaction, not the individual 
• The rapid change from one social media to the next
• Use of personal accounts
• Engineering dynamic feedback loops
• The learning shift is not the technical use but the actual communication

Teacher Role

• The teacher is not the facilitator
• The teacher is the change agents
• Teach participation
• Stimulate communication and collaboration
• Teach diversity of information
• Teach how to seek, receive and apply feedback
• Teach how to produce creative solutions

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