Social Media Tools

This week our focus has been on social media and in particular the use of blogs. During this we had the opportunity to create our own blogs which was something completely new to me and something which I have quite enjoyed looking at and learning about. Due to the fact I could not make the input on Monday I have had some challenges working out how to create my blog and get it up and running but through collaborating with others I was able to learn from them how to do different things . I also had the opportunity to explore the different features independently at home and was able to learn a lot from doing both of these. This idea of collaborative learning is one which is referred to by Vygotsky (1978) (cited in Pollard, 2008) and his view of social constructivism. Through this he argues that individuals have opportunities to learn more through working with others than they would if they worked on their own. Through working with others in the class and communicating with them I was able to see social constructivism in action so could see the benefits from this however independently exploring the website beforehand also gave me opportunities I feel to learn things on my own which I did not have to consult with other people about.

As I did not make the session on Monday I decided to engage in some reading to find out more about social media and how it can be used.

"And as we all know, when a teacher believes in what she is doing and is confident in her tools, well it rubs off on even the most resistant students. As reflective research-teachers, we must continue to circle back and look at how what we do ties into our long-term educational goals. (Ganley, 2004a) (cited in Richardson, 2006, p.45).

Reflecting upon this I learned that it is important that we as teachers evaluate what we have learned and think about things in order to encourage those we teach to do the same also. Experiencing this can allow us to develop ourselves as professionals through looking at what we have learned and how we can use this in other contexts. In addition to this we can also get a sense of how the children may feel when they are asked to evaluate themselves and their learning allowing us to give them the appropriate support and encouragement.

From this I recognise the benefits of social media tools like blogs which can allow you to look back on something you have done and consider how well you did and what you gained from these experiences. However in doing this I recoginse the challenges in reflecting continually and making the time to do so to allow you to reflect fully on an experience when it is fresh in your mind. You also have to look at experiences critically and break them down to ensure you evaluate fully what you have done. This is something which I think may be difficult to do but I am going to focus on developing throughout the elective.

Other social media tools which I am aware of and use personally include the use of social networking. This can be done through Facebook, twitter and so fourth. The main one I use is Facebook which I think is useful for communicating with others which can gain instant response through Facebook chat and the opportunity to create group pages where you can share ideas and organise events. Part of this also involves creating your own profile which you can personalise as you wish. Although there are benefits recoginsed from using these types of social media tools through the opportunties to collaborate and share with others there can also be issues with social networking. On sites such as Facebook people can upload any photos or material they like. This could be inappropriate but it is still possible for people to access it. This along with cyber-bullying and using false identities can all be issues when using social networking so it is important if using this with children you make sure it is appropriate and is monitored carefully.

References

Pollard, A. (2008) Reflective teaching (3^rd ed.) London: Continuum.

Richardson, W. (2006) Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms. London: SAGE Publications Ltd.