Mindlab Week 29 - Online Social Networks

Week 29 - Using social online networks in teaching or professional development

Using social online networks in teaching or professional development

For this reflection, I will be using Jay and Johnstons (2002) reflective model to discuss how Online Social Networks can support and improve my daily Teaching practice.

Descriptive:

In my Hard Materials Technology class, I use Facebook clips, Youtube and Pinterest and Futureintech to support my current practice. The use of Facebook is very restrictive in my school and generally, I have download clips and then show them to my students using the whiteboard projector. The use of Youtube is very beneficial to me as it has a direct impact on how students use this website to support the practical and design component in my curriculum area.

Futureintech provides online guidance to support the NZ Technology Curriculum and it is a platform to educate me on current technology trends that are happening around New Zealand. At the moment I am using these online sites to support my teaching and my students are using these sites to gather ideas only.

Compare:

The Mindlab course has now made me look at my current practice and be introspective on what I am doing. Asking myself the following questions:

1.     What am I doing right?

2.     Is my current practice using Social Networks support and enhancing the learning of my students?

3.     What can I do differently to make better use of online social networking sites?

Al-Rahmi (2014) described Social media has been always described as the channel through which knowledge is transmitted between communities and learners. The fact that I am using Social Networks to support my practice is a positive, but I need to extend these tool to include sharing and collaboration between my students.

Getting my students to collaborate and share their ideas and Design Brief with their peers and to receive feedback will provide my students to enhance their learning experience.

Magette (2014) says, ‘Now is the time for education leaders to confront the conflict and create the potential for each school system to be an active and engaging part of the digital world.’ (pg. xv) 

Getting my students to share their learning journey on weekly bases by developing a Blog or even using Twitter to comment on their learning will provide me with valuable feedback to make changes and improve my practice. I need to accept that the Digital World is part and parcel on 21^st-century learning and I need to embrace these networking sites to provide a platform to communicate with my students.

Critical Reflection:

The time for me to be a Follower is over. I need to embrace these communication Technologies and become a Laggard. Although I am new to Twitter, I see this as a valuable tool to provide a platform to communicate and collaborate with my students. I also need to be honest and ask my students to support me with how to use Twitter. I also need to acknowledge that my students are very good at using Online Social Networks and by them teaching me, teaching and learning becomes a two-way process.

 References:

1. Jay, J. K., & Johnson, K. L. (2002). Capturing complexity: A typology of reflective practice for teacher education. Teaching and teacher education, 18(1), 73-85.

2. Magette, K. (2014). Embracing social media: a practical guide to manage risk and leverage opportunity. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.

3. W. Al-Rahmi, M. Othman, M. Musa. (2014)The improvement of students' academic performance by using social media through collaborative learning in Malaysian higher education