Week 30 - Social Networking

Me, myself and social media 

I am an avid user of social media. Avid may be putting it lightly as I use it way more than I'd like to admit. It has become a habit. Facebook, twitter, snapchat and instagram have become so much a part of my daily life that I do wonder about what effects it has on me and often think a 'technology holiday' might do me some good. Alas, it's a 'work on' for me and one that it in the hard basket for now. 

Most of my consumption of social media is for purely personal use. However, there are also some that I use for professional development - mostly twitter. I made a decision early into my twitter adventure that I would keep twitter for my professional use and other social media for personal use. I keep the two very separate and have a love/hate relationship with twitter as a result. 

There are times when I have used twitter daily for professional development. I built up a network of teachers (or a PLN) and regularly engaged in a variety of different 'chats'. I shared resources, grabbed ideas and engaged in meaningful conversations. For me, it usually leads to an unhealthy amount of time spent scrolling through ideas and blogs, consuming information at a rate that is probably too high for me to really consolidate and make positive use from. 

In this weeks' reading (a section (p.36-44) of the literature review in Melhuish’s master’s thesis) Melhuish (2013) found that there are a vast range of benefits, or affordances to the use of social media for teachers:

1.    Enables collaboration between teachers

2.    Encourages connectivity and openness 

3.    Allows information sharing 

4.    Provides platforms to generate new knowledge

5.    Allows teachers to co-ordinate resources and access a range of different perspectives.

For me, it was mostly about connecting with others and getting their perspectives. Seeing what they had tried, sharing what I had tried and voicing some ideas and gaining feedback on those. It is important that members of these online communities contribute and share their ideas in order to get the most out of their participation. Some users are merely described as 'lurkers', those who are just interested in consuming information, rather than sharing. It is pointed out that this is not without some benefits, 'it is not non-learning'. I found that on twitter other members of the community got frustrated with 'lurkers'. Feeling that they were taking without 'payment' of their own contribution. Some of the more regular contributors were given access to group dropboxes or google drives for the means of sharing resources, BUT only if contributions were seen to be made. 

Whilst the benefits are varied, they do not come without some obvious limitations. Some of which I have listed below: 

1. Lack of quality control
2. Poorly thought through ideas
3. Privacy issues
4. Message control
5. Management of information overflow

Personally, I eluded to my biggest limitation above; management of information overflow. I found that there was just so much information out there that I struggled to process it all and find what was best. Prior to my Mind Lab studies I think that I also didn't pay much attention to what was 'well-evidenced' either. I liked anecdotal success stories and tales of how teachers had turned around whole classes of disaffected youths with one simple task or strategy. We all like a success story, but for me I think I have realised the importance of understanding the 'why'. 

Ok, so this teacher tried this and it worked/didn't work. Why/why not? 

What do I know, or could I find out that might support my understanding? 

I hope that having a more focused approach in the future might help me to better utilise social media and help me avoid my current thinking - that twitter is often just a place for people to 'show off' their successes - and help me to see the bigger picture, warts and all.  

References:

Melhuish, K.(2013). Online social networking and its impact on New Zealand educators’ professional learning. Master Thesis. The University of Waikato. Retrieved on 05 May, 2015 from http://researchcommons.waikato.ac.nz/bitstream/han...