Social Media in Learning Research

For this weeks module we were asked to curated research of social networking in learning environments. I chose to create my curation on a Pinterest board which can be found here. At first I began my focus with high school journalism as I will be advising our school newspaper this upcoming school year. However, I quickly became frustrated with the lack of variety in content I was able to find when conducting research, so I decided to revert back to home base: English 9.

I found this experience to be more powerful than I originally anticipated. I think part of my surprise came from the number of ideas for social media use in the classroom that I had yet to hear about or experience. We often get to a point in our teaching where we think we have heard it all and ask, “What could possibly be left out there?” Yet, this is why reading the testimonies of other English teachers around the globe is so beneficial. I read several blogs, articles, and journals that discussed specific classrooms and teachers. Often times these artifacts would reveal how the educator implemented the social media use in the classroom and highlighted the ups and downs of the process.

I particularly appreciated those sources that emphasized what an important tool social media can be in conjunction with student voice. I was recently part of the #21stedchat Twitter chat and this was our prime topic. How do we develop an environment where students take ownership of their learning? Where they feel empowered? Where they feel their voice matters? Two particular activities stood out. One involves a teacher that uses Twitter to create instantaneous class discussion. Now the teacher isn’t 100% dependent upon Twitter to fuel the discussion, but uses it as a platform to begin engaging students and gain full class participation. She discussed how the initial engagement then lowered student’s affective filters and led to their actual speaking in the discussion. The second activity that I found interesting was the concept of turning journal entries into blog entries. Her students were able to share their thoughts with the world, and those that though their voice didn’t matter found value.

From a “big idea” perspective I believe that I learned social media is a phenomenal resource, but the educator is a MUST in the teaching environment. Despite all the good things social media offers, it isn’t effective in education without a strong, organized leader behind the use. Thus, teachers need to become educated and familiar with the tools. Moreover, they must study effective management of student interaction with social media.

Please note that within my curation are links to sources found in the ProQuest database. In order to access these sources students need to login to ProQuest, sign-in with their Boise State accounts, and find the journal by searching the title. Also, note that the description for each source is embedded in each pin on Pinterest.