In
what ways has social media been used to support your engagement in professional
development?
Social media is useful for expanding
horizons – “the need to raise one’s head over the parapet is vital if teachers
are to experience the cognitive dissonance needed to reflect on their
practice,” (Melhuish, 2013, p.43).
I learn things from my personal Facebook
account due to the posts I follow, and also through Twitter and Google Plus
which I use solely for professional purposes.
I follow people or groups that I rate as innovative and use these to
find other like-minded educators. This
helps to broaden the boundaries of my professional knowledge. I have engaged in formal online learning with
forums, webinars and learning conversations in real time and these have been
genuinely collaborative. I have also
kept a professional blog for four years and a You Tube channel for about six
years.
Melhuish describes intended outcomes of
social networking to include, “resource development, enhanced knowledge
development in formal studies, professional reflection through peer mentorship
and application of learning in face-to-face educational contexts,” (2013,
p.39). I particularly engaged in this
type of intentional development when I was researching Google Apps for
Education (GAFE) when our school was first moving into this system and it was a
really good way of finding out how educators were addressing technical and
roll-out issues.
The
challenges
I find most of the social network learning
is only partially purposeful. There is
purpose in the sense of who you follow, what you search and where you interact
but often finding something challenging is just luck. Also after a while, the same ideas seem to go
round and round and it is hard to find genuinely new perspectives, so I am not
as engaged as I used to be.
One of the benefits of social networking
is being able to communicate asynchronously.
This means it is often done at unsociable hours when one is only partially
committed to deep thinking and personal challenge. Synchronous, more socially acceptable,
timings often conflict with other professional commitments and so social
networking for learning gets a more superficial engagement. Melhuish writes, “Rarely did the activities
of the educators critique teachers’ theories-in-use, create dissonance or
challenge like-minded network members,” (2013, p.39). I think this sort of practice requires deep
trust and commitment and can be misread in a text-only space.
Social media can be am inhibitor of
change. Some collaborative sites may be
great resource banks but teachers can pick up fancy-looking resources thinking
they’re finding something new and innovative but are actually only rehashing
traditional teacher-driven practice. “Just because one is sharing information in a
social network site does not mean that the comments one provides are
theory-driven or particularly formative in ways that impact on practice.”
(McLoughlin & Lee, 2010, cited in Melhuish, 2013, p.39). I think there is truth in this and sometimes
for me the function of social media has been to reveal new ideas or trends that
I want to follow up further but will follow up by finding more academic, trustworthy
sources or discussing with colleagues.
How
are you going to address the challenges?
Social networking is a sampling of what is
“out there” and what you might need to be aware of in order to continue to grow
your practice and meet every-changing educational needs. I think there’s a place for social networking
for professional development. It can be
the impetus that leads to deep change, but I don’t believe it’s a medium for
deep challenge and change in itself.
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...
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