An Introduction to
Social Media in
Education
Presented by:
Dean Groom, Head of Educational Development Design
blog: http://deangroom.wordpress.com

Participation in this session
This presentation is about where social
media fits with learning and education.
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Seismic Shifts in the Web
• Media used to be the preserve of media
companies: newspapers, entertainment and
publishing.
• An multi-billion dollar ecosystem that created
content and delivered it to us the consumer
• We were classified, targeted and conditioned to
information being presented in familiar ways using
familiar sources

Seismic Shifts in the Web
• The www - created 15 years ago by Tim Berners
Lee, quickly out grew it’s original idea of a way to
‘find’ information.
• The web by the mid 1990s became and
information channel and attracted media
companies - who not surprisingly - created yet
more content for their consumers
• Portals, Banner Ads - the dot com boom.

The web is BIG
No one knows - it depends how you measure it
Google thinks it’s about
170 MILLION TB, which is equivalent
to about 680,000,000 computers
It also thinks if it stopped now, it would take
300 years to completely index using todays
technology and methodology.

The web is no longer - pages - but shared experiences

Edublogger Tribe
• The Edublogger community adds about 200,000
new pages a day (Technorati 2008)
• The majority of educational blog posts are not
tagged as ‘education’, so it’s impossible to tell (or
find) them all.
• Students are faced with 3 trillion to 1.
• Singularity / Authority issues when using Google to
find information.

Passive Consumers
• For over a decade, technology has become
cheaper, internet access faster and more mobile.
• Microsoft (March 2009) predicts IPTV (internet
based TV) will have higher viewing figures that
traditional TV.
• Viewing audiences for online content exceed
traditional media conduits already.
• We are no longer passive, we choose create, share
and communicate with almost no effort,
consistently and find pleasure in doing so.

Social Media
• Creates ‘tribes’ who need leaders.
• Tribal leaders need followers and a reason to be in
the tribe - a common interest/goal
• They need a way of communicating
• We like to join tribes, especially tribes that create
‘change’ - to us personally or to our society.
• Social Media - is ‘tribe enabling’ technology

Social Media is happyness
• Humans like to belong, and to feel part of
something bigger than themselves
• Participation is enjoyable - it makes people happy.
• Traditional media is one-way - offering little in the
way of participation.
• Social Media is ‘people’ driven, not ‘corporate’
driven - it needs followers and leaders as well as a
purpose and a way of communicating

Web2.0
• Is not a technology, it’s a way to differentiate the
passive internet of the www from the two way
interchange.
• Blogs, wikis, social networks, video sharing,
podcasting etc.,
• Creating, sharing, remixing, recycling information
• Forming and joining groups

Thousands of places to participate

The race to zero
• Most of Web2.0 services, networks and
applications have zero service fees use.
• Facebook connects people with thousands of
others without a service fee
• YouTube has higher viewing figures than any
traditional media network
• Hulu.com is bigger than any US TV network
• We don’t need proprietary software

Web2.0 in China

Behaviorism, cognitivism, and constructivism
are the three broad learning theories most often
used in the creation of instructional environments.

These theories, however, were developed in a time when
learning was not impacted through technology.

Informal learning is a significant aspect
of our learning experience. Formal
education no longer comprises the
majority of our learning. Learning now
occurs in a variety of ways – through
communities of practice, personal
networks, and through completion of
work-related tasks.
Siemens (2005) Connectivism: A Learning Theory for the Digital Age
http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/connectivism.htm

Connectivism
• Learning and knowledge rests in
diversity of opinions.
• Learning is a process of connecting
specialised nodes or information
sources.
• Capacity to know more is more
critical than what is currently known

Connectivism
• Nurturing and maintaining connections is needed
to facilitate continual learning. Ability to see
connections between fields, ideas, and concepts is
a core skill.
• Currency (accurate, up-to-date knowledge) is the
intent of all connectivist learning activities.

Connectivism
• Decision-making is itself a learning process.
Choosing what to learn and the meaning of
incoming information is seen through the lens of a
shifting reality. While there is a right answer now, it
may be wrong tomorrow due to alterations in the
information climate affecting the decision.

Educational Lens
• Social Media is a teaching tool
• Allows mass communication for low cost
• Is enjoyable and participatory
• Encourages self-reflection
• Develops learning networks

Educational Lens
• Is moving from proprietary to open source (free)
• Is MASSIVE with MASSIVE growth. MySpace,
YouTube, Facebook, Wikipedia
• Is faster and uses ‘people’ as the conduit for
information exchange
• Is a reaction to ‘information overload’ - creating
personal learning networks
• In converging on MOBILE technology

Social University

Where is the learning fit?
• Graduate Capabilities - the softer skills of
collaboration, co-operation, goal directed learning,
co-production.
• Curriculum Renewal - using Web2.0 as pedgogical
tools for learning
• Student Experience - connecting students with
each other and their learning
• ePortfolios - creating positive digital reputation

Extended eLearning
• More flexible delivery - iLecture + social network
• More online resources - Convenors use social
bookmarking, online presentations
• Virtual Learning Spaces - online/mobile webinars,
virtual worlds (MQ in Second Life)
• MQ driven social networks - communities of
practice - wikis, facebook etc.,
• Induction and training - video ‘how to’ combined
with LMS (Blackboard) - Competency based.

Where to start?
• The LTC take on a range of advisory capacities on
campus, and assist in the development of learning
and teaching technologies.
• Classroom and Lecture (new practices)
• Communication and Professional Learning
• Individual Staff Development
• Emerging Technology Research and Development