Intro to Social Media In Education

Intro to Social Media In Education - Presentation Transcript

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. Please add comments on the Etherpad. • This presentation is http://www.slideshare.net/pmhs/intro-to-social-media-in-education • Participate in this presentation - http://etherpad.com/qIr8DAI590

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