Why social networking experiences are crucial for teachers
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Joan E. Hughes, Ph.D.Follow
Nov. 17, 2014•0 likes•1,230 views
Why social networking experiences are crucial for teachers
Nov. 17, 2014•0 likes•1,230 views
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This was an invited presentation for Concordia University Texas, presented on November 13, 2014. Please click "Notes" to see generally what I said for each slide. Article Reference: Hughes, J. E., Ko, Y., Lim, M. , & Liu, S. (In Press.) Preservice teachers’ social networking use, concerns, and educational possibilities: Trends from 2008-2012. Journal of Technology and Teacher Education Abstract of the paper this presentation is based upon: This four-year, cross-sectional study, situated in one U.S. university, investigated 206 preservice teachers’ use of social network services (SNS) in teacher preparation and their disposition toward using it in their future teaching. Using descriptive survey methodology, results revealed nearly all preservice teachers used a general SNS (e.g., Facebook), but about 40% never read blogs, wrote blogs, or read wikis; about 90% never wrote wikis, and about 80% never read/wrote Twitter. SNS users consumed/read more content than created and/or shared. Use of SNS for professional activities rose from 7% to 22%. Trends indicated general SNS (e.g., Facebook) and Twitter use was mostly personal, while reading blogs, wikis, and writing blogs was equally personal and educational, and writing wikis was mostly educational. The majority of these preservice teachers put “a lot” of restrictions on their SNS accounts. The likelihood that preservice teachers felt they would use social networking in their future teaching became less likely. Discussion (a) examines how teacher education programs prepare new teachers as learners and designers of new technologies and (b) describes a sequence of SNS experiences that may develop preservice teachers as learners, designers, and ultimately connected educators.
Joan E. Hughes, Ph.D.Follow
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Why social networking experiences are crucial for teachers
- 1. Why social networking experiences are crucial for teachers Joan E. Hughes Associate Professor of Learning Technologies The University of Texas at Austin joanh@austin.utexas.edu @techedges
- 2. Sharing • Who are you? • Why did you come today? • What do you think of social networking in education?
- 3. Digital Native ?
- 5. 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 2008-2009 2009-2010 2010-2011 2011-2012 Preservice Teacher Use: Social Networking Sites (%) Multiple times per day Daily Weekly Monthly Never
- 6. Academic Year SNS Types 2008-2009 2009-2010 2010-2011 2011-2012 Preservice Teachers Reporting Use (%) Facebook 96.9 100.0 100.0 100.0 MySpace 32.8 13.5 7.5 0.0 LinkedIn 6.3 8.1 10.0 11.1 Pinteresta - - - 72.7
- 7. 100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 2008-2009 2009-2010 2010-2011 2011-2012 Preservice Teachers' Use of Social Networking (%) Stay in touch w friends Plan or invite people to events Find out more about people Make new friends Find someone to date Respond to site advertisements
- 8. 100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 2008-2009 2009-2010 2010-2011 2011-2012 Preservice Teachers ' Use of Social Networking (%) Share photos, music, videos, other work Communicate with classmates (course-related) Participate in special interest groups To express my opinions For professional activities (e.g., job networking) To learn from others Communicate with instructors (course-related)
- 9. 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 2008-2009 2009-2010 2010-2011 2011-2012 Preservice Teacher Use: Read Blog (%) Multiple times per day Daily Weekly Monthly Never
- 10. 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 2008-2009 2009-2010 2010-2011 2011-2012 Preservice Teacher Use: Write Blog (%) Multiple times per day Daily Weekly Monthly Never
- 11. 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 2008-2009 2009-2010 2010-2011 2011-2012 Preservice Teacher Use: Read Wiki (%) Multiple times per day Daily Weekly Monthly Never
- 12. 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 2008-2009 2009-2010 2010-2011 2011-2012 Preservice Teacher Use: Write Wiki (%) Multiple times per day Daily Weekly Monthly Never
- 13. 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 2011-2012 Preservice Teacher Use: Read Twitter (%) Multiple times per day Daily Weekly Monthly Never
- 14. 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 2011-2012 Preservice Teacher Use: Write Twitter (%) Multiple times per day Daily Weekly Monthly Never
- 15. 7.00 6.00 5.00 4.00 3.00 2.00 1.00 2008-2009 2009-2010 2010-2011 2011-2012 Use: Personal (1) to Educational (7) Academic Year Read blog Write blog Read wiki Write wiki Participate in social networking sites
- 16. 25% Teachers who report their undergraduate teacher education program helped prepare them to effectively use education technology for instruction to a moderate or major extent. (Gray, Thomas, & Lewis, 2010)
- 17. #1: Be A Model for SNS Integration The lack of experience and focus on sharing, posting, writing, and expressing may limit these preservice teachers’ understandings of multi-modal and collaborative expression.
- 18. Teachers who use blogs and/or wikis “sometimes or often” in classroom teaching (Gray, Thomas, & Lewis, 2010) 16% 8% Teachers who use social networking websites “sometimes or often” in classroom teaching
- 19. #2: Be A Connected Educator Teachers “who [are] constructing knowledge, collaborating, and interacting with professionals all over the world and developing networks to deepen understanding.” (Wong, 2013, p. 33)
- 24. #3: Develop Digital Literacy for Professional Preservation
- 27. What to do? (as a teacher educator) 1. Closed SNS activity 2. PK-12 Classroom case studies of SNS 3. Open SNS activity Use these to scaffold preservice teachers as SNS learners or as teacher/designers
- 28. Experience #1 Teacher-led, curricular-focused learning experience in closed SNS
- 29. Experience #2 K-12 or informal education-based SNS teaching cases
- 30. Experience #3 Learner-centered, curricular-focused learning experiences in open SNS
- 31. What to do? (as a preservice teacher) 1. Attend to SNS opportunities during your education 2. Start considering SNS and the role(s) they play in teaching and learning 3. Participate in Connected Educator month
- 32. References Gray, L., Thomas, N., & Lewis, L. (2010). Teachers' use of educational technology in U.S. public schools: 2009 (NCES 2010-040). National Center for Education Statistics, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education: Washington, DC. Wong, T. (2013). Meeting needs: Are you connected? School Library Monthly, 29(8), 33-34.
- 33. Photo Attributions Slide 3: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cuddling_with_multiple_devices.jpg Slide 4: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Social_networking_services.jpg Slide 5, 7, 8: http://jannyjanjan.deviantart.com/art/Sagalow-Social-Media-Icon-Pack- 158165248 Slide 9, 10: By User:ZyMOS http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ABlogger.svg Slide 11, 12: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wiki_Logo.png Slide 13, 14: https://g.twimg.com/Twitter_logo_blue.png Slide 20: http://connectededucator.org Slide 23: http://ning.com ; http://elgg.org; http://edmodo.com Slide 24: http://iste.org Slide 25: http://iste.org ; http://ncssnetwork.ning.com; http://connectededucators.org
- 34. Questions This presentation’s content is based upon the forthcoming article: Hughes, J. E., Ko, Y., Lim, M. , & Liu, S. (In Press.) Preservice teachers’ social networking use, concerns, and educational possibilities: Trends from 2008-2012. Journal of Technology and Teacher Education. Slides available: http://www.slideshare.net/joanhughes/ @techedges (twitter)
Editor's Notes
- Since we are a community of educators gathered here, please take a moment now to introduce yourself to your neighbors: who are you? Why did you come tonight? What do you think of social networking in education? 1 MINUTE: I hope you shared some initial thoughts or past experiences with social networking. Having that fresh in your mind may draw you into the ideas I’ll share today. How many of you are preservice teachers? Teacher educators? Others?
- A lot of assumptions are made regarding youths’ expertise with technologies. Marc Prensky coined the term “Digital Natives” which aimed to situate those people who grew up with digital technologies as inherently having sophisticated technical skills because of such exposure.. My research in PK-12 schools and in preservice teacher education has revealed far less technological expertise than what the general public ASSUMES or HEARS through general media stories Overall, I reject the idea of digital natives and push for equitable technological education experiences when it may advance learning and teaching in transformative ways. While people may have exposure to technology, they may not have any expertise in designing educational uses for the technologies they use personally. Today I’ll argue that preservice teachers are not ‘digital natives’ in terms of their sophistication of use of social networking technologies. My data emerges from a multi-year study of preservice teachers’ technological experiences – the survey was administered just a few weeks prior to these preservice teachers’ graduation. Slide Attribution: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cuddling_with_multiple_devices.jpg
- This picture connotes the possible digital and analog landscape of learners today. According to researchers (danah boyd and nicole ellision), Social Networking Technologies involve the use of “web-based services that to (a) construct a public or semi-public profile within a bounded system, (b) articulate a list of other users with whom they share a connection, and (c) view and traverse their list of connections and those made by others within the system” (boyd & ellison, 2008, p. 211) Examples of social networking technologies include: Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+, instagram, Flickr, Youtube, skype, twitter, and blogs and wikis when they involve a user network or connections. But how much are preservice teachers engaging in social networking? I will share some data to give you a sense. Source: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Social_networking_services.jpg
- First, we asked preservice teachers about their general SNS use – which could include a lot of different technologies. Across these years, MOST (about 95% or more) preservice teachers indicated they were using SNS. Abut 60% were using SNS several times a day.
- More specifically, we found that a majority of preservice teachers used Facebook and Pinterest (in 2012) MySpace use declined to 0% by 2012. LinkedIn showed modest increases in use across time but still only 11% of these preservice teachers are using these SNS by their graduation. Let’s turn to what they are doing on SNS platforms.
- OF THE PRESERVICE TEACHERS WHO REPORTED USING SNS FOR ANY AMOUNT (B/W 90-95% EACH YEAR), This graph breaks down the trends in preservice teachers’ use of SNS for social and personal activities. From 2008 to 2012, all SNS users used it to “stay in touch with friends.” Their use of SNS for other personal activities generally maintained at the same level except for “making new friends,” (the fourth bar) which had a small increase across the years.
- Again, OF THE PRESERVICE TEACHERS WHO REPORTED USING SNS FOR ANY AMOUNT (B/W 90-95% EACH YEAR), This graph breaks down the trends in preservice teachers’ use of SNS use for learning, communicating, and sharing activities. Increasing percentages of SNS users “sharing photos, music, videos, other work” from 2008 to 2011, but this activity decreased in 2012. Increasing percentage of SNS users “communicating with classmates” increased each year to 94% of users in 2012. A much lower percentage of preservice teacher SNS users, generally between 5-20%, “participated in special interest groups,” “expressed my opinions,” “used for professional activities,” “learned from others,” and “communicated with instructors.” There was an increase in SNS use “for professional activities” (the 5th bar) from 7% to 22% of preservice teachers between 2008 and 2012. Less than 10% of preservice teacher SNS users used it to “communicate with instructors.” SLIDE Next we’ll look more specialized SNS like blogs, wikis, twitter Attribution: http://jannyjanjan.deviantart.com/art/Sagalow-Social-Media-Icon-Pack-158165248
- In terms of blogging, Between 3-34% of these preservice teachers NEVER READ BLOGS. About 50% of these preservice teachers READ BLOGS Weekly or more often. Except that drops to 30% in 2012.
- There’s a big difference when you consider WRITING/COMMENTING ON BLOGS. A much larger percentage (40%) had NEVER wrote/commented on blogs. Only about 20% of these preservice teachers frequently (weekly or more) wrote/commented on blogs http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ABlogger.svg By User:ZyMOS [Public domain or Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
- Now we turn to WIKI READING. About 40%-60% never read wiki; http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wiki_Logo.png
- IN TERMS OF WRITING ON WIKIS, An overwhelming 75-95% of preservice teachers had never written on a wiki. And wikis are a collaborative, knowledge-building tool Those preservice teachers who had contributed to wikis did so very infrequently, at a “weekly” or “monthly” frequency. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wiki_Logo.png
- My study began asking about Twitter use in 2011. In that year, a majority(74%) of preservice teachers “never” read Twitter. Of the 26% of preservice teachers who read Twitter, they did so mostly at a “monthly” frequency level. https://g.twimg.com/Twitter_logo_blue.png
- Likewise, most preservice teachers (80%) never wrote on Twitter. Those who did either wrote at a monthly or multiple times / day frequency. https://g.twimg.com/Twitter_logo_blue.png
- This graph shows how the preservice teachers perceived SNS as being more for PERSONAL or EDUCATIONAL purposes. The red line represents equally personal/educational. Preservice teachers felt SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES and TWITTER (not on this graph b/c it was only one year data) were used for MORE PERSONAL USE. [Twitter perceived their use to be completely for personal purposes, with a mean score of 1.0. for 1 year] Reading and Writing blogs shifted over time from a more personal activity to an activity for both personal and educational. reading a wiki was consistently perceived as an equally personal and educational activity between 2008-2012, Those who wrote on wikis perceived that activity to be both educ/personal in 2008, but that perception shifted to the task being perceived as overwhelmingly educational by 2012 So what will happen when these teachers enter the teaching profession?
- only 25% of teachers report that their undergraduate teacher education program helped prepare them to effectively use education technology for instruction to a moderate or major extent (Gray, Thomas, & Lewis, 2010a). In terms of social networking technologies, It’s possible that the preservice teachers are not doing much thinking about how these technologies could be used in education – general SNS and twitter is used all personally. There’s more hope for the specialized SNS like blogs and wikis but fewer preservice teachers did these activities in the first place. WOULD YOU feel that your teacher education program helped prepare you to effectively use SNS educ tech? Reflect upon that… I will share three reasons why PRESERVICE TEACHERS need better preparation around SNS technologies. SLIDE Change: Novice teachers are going to need to model SNS integration
- To be able to make wise choices for using these tools in K-12 schools MEANS preservice teachers need to have content-rich, generative experiences that help them see the ways it can be used to support teaching and learning. Preservice teachers in my data revealed little specialized-SNS use experience (twitter, wiki), primarily a consumption-orientation to SNS activities, and mostly personal uses of SNS. These results may mean preservice teachers do not have substantive preparatory experiences AS A LEARNER to develop SNS-specific knowledge to support DESIGN decisions AS A TEACHER regarding SNS in and for their future instruction (Carter, 1990). If you think others will mentor new Ts, think again.
- We desperately NEED leaders and risk-takers that can push schools to use these tools when it supports teaching and learning! Mentoring from veteran teachers at your future school sites will be slim given how that 16% of teachers report using blogs or wikis ‘sometimes or often’ and only 8% use SNS ‘sometimes or often’ . New teachers will need to lead. New teachers will need to be connected educators
- Teachers have begun to develop themselves into connected educators “who [are] constructing knowledge, collaborating, and interacting with professionals all over the world and developing networks to deepen understanding” (Wong, 2013, p. 33). Educators who use social technologies for professional learning are called connected educators - they learn, collaborate, interact with professionals to understand and innovate. There are 3 ways that connected education can happen moves from the local to the global. 1. teachers can learn in PLCs. 2. Teaches can develop their personal networks connecting to selected people or organizations they respect and want to learn from through social technologies , such as Twitter, Facebook, wiki, Pinterest, listservs, blogging, digital porftolios, podcasting 3. they can join global communities of practices. SUCH as formal communities like National Council for Social Studies Ning Community or the National Council for Teachers of English online forums. I’m sure the organizations you are part of have connected opportunities. Becoming a connected educator facilitates teachers joining the online participatory culture in which they engage in sharing and creating in addition to consuming. Here are some examples…
- Here are some examples of ways teachers are taking responsibility for their own learning as a connected educator. First, we have the Connectededucator.org site. Every October is connected educator month which curates activities each day. Obviously, it continues beyond October, as here is an event you could be at right now instead of here and a few more later on today.
- Second, professional organizations – like National Council of Teachers for English – sponsor all sorts of ways teachers can become connected with each other.
- Third, twitter is really a space educators have begun to appreciate and use. Here I searched the hashtag (which is like a keyword) #edtechchat; this is people who chat about educational technology. You can see some people are noting events occurring.
- Second I searched the hashtag #makerspace – which is all the rage recently. As a teacher, you might wonder, what is a makerspace? Well, twitter could be your first spot to check in with. Here’s what you’d see – a link to a blog post about maker spaces launching creative thinking; 20+ maker space resources; info on a school who is creating a makerspace; and a picture of a 1st grade maker space intro. Cool things to investigate.
- More experience with social networking as a preservice teacher should help broaden understandings of appropriate professional use for social networking. We are all learning these digital literacy skills for what I call professional preservation. Just on Monday, a Texas teacher was suspended after a racially-inappropriate tweet she made.
- Earlier this year, other teachers have been fired for simply being Facebook friends with their students.
- And another Ohio teacher posted another culturally insensitive and racial slur-filled tweet. So I’ve outlined 3 reasons why I think preservice teachers need more exposure to social networking during their preparation programs #1 so they can be models for excellence in SNS integration #2 to be connected educators, and #3 to develop digital literacy for professional preservation. Yet, my research indicated few preservice teachers were using these SNS tools, much less using them to professional learn. To prepare preservice teachers as leaders, connected educators, and professionals, teacher education must expand its practices. So, now I’ll turn briefly to describe a 3-step pedagogy that could be implemented to developmentally introduce social networking experiences within a teacher education program.
- First, teacher educators may design teacher-led, curricular-focused SNS learning experiences in closed SNS (e.g., Ning, Elgg, Edmodo). for example– in a children’s literature course book talk in a blog could call them to engage in reader response (Colwell et al., 2012 . This experience targets the preservice teacher as a learner in which they use features of a closed SNS to learn. This can also be done in typical university online learning management systems though they don’t always appear like social sites. A closed SNS allows for community-building, experimentation, mistakes, and failures (for the instructor and the learner) with low-risks as no data is publically available. Ning and Edmodo are subscription based social tools while elgg is an open source SNS that could be hosted at your university. Together, the instructor and learners should explicitly reflect upon such SNS experiences to articulate how the SNS did or did not contribute to instruction and learning. Elgg: open source social networking engine Edmodo: online classes “appeal of social network”
- Second, teacher educators can include K-12 or informal education-based SNS teaching cases in the preservice curriculum. Cases could be practitioner-based articles (such as ISTE’s Learning and Leading with Technology in Education), guest speakers (other connected educators), field-based observations, or narrative or video cases. For example, the NY Times did a couple pieces on connected learning, one of which profiles 35 different connected learning activities that teachers submitted. For example, Diana Laufenberg | Science Leadership Academy told of lesson: “During the State of the Union address I asked my students to watch, take notes and come to class prepared to have a discussion. I then offered them a variety of pathways to have a dynamic and connected conversation. The ability for the students to choose from a closed chatroom, an I.M. or a hashtagged Twitter chat invited them to select a version of communication that suited them best. Additionally, being able to connect us all, while we all sat in our living rooms, dramatically increased their understanding of the content, process and function.” These experiences target the preservice teacher as teacher and designer. Again, the teacher educator and preservice teachers should explicitly reflect upon such SNS cases to determine (a) how the social technology did or did not contribute to instruction and learning and (b) how the lesson might be redesigned for improvement. as illustrated in Mikulec (2012). They read articles about in-service teachers ranging from dismissals b/c of inappropriate content, to privacy discussion, to emerging school policies.
- Third, teacher educators can design learner-centered, curricular-focused learning experiences in open SNS (e.g., Twitter, FaceBook, professionally-sponsored SNS) such as ISTE’s Young educator network, NCSS’s ning site, or the connected educator.org site. These experiences again situate the preservice teacher as a learner in which they engage with the teaching profession and begin to develop into a connected educator. These are open and therefore public sites. Preservice teachers could participate within open social sites as lurkers (i.e., observing, reading, watching), participants (i.e., posting, communicating), or leaders (i.e., organizing an event). October is “Connected Educator Month” during which hundreds of organizations crowd-source free professional learning opportunities, most of which involve online social technologies. So this triad of experiences could be implemented in Colleges of Education and contribute towards developing preservice teacher graduates (new teachers) who have connected learning experiences that position them as connected educators in their new schools. A formidable challenge exists in enacting this suggested sequence of learning experiences for reshaping teacher education toward connected learning: teacher educators must develop knowledge and experiences to design, scaffold, and model these experiences (Mallia, 2013).
- As a preservice teacher, you might be like those in my study and not have a lot of educationally-relevant SNS experiences. I’m not letting you off the hook – you can start attending to and reflecting upon your experiences in a more critical way by: Paying attention to SNS opportunities during your education. What are you being asked to do? How does it contribute to teaching and learning? Start considering SNS and the role(s) they play in teaching and learning. What MIGHT you do with SNS technologies in your own learning? How might that translate into a PK-12 learning context? Participate in Connected Educator month. It may be a learning curve but at least try to see what it’s all about.