Week 29 - PRACTICE: Professional Online Social Networks

Descriptive

My biggest shift in Social Media use has been my professional learning through social networking on Google +, from the sharing of our in-class experiences across NZ, and the rich discussions that have occurred as we engage in this Mindlab journey together. I have also crossed the great divide and connected with the global Hapara Educator Google + community in order to upskill myself in the creation/management of my digital classroom. My next step could be to jointly collaborate on a project outside my immediate environment (Starkey, 2012); possibly something a bit more meaningful for me intellectually than the Zooniverse projects I have simply contributed to.

Comparative

Using the Social Media Tool Survey highlighted for me that I seem to be stuck using the same old tools I am familiar with and that these are very similar to the ones almost everyone else seems to be using. The highest percentages were for tools such as social and content networking, blogging and video (Solis, 2018); perhaps given the nature of our roles and participation in this course, that isn’t all that surprising. However, what will we do to extend ourselves and maintain this connectivity once the course draws to a close? To abide by the principles of connectivism (Siemens, 2004), and continue this journey, I need to find a way to nurture the connections I have made and continue to make more. If 45% of teachers are leaving the profession at the end of their fifth year (Graziano, 2005, cited in Whitaker, Zoul & Casas, 2015), and some of this is attributed to teacher feelings of isolation, increased connectivity across our profession seems of paramount importance, particularly in the current N.Z. climate of teacher shortage. Whitaker et al. (2015), highly recommend the use of Twitter to connect with other educators and outline a process of following others, finding useful learning resources and taking specific steps to build your Twitter profile within one month; they do however counter that we must all invest in ourselves by taking the time to set this up - it doesn’t happen by itself.

Critical Reflection

Keeping the teacher employment findings of Graziano (2005, cited in Whitaker, Zoul & Casas, 2015) in mind, Whitaker et al. (2015), actually present a strong case for the use of Twitter as a basis from which to develop a personal or professional learning network. The ability to instantly connect with other educators who are pursuing the very best in education for their learners, and for themselves, is way too tantalising to ignore. Sure, we will need to exercise caution and not simply grab on to every idea that looks interesting but this is something we already manage as we ensure our teachers are not overloaded by every new initiative that comes our way. If we continue to ensure the initiatives we put in place are research-based and fundamentally sound, we literally have the world at our fingertips. If I'm brutally honest, I had always relegated Twitter to the business world...my initial forays have, thus far, proved me wrong.

References

Siemens, G. (2004). Connectivism: A Learning Theory for the Digital Age. eLearnSpace. Retrieved from http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/connectivism.htm

Solis, B. (2018). The Conversation Prism. Retrieved from: https://conversationprism.com/

Starkey, L. (2012). Teaching and Learning in the Digital Age. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge.

Whitaker, T., Zoul, J., & Casas, J. (2015). What connected educators do differently. New York, NY: Routledge.