From Isolation to Innovation: Social Media's Role in Professional Learning

 Photo Credit: theeducatorsroom.com

Many studies and journal entries have been written about teacher feeling like they are teaching on "Islands" of isolation with in their school.  It is true, from a teacher point of view, once the newness of the year wears off, we seclude ourselves to our own routines.  Year after year we do the same routines and rituals.  Every once in a while we attend a mandated PD in which we see other adults but all in all, our students are our reality.

Professional Learning Communities (PLC) or Professional Learning Networks (PLN) maybe the answer.  

Daniel Krutka in his 2016 article Published in TechTrends (Click here for Article) elaborates on the key features such as People, Spaces, and Tools that are needed in order to form a PLC framework. Krutka hits on one specific detail that is often times over looked by administration:   

"If PLNs become seen as a top-down requirement, rather than a learner-driven endeavor, they will likely lose much of their appeal in the eyes of educators."

This is a difficult process for administrators.  It takes an administrator to become vulnerable in front of their teachers and do the work along side their teachers for a bottom-up change to be implemented from a PLC. 

But what if we could get around all of that?  What if we could put administrators and teachers on the same level, having the same conversations, doing the same work with out the distraction of hierarchy? 

Venessa Dennen in her 2009 article about online Alter Egos (Click here for Article) finds that at least in the blogosphere even with pseudonyms the bloggers become what their audience expects.  

What if, through the anonymity of pseudonyms and the technology advances of social media, online PLN and PLC's could put all levels of admin and teachers in the same place, doing the same important work? 

Beyond the Likes: Unpacking Facebook and Instagram Demographics for Educators

 

Photo Credit: Cyfuture.com

As we ease into the various topics of social media platforms, my mind wandered a bit.  I reflected on something my student recently said, "I bet you still use Facebook like my Grandma."  That one cut straight to my soul ! How could a student who knows my background and current Masters program accuse me of being old just because of my choice of social media platforms.  I began to ponder this statement...Is there published data by either company that indicates that old people use Facebook more than other platforms? 

Am I missing the boat by not engaging in "younger" learner platforms? 

Apparently, the young student was right...but what I found was far more intersting than just an age gap!

Check out the article in SproutSocial by Mahnoor Sheikh titled "Social Media Demographics to Inform your 2025 Strategy"

Take a look at the demographics of your favorite platform and leave a comment below about what surprised you the most! 

Here are a couple of take aways I never would have expected:

 

Photo Credit: SproutSocial.com

What is the most used social media by age?

• 18-29 years – YouTube (93%), Instagram (76%), Facebook (68%), Snapchat (65%)

• 30-49 years – YouTube (94%), Facebook (78%), Instagram (66%), Pinterest (43%)

• 50-64 years – YouTube (86%), Facebook (70%), Instagram (36%), LinkedIn (30%)

• 65+ – YouTube (65%), Facebook (59%), Pinterest (22%), Instagram (19%

RSS: The Social Media Super Power Your Not Using (YET!)

 

Photo credit: Offshoringtbos.com 

Starting a blog is overwhelming.  Keeping up with other creators' blogs is arduous at best.  How can a budding blogger keep up with all of the latest blog feeds and track the usages of their own feed?

Enter in the super power of the blogging world:  RSS

As a part of our blogging journey we were recommended to set up an RSS feed.  I played around with an RSS feed years ago but like all things it got lost in the billions of emails hitting my Gmail account. Recently new platforms have hit the market that allows for one stop shopping for all of the blog feeds that you need to monitor!  Platforms like:

Feedly

Inoreader

Feeder

These platforms are free at the moment but do have the ability for the user to upgrade to paid levels.  So, what then can RSS feeds be used for?

Stay Updated on Niche Topics & Competitors: RSS feeds allow bloggers to subscribe to other blogs, news sites, and industry publications relevant to their niche. This provides a constant stream of information, helping them stay informed about new trends, hot topics, and what their competitors are writing about. This knowledge can then be used to inspire new content ideas and ensure their blog remains relevant.

Efficient Content Curation: Instead of manually visiting multiple websites, RSS consolidates updates from various sources into a single reader. This significantly streamlines the process of finding articles, data, or news snippets that can be incorporated into their own blog posts as references or to support arguments, saving valuable time.

Discover Guest Blogging Opportunities: By following other blogs in their industry, bloggers can identify potential sites that align with their content and audience. This makes it easier to spot opportunities for guest blogging, which can help expand their reach, drive traffic back to their own blog, and build authority.

Monitor Backlinks and Mentions: Some tools allow bloggers to use RSS to track mentions of their blog or specific keywords across the web. This can be invaluable for monitoring backlinks, understanding who is referencing their content, and identifying opportunities to engage with other bloggers or publications.

Track Reader Engagement (via comments/trackbacks): While not its primary function, RSS can be used by some platforms or tools to track comments and trackbacks on a blog. This allows bloggers to easily see new engagement on their posts, facilitating quicker responses and fostering a more active community around their content.

Foundational Concepts: Online Discourse to Promote Reading Comprehension

 

Image: Shutterstock. Caption: Students in Socrative circle 

A personal goal of mine as I entered the FSU MS-ISLT program was to bring the newest and greatest ideas to my learning environment. At this time I am working with a group of Middle School students who are "on target" for their reading comprehension skills.  In any school this would make for a joyous occasion to have entire classes reading on grade level. However, as a part of our commitment to student excellence and acceleration, we are looking for ways in which students can be purposefully accelerated past their grade level.  On paper, this sounds like an easy task.  In practice, this is quite a bit more.  With the passing of the No Child Left Behind Act in 2001, research grants and interests where directed to understanding the needs of bottom quartile readers.  A quick search of peer reviewed journals will show a paradigm shift in the direction research between the mid 90's and the early 2000's. In the educational community, this shift has lead to a systemic "blind eye" being turned to the students who are already achieving grade level proficiency. 

Since the advent of school choice in the State of Florida, the parents of the "Achieving" students are now demanding more and aggressively looking for learning spaces who can offer more to their student. 

How do we as professional educators provide rigorous and challenging curriculum that is supported by data when the data has not existed for the last 20+ years?  

Luckily the data does exist but it is in the form of the influence of discourse (Social Media- SoMe) in comprehension. The British Journal of Educational Technology published a paper in January 2023 by Huang-Yao Hong titled Computer Supported Knowledge Building to Enhance Reading Comprehension. Hong found that 3 major benefits come out of allowing students to participate in guided  Online (SoMe) discourse: 

(1) students were able to enhance their overall reading motivation, in particular, their intrinsic reading competence; 

(2) all students were highly engaged in the online discussion activities. In particular, advanced online activities that demand high-level agency was found to correlate to their reading motivation; 

(3) process analysis of what was actually discussed online over time also revealed that there is an increasing trend of knowledge building discourse focusing on higher-level reading comprehension

What's Coming Up in This Blog

Welcome to the CTRL+ALT+ Learn blog in which we explore topics and platforms to help educators integrate the tools their students are already using into the learning environment in a responsible and productive way.  Posts to this blog will occur 3 to 4 times a week and will cover a variety of topics relevant to modern learning environments.  Here is a general overview of the topic categories we are going to look at over the next few weeks:

• Foundational Concepts for Social Media and Pedagogy
• Specific Media Platforms and Their Educational Applications  
• Pedagogical Approaches Enhanced by Social Media 
• Practical Applications and Case Studies 
• Future Trends 
• Engaging Your Audience in Social Media

References of Value

 As a part of the Click Alt Learn mission, my goal is to bring you relevant and timely topics, ideas, and references that you can use as you are progressing through your journey to integrate Web 2.0 / Social media into your educational tool belt.  Today's blog installment topic is a listing a great reference journals in which you can find peer reviewed articles to base your social media experiences on.  Keep in mind books are place to start your reference journey but books are very rarely peer reviewed. 

Computers & Education: This journal frequently publishes research on the integration of technology, including social media, in educational contexts. Search within this journal for articles using keywords like "social media," "discourse," "online discussion," "educational tools," and specific platform names (e.g., Twitter, Facebook, discussion forums).

Internet and Higher Education: This journal focuses on the impact of the internet and web-based technologies on higher education. Look for articles exploring the use of social media for communication, collaboration, and knowledge sharing, which often involve discourse.

British Journal of Educational Technology (BJET): BJET covers a wide range of educational technology research, including the use of social media to enhance learning and interaction. Search for articles related to online discussions, collaborative learning, and the role of social media in these processes.

Educational Technology & Society: This journal publishes research on the integration of information and communication technologies in education and training. Explore articles that investigate how social media platforms facilitate communication and knowledge construction among learners.

Journal of Computer Assisted Learning (JCAL): JCAL focuses on the use of computers as an aid to learning and teaching. Search for articles that examine the design and effectiveness of social media-based tools for promoting interaction and dialogue in educational settings.

Learning, Media and Technology: This journal explores the relationship between learning, media, and technology, including the role of social media in formal and informal learning environments. Look for articles that analyze how social media influences communication and knowledge exchange.