Activity 7: Social media in learning and teaching and professional development

How do I use social media to enhance my professional development?

I have definitely become more proficient over the course of this year in using social media as a professional development tool. Our school has made enormous shifts with ICT in 2015 and there is now an expectation that people are upskilling themselves in this area. Fortunately for me ICT is something I am highly interested in so I enjoy reading, learning, discussing, sharing and finding out new things that will improve my practice and possibly help others through using social media. Below are a list of the social media tools that I use regularly and how they help my practice. 

I am one of the admin for our school Facebook page so I regularly update our page to ensure our school community, whanau and staff are kept up to date with what is going on as well as to celebrate things regarding our students and school. As a part of this role I have a few local schools that I follow, Mangatuna Kura, Awapuni, Te Hapara and Lytton High School. From each of these schools I get ideas of other things to post as well ideas to use within the school and my own classroom. I have found that even though I have no real connection to Mangatuna Kura I am totally informed of the things that they do and can get a real sense of what their school is about. One of the most powerful aspects of social media is that you do not have to physically be there to be involved. For split home families, for parents who work overseas and for children with whanau around the country and overseas, social media is an incredibly valuable tool to ensure they can be connected to their tamariki.

"Social media provides a great opportunity to 

collaborate and communicate with parents and 

whānau." (Education Council New Zealand, 2015)

I have my own Facebook page too that I use for both personal and professional reasons. I do not have children from our school as friends as I want to keep my personal life separate from my teacher life. I tend to use my own Facebook page professionally by interacting within the following professional group pages.

Gisborne ICT Schools Facebook Page

Sharing of ideas, new tools and apps, meetings, helplines and lots of other cool things between teachers in the Tairawhiti region.

Google APPS Primary Facebook Page

Google goodness ideas from Google experts and enthusiasts across New Zealand.

A Mighty Girl Facebook Page

A sharing site that celebrates girls. Great sharing of books, stories, lesson ideas, resources etc. Excellent PD.

The Writing Book Facebook Page

A sharing site that celebrates writing. Excellent for discussion, gathering ideas and resources and sharing too. A support tool to sit alongside the Writing Book Resource.

I F#$%^&* Love Science Facebook Page

Excellent idea bank

I love Pinterest for gathering ideas around classroom environments, crafts, lesson ideas, pe ideas generally any idea to do with what is going on in school. I use Pinterest for personal and professional idea gathering as I use it a lot for recipes. Cook books are a things of the past in our house as any recipe can be easily accessed using social media. One thing I love about Pinterest too is that favourite restaurant foods usually have an at home cheat option available on Pinterest. 

I have a personal reflection blogger account as well as a class account. I am able to peruse other class accounts at our school to keep up with what others are doing and for gathering ideas. I am also able to learn from my students who are very ICT savvy. When marking their blogs I may see something new on one of theirs and get them to teach me and then teach the rest of the class. We are currently buddied with a French school who have their own Blogger page and we are able to interact with each other using this format. I did not like Blogger when I first started using it but now think it is very user friendly and it has become an everyday tool that I use in my classroom.

Other social media tools I use for Professional Development.

Google Hangouts - To meet, discuss, share ideas, share resources with other staff members in the district and outside. The ability to share documents on the screen means it is a more effective tool than SKYPE - Great for face to face discussions and meetings. Distance is no longer an obstacle.

Moodle - Invaluable PD tool to sit alongside our Mindlab Course this year. Collaborating on work, idea gathering, easy access to recommended resources, receiving and giving feedback and viewing examples of good practice. 

Youtube - Gathering lesson ideas, watching documentaries, see examples of good practice to emulate, research and sharing work and ideas. 

What are some key features of social media that you have identified as beneficial for teaching and learning?

• Connectivity to the wider world. Distance is no longer a barrier.
• Teaching and Learning is not restricted to school hours.
• Accessible by whanau in the home, around the country and overseas. Social media enable these stakeholders to participate in their child's education wherever they may be. 
• Great tool for building a positive class culture with the students and their whanau.
• Students and staff can receive instant feedback and they can give feedback to each other as well. Feedback is no longer restricted to just between the teacher and student. It can be student to student, parent to student, student to teacher and so on.
• Higher expectations can be expected and enforced due to the public nature of having work showcased on social media as well as whanau having constant access. More accountability on the teacher and students part.

What are potential challenges that teachers need to be aware of when integrating social networking platforms into teaching activities?

• Equal Access. If students in your class do not have home access the teacher should provide other support mechanisms at school so all children have equal access.
• Misuse - Our school has a very firm ICT policy that the students take home to read through and sign with their parents. If students break these agreements their computer rights are removed. Our school has monitoring tools such as Hapara to ensure we can check up but we have high expectations from our students in this area so we do not have a lot of problems with this.
• Bullying and inappropriate comments - Teachers are responsible for teaching their students about digital citizenship. Failure to comply with this would mean the removal of one's computer rights.
• Is it benefiting what you are doing? Why are you using it? If it has no benefit then don't use it. 
• Not all teachers are Social Media/ICT Savvy - In house PD might need to be provided to ensure all staff are comfortable with using social media. 

What social media platform do you feel best supports engagement with your professional development? Why?

It is difficult to narrow this question down to just one so I would have to say that the following social media tools are hugely important to my professional development and that I use them on a daily basis. I like all of these because they are easily accessible, I like their set individual set out and a lot of their content relates to the type of teacher I am. 

1: Facebook and all of the pages I outlined in the first section. I outlined why I use them above.

2: Google Hangouts and Tools - For networking, sharing ideas and resources and meeting.

3: Pinterest - Used regularly (sometimes daily, sometimes weekly) for idea gathering and lesson building. Invaluable resource.

References
Education Council New Zealand. (2015). Guidelines on Ethical Use of Social Media. Retrieved from http://www.teachersandsocialmedia.co.nz/guidelines-ethical-use-social-media