In designing classrooms and curriculums to integrate social media as a key tactic, I want to propose these topics to consider:
1. Selecting the Right Tool
For professors trying to differentiate their instruction, social media tools embrace collaboration and global access to people and other resources. It gives students the chance to:
Differentiating with social media is most effective when we plan learning experiences based on content, process, and product and incorporate readiness, interests, and learning profiles. The key here is that the student's VOICE is allowed to speak. The following guidelines can help any classroom teacher ensure that the tool used will address students' needs:
- Be clear about the academic learning outcomes.
- Assess what students know and don't know.
- Identify related student background connections.
- Utilize social networks that can:
2. Readiness
Readiness focuses on a student's current academic skill level. Work is structured to help them address any gaps or needs for enrichment. Students work in like-skill groups for specific, targeted support to address a common need, such as guided reading or tiered (leveled) activities. They also collaborate in mixed-skill groups to support struggling students with needed skill development. Additionally, experiences can stretch the advanced students in a mixed-skill group -- they may have the core skills, yet the critical thinking challenges them and their teammates.
Some great social media tools:
3. Learning Profiles
When students address concepts from diverse perspectives, especially in collaborative groups, it can lead to in-depth understanding. Learning profiles are about providing each student with experiences that incorporate a variety of learning style elements, not just one.
Try these tools:
Hey Payal,
ReplyDeleteI like how you approach the ways that social media learning can be effective and what aspects to look out for. I especially think that it is helpful that you've hyperlinked different articles and websites that would be helpful in facilitating this means of learning. Going through each step, I feel just attributes to your ideas of just your first three steps of exchanging ideas, providing constructive feedback, and an avenue to connect. I do think that while your approach was very interesting for learning, there are other skills to point out as well for individual growth - such as soft skills, improvement, ect. It would have also been interesting to provide examples as well. But, great job :)
Wow, Payal! This was such a good last post! You provided some great recommendations that could be implemented for this way of learning in IEOR 190G and other classes! As always, your post was very well laid out, structured and organized. I agree entirely with your 3 main points! Your use of hyperlinks for the main features of this blog post was also very effective. I agree that a fundamental aspect is allowing the students’ VOICE to SPEAK. This is what the crowdsourcing strategy is all about. I really appreciate the clear guidelines you set out for selecting the right tool, giving examples of great social media tools for readiness, and new platforms for learning profiles. Evidently, you spent a lot of time researching these – I will be sure to make profiles on these social media platforms in the near future to increase my online presence even more. Thank you for making me aware of such platforms. There really isn’t much to improve on this blog post. Maybe, like Kimberly mentioned, you could have provided specific examples and pointed out the ‘soft skills’ that could be obtained through this way of learning. Furthermore, although you were very successful in expanding on such points, you could have gone into greater depth since they seemed a bit too short. Nevertheless, both the content and presentation of this blog are concise and extremely valuable. It has been pleasure learning from you throughout the semester. Thank you once again and congratulations!
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ReplyDeleteHey Payal,
ReplyDeleteYour structured breakdown of topics for social media learning was very aesthetically pleasing and helpful in understanding your viewpoints. One comment I thought was quite applicable is to address what students know and don't know. Often times one lecture is not enough understand all the material the professor teaches and so it may become futile if students are sharing what they learned and don't get feedback on their ideas. Through our youtube posts sometimes I felt that I did not learn much from watching others and other times I realized I completely misunderstood the material. It looks like you did quite a bit of research in making your argument, which not only made it more convincing, but also easier in understanding. Thanks for suggesting alternative methods for online learning. I had not heard of many of these before, but many seem useful and applicable to a classroom setting. I was wondering through all your suggestions if there was one you preferred or think would work best. Thanks for sharing and nice work!
Hi Payal,
ReplyDeleteAs per usual, awesome blog post! I really appreciate your alternative presentation style and how organized your thoughts are... it makes it really easy to read!
I agree that the very important question to ask isn't "whether social media should be integrated into learning", but rather "How?". The medium is more important than the actual interactions as each one of these platforms comes with their own set of 'rules of interaction'. For example I really liked how we used blogger and the youtube videos but I think that twitter could have been used in a different fashion to maximize its utility.
Following this point, I like how you did some research and presented some untraditional online platforms that students can or perhaps even should use... (I personally had only heard of survey monkey and had never really thought of it as an educational app).
Great job and I wish you the best of luck in your future endeavors.
This is such an awesome post, Payal — wow! I have to admit, I haven't looked at your blog as much as I would have wanted to (you're so far down the list) but I'm totally regretting that now! Your posts are so interesting and I love how you've included links embedded throughout your posts that we can follow. I have to say - I followed one of your Edutopia links and got distracted for a couple minutes further reading up on the ideas you discuss in your post.
ReplyDeleteAnyways - I really liked how you expanded on the idea of if social media should be incorporated into a much more interesting question about how social media can be incorporated into our current educational system. Wonderful post!
Heyy! Great blog post. It was so clear and comprehensive. good job :) It was really nice reading your posts each week. I completely agree with you that the use of social media in the class was extremely beneficial. Hey! good blog post :) I like how you discussed the importance of a collaborative environment. I feel like we learned so much through coloration and social media this semester. Social media (i.e. blog posts and twitter) showed me a completely different side of learning, which is learning from each other. Reading each others blog posts and watching videos gave me insight on how people think and why they think like that which even extends far beyond the scope of this class but more into life. thanks for sharing your insight :)
ReplyDeleteHi Payal,
ReplyDeleteReally enjoyed this blog post because it gives a structured idea of how to implement collaborative learning through social media in a different sphere. I liked how you broke it down into separate categories for analyzation as it really helped me understand what type of environment was necessary for this type of learning to truly thrive. The only hinderance that exists in all of this is how can we still preserve the academic integrity of work without sacrificing the collaborative nature of social media in certain classes? I found this class truly enriching because of the social media environment that we were exposed to, but it is a challenge to apply this format to other courses. I thought your outline was excellent and provided an excellent foundation for educators to build off of and hopefully such steps will be taken in the future. Great last blog post!
Hi Payal! These are some great points that you raise in your last blog post. First off, congratulations on being done with this class! You've clearly gained a lot from this class, as I can tell from your post. Moreover, I really like how you add valuable lessons that I can take away on your post here. I espcially like how you mention that differentiating with social media is the most effective when trying to learn the experiences based on content, process, and product. I see why you mention this - sometimes, Twitter can be more useful than Facebook in some situations, and vice versa!
ReplyDeleteHi Payal,
ReplyDeleteReally interesting post! Your main topics, 1. Selecting the Right Tool, 2) Readiness, and 3. Learning Profiles were great choices. I like how you added links and outside resources for more information as well!
In terms of implementing social media into class, these are definitely key factors to consider. What other aspects would you consider, and have you had experience with other outlets of social media in class?
Hola Payal! Good job! I loved how you took the time to research on new ways of using technology for class. Looking through the links I really liked Kaizena! Super simple and with a lot of potential. Feedback its definitely a strong way to learn. Thanks for sharing and I am glad you enjoyed the class :-)
ReplyDeletePayal,
ReplyDeleteI really love the outside resources and links that you incorporated into your post, which make it even more informative and easier to follow along with if I am unclear about a word or subject. Again, the wonderful format of your post makes it a pleasure to read, and incredibly easy to follow along with. That guidelines that you write about for professor considering implementing social media platforms into their courses, really illuminates that massive benefits of the platform as it relates to students of our age; social media is how we connect to others, and can be utilized to connect classmates with each others thought and ideas. In the second part of your post, you included several social media platforms that could be applied to courses that I had no previously heard of or considered, which allowed me to broaden my understanding of how social media could be applied in the classroom. In the third part of your post, you bring up several learning websites and techniques that I had previously been unaware of, and that helped me better understand new ways to learn while incorporating technology. One question that comes to mind is what is the right balance to strike between social media learning and tradition learning? She one be used fully, while the other not at all, or is the best blend a mix of the two? Overall, really interesting post, Payal!