What a Twit! Social Media and its use in the Classroom.

I used to love social media on a personal level (probably a bit too much😜) but have continued to pull back from this way of communication more and more in response to some of the things I was seeing and experiencing online. The increased personal attacks (that I was witnessing), lack of regard for others and general bombardment of advertising made social media for me at times, an unpleasant experience.

BUT... on the flip side, I discovered this amazing world of professional learning communities and have gravitated along this road now.

Just like for me, our students need to learn how to negotiate and navigate this polarising world of social media. That is one of our key roles as educators; helping to prepare our students to become responsible digital citizens so that they can interact and use social media to its fullest whilst being aware of the dangers it can hold as well.

In this post, I want to discuss the impact and potential that can be unlocked through accessing social media platforms on a professional learning level, using Jay and Johnson's (2002) reflective model, and reflect on a positive and negative experience I have had in my own personal learning journey when interacting on Twitter.

Describe:

The professional social media platforms I mainly use are Pinterest (ohhhhh you vortex of time and space), Twitter, Facebook, Google+ community and VLN (Virtual Learning Network). Each provides something different and a way of connecting with other educators on a variety of levels.
Melhuish (2013) describes in her thesis the key principals of effective social learning; learning that is social positioned, co-constructed and one that allows students to have agency over and drive their own learning inquiries. The ways and degrees in which people interact and participate on social media also has an impact. Some are active drivers of learning and discussion whilst others prefer to watch and observe from the periphery. For me, I am more of an active watcher- I get a lot from this and enjoy seeing different views and opinions. I occasionally participate in Edchat or other twitter chats and will freely share ideas and thoughts on google +. I am very selective about what I choose to comment on for a variety of reasons: passion about topic, moderator control or 'tone' on the chat and of course, time.

Compare:
As I have become more confident I have broadened out and commented more and more on different social media platforms. Here I would like to discuss positive and negative aspects I can see when interacting on Twitter.

I only use Twitter as a way of following other educators or education topics. The majority of my twitter experiences have been really positive. I love following new people, especially leaders in their professions that I otherwise would NEVER get to interact with. Having interactions like this is really exciting and pushes my thinking forward. I LEARN so much, get new ideas and as stated above, get to choose what I learn about and how I interact with others. Most moderators are sensitive to their users during chats and can skillfully elicit thoughtful dialogue and challenge participants to think on deeper levels.
On the other hand, we need to be careful that we don't fall into a 'cliche' of thinking too and only sign up or interact in conversation that only reinforces our own ideas. When we challenge or question others it needs to be done in a sensitive way too. Context and tone can often be misconstrued outside of face to face interactions.
One US tweeter I used to follow was a gal who was very tech savvy and I was learning lots of her tweets. One day she posted about assessing creativity and how to go about this. For me, this was quite an arbitrary topic and something that perplexed me so I posted, why would you want to assess creativity? I received quite a bit of backlash from the question and didn't really know what to do after that. I withdrew from the conversation. And here was where the problem lay; two different education systems, with two very different philosophies about teaching and learning. I have been into some American schools and know SOME of the differences in our systems. Instead of addressing our differences and having a really good conversation about assessment and creativity I unfollowed her and didn't participate any further. Did I bite off my nose to spite my face?? Maybe? Were our worlds too far apart?? Maybe? Should I have stayed and expanded on my ideas and thinking further? Maybe?
I did what I did- but that has made me super aware of what I post and need for understanding and appreciation of where someone is coming from when they post. I also need to have the courage to share my ideas though, in a thoughtful and considerate manner too. BUT only on forum, tweets etc that I feel safe. You can't control what others are going to say to you.

Critical reflection:

So what have I learned and where to next?

• As teachers, we need to share these experiences on social media with our students- both the positive and negative in the aims of keeping everyone safe. Social media provides such a rich and wonderful learning opportunity for students and for a teachers' professional development.
• We need to be willing to have professional discussions without attacking- critique instead of criticising.
• We also need to be aware of different perspectives and be aware of others experiences.
• Social media can break down isolating barriers depending on how much you want to get involved in this form of interaction.  You can link to ideas and people that can push and challenge your thinking
• Events that happen in real time serve as a source of rich learning material- something that social media does extremely well- just be careful of potentially 'surprising' things that may come up with un-viewed material too (when sharing with students).

References:
Jay, J.K. and Johnson, K.L. (2002) Capturing complexity: a typology of reflective practice for teacher
education.Teaching and Teacher Education, 18, 73-85.

Melhuish, K.(2013). Online social networking and its impact on New Zealand educators’ professional learning. Master Thesis. The University of Waikato. Retrieved on 05 May, 2015 from https://researchcommons.waikato.ac.nz/bitstream/handle/10289/8482/thesis.pdf?sequence=3&isAllowed=y

Ochoa, R. (2009, May 13). Twitter_Good_Bad [Digital image]. Retrieved April 1, 2018, from https://www.flickr.com/photos/rosauraochoa/3528880050

Ummm... can I post this? Influence of Law and Ethics in Practice.

Digital and web-based communication platforms make it so easy to share learning with the whanau and caregivers of the students in our classes. What was once hidden can now be openly celebrated with the wider class community. But how can we keep everyone safe in a digital age and what are our responsibilities as educators to ensure safety for all?

As the exploration and use of digital technologies have evolved, so too has the need for clear guidelines as students, teachers and schools begin to encounter issues that had never occurred before. Online bullying, harmful use of digital images and poor online conduct, in general, highlight a need for digital citizenship practices and the development of laws and guidelines for all involved.

In New Zealand, teachers are governed by a Code of Ethics (Education Council, nd), legislation* and various local school-based policies which help provide and maintain effective and safe learning environments both on and offline. Dealing social/digital media and all the unknown complexities of this form of communication will create times where teachers are confronted with ethical dilemmas in which they need to deal with.

Feeney and Freeman, as quoted on the New Zealand Education Council website (nd) defines an ethical dilemma as "A situation an individual encounters in the workplace for which there is more than one possible solution, each carrying a strong moral justification. A dilemma requires a person to choose between two alternatives, each of which has some benefits but also some costs (Feeney and Freeman, 1999, p.24)."

The dilemma I want to focus on was an issue that occurred over 7 years ago. At the time, cyber-based bullying incidents were quite new and reflecting back now I can see just how much things we have evolved and changed in response to issues surrounding the misuse of these technologies. Using Rolfe, Freshwater and Jasper’s (2001) reflective model, I will discuss an issue that many teachers will have encountered - cyberbullying, but also look back on how as a profession and, in part, society has changed in response to the need to deal with this issue also.

What:
A student and parent came to school after hurtful and degrading comments were sent and posted digitally by another student in my class.

So what:
Students were spoken to separately. As this incident had happened outside of school and school hours there was an unspoken feeling it wasn’t a school issue but we wanted to deal with it anyway. The student who sent the messages lied and denied her actions, even after it was clear what had occurred (it was thoroughly investigated). A meeting was set up with the principal and unfortunately, the family lied about the student's role in the incident too. The dilemma was not just about the student who was hurt during this interaction but also about a perceived lack of awareness and responsibility in hurting someone else. It wasn’t just the student receiving the messages that was being harmed in this situation.

Now what:
Although there was nothing we could do further, the family was clearly made aware of what was going on and had the facts presented to them. The school could only clearly state the guidelines they expected from student behaviour. We didn’t have a school policy concerning this as it was quite new territory. And there were no further issues as the whanau ended up moving to a new town- which was a real shame.

Today, you could say there has been a shift in focus from dealing with incidents after the fact, towards educating students about preventing incidents from happening and how to be positive digital citizens. We now have school policies, the Education Act (1989), has been updated to reflect digital elements of education, other legislative acts have been brought in to ensure safety and awareness on the internet. In my classroom students are encouraged to think about their digital actions, in and out of school and are beginning to become more aware of the legalities involved in digital interactions. Programmes of work have been developed to help students and teachers navigate within this new learning territory. There has been a move from thinking about digital behaviour that occurs ‘outside of school as not being a schools problem. In fact, the Ministry of Education (2016. p27) states “Schools have a responsibility to act…” in such incidents.

What is evident is that school communities and whanau need to work in partnership so that our students are best equipped to be responsible digital citizens of tomorrow. What I most importantly learned from this incident was that we need to take care of  ALL our students, informing and helping them to make good decisions online and to think before they send or post content.


* Harmful Digital Communications Act, 2015. Netsafe.org (2016). Various amendments to the NZ Education Act, 1989, as stated in Ministry of Education (2015).

References:

Education Council New Zealand. (n.d.). Frequently Asked Questions. Retrieved March 24, 2018, from https://teachersandsocialmedia.co.nz/resources/frequently-asked-questions

Ministry of Education. (2015). Digital technology - Safe and responsible use in schools. Retrieved from http://www.education.govt.nz/assets/Documents/School/Managing-and-supporting-students/DigitalTechnologySafeAndResponsibleUseInSchs.pdf

Netsafe.org. (2016). THE HDC Act and Netsafe. Retrieved March 25, 2018, from https://www.netsafe.org.nz/hdc-act/

Rolfe, G., Freshwater, D., Jasper, M. (2001) Critical reflection in nursing and the helping professions: a user’s guide. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Wanted: Digital Citizens [Digital image]. (n.d.). Retrieved March 25, 2018, from https://digitaljlearning.org/blog/2016/04/19/teaching-responsibility-wild-west-cyberspace