Social Online Networks - Mindlab Week 30

According to the New Zealand Teachers Council "...social media embraces web-based and mobile-based technologies to facilitate interactive communication between organisations, communities and individuals".

Education council. Retrieved from http://www.teachersandsocialmedia.co.nz/what-social-media

Since moving to Central Otago in 2012 my use of social media has grown considerably. I was already a "connected educator", however the professional isolation I felt when moving from a city to a small township made the need to connect even greater. No longer did I have easy access to the vast number of professional development opportunities that a city offers. Most courses and workshops involved travel to either Queenstown or Dunedin and the number on offer was significantly reduced.  

My desire to keep up to date and to grow professionally made me look for online options that would fill this gap. For the past four years social media has played a large part in my professional learning.

Melhuish (2013) states that "social network sites offered a way for, often geographically separated, people to connect with and learn from others who were previously inaccessible" (p. 39).

It was during the 2014 New Zealand Connected Educator month that I was first introduced to Twitter and I have been a fan ever since. Twitter has helped to grow my professional learning network through the connections I have made with national and global educators. The connections have positively impacted on my classroom programme, with students participating in both national and international quadblogging, participating in a 'travel buddies' project and connecting with an international film maker, as a result of my interactions on twitter. It also provided me with a way to share my eFellows research with a wider audience.

Twitter has changed the way I note take at conferences. No longer do I sit there with pen and paper, scribbling furiously. Instead I have my tweetdeck open and keep an eye on the conference hashtags and PLN feeds, whilst I 'tweet' key points. I will often use Storify to create a timeline of shared tweets. This type of collaboration I find extremely valuable.

In 2016 I was part of the National Aspiring Principals’ programme, which used both My Portfolio and the VLN groups network as platforms for group members to connect and share with each other.  These two social media platforms provided spaces for the group to discuss questions related to each learning module and debate key issues. While the programme had a number of face-to-face regional meetings and a national three day hui, the programme was largely self-directed and was enhanced by the conversations of members within the online spaces. Online facilitators encouraged deeper reflection and provoked further discussions.

I belong to a number of groups within the VLN and regularly connect, share and participate in discussions and webinars, connecting with educators across the country to explore a variety of educational issues. I have found the discussion forums within the 'Enabling E-learning group' especially valuable and they have provided me with much food for thought.

I am also a member of several educational facebook groups, but I am very selective as to which groups I join. The groups I belong to are largely focused on best practice, sharing research articles and engaging in conversations that relate to improving practice and supporting learners.  

For me, there are many benefits of using social media as a professional tool. It allows me the flexibility to learn "any-where, any-time". It gives me the freedom to join groups of interest and connect and learn alongside other educators both nationally and internationally.  However, due to the vast number of online spaces and amount of information being shared, there is the danger of becoming over-whelmed.  Melhuish (2013) states that "...the management of information flow requires a discipline and clear-sighted focus on learning purpose". Melhuish also indicates that the self-directed nature of online learning "... requires a particular set of personal competencies and dispositions, both towards learning itself and towards the management of the tool and the digital literacies" (p.39). 

I believe it's really important to be selective about which professional online spaces or groups you join and to ensure that they meet your needs. 

I wonder.... 

• Does social networking offer a more effective alternative to traditional professional development?   

Given my positive experiences with social online networks, I would argue that perhaps this is a valid option for many educators who are motivated, self-directed learners, who desire the flexibility to determine their own learning pathway. Connections that are formed in these spaces are often ongoing, whereas connections made during traditional professional development are situational and the dialogue often ends with the PD.

When I consider my engagement with the Mindlab postgraduate course, it is the second half of the course that I have enjoyed the most - 'Research and Community Informed Practice' and 'Applied Practice in Context'. This is largely due to the self-directed nature of these papers, which suits my learning style and has allowed me to fit my study in around family commitments.

References

Education Council. (n.d). What is Social Media? Retrieved from http://www.teachersandsocialmedia.co.nz/what-social-media

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