Social Media and Professional Development

Building your personal learning network with social media

Crystal RoseMNWE ConferenceApril 5, 2013Bloomington, MN

#mnwe13

We will talk about…

•Overview of professional development in a tech-driven culture

•Overview of social media tools▫Micro blogging▫RSS Feeds▫Social community platforms

•Implications for teachers•Discussion

Questions to Consider•What does professional development look

like in a tech-driven culture?

•How can novice teachers effectively make the transition from student to teacher?

•How can social media contribute to building effective support networks for (novice) teachers?

Professional Development• Standards for Professional Learning (Learning Forward,

2011)

▫Learning communities Continuous improvement Collective responsibility Goal alignment

• Connected learning model (Ito, et al., 2013)

▫Equity▫Full participation▫Social connection

• Communities of Practice (Wenger, 1998)

▫ Joint enterprise▫Mutual engagement▫Shared resources

Personal Learning Networks•Support networks (Brannan, 2012)

▫Affective support▫Pragmatic support

•Collaboration•Exposure to diverse voices within the field•Ability to share your voice within the field

“Alone we are smart, together we are brilliant.”

▫Steven W. Anderson, @web20classroom

Social Media Tools

•What are the benefits of using this tool?

•What are the drawbacks to using this tool?

•How can this tool help build my personal learning network?

RSS Feeds

RSS Feeds

RSS Feeds

Microblogging

Twitter

TweetDeck

TweetChat

Social Community Platforms

Google +

Facebook

A typical day…•Read RSS feed of subscriptions

▫Open most interesting articles in new window

▫Save and tag posts of interest via Diigo ▫Share interesting posts via sharing tabs in

reader•Post interesting articles/posts on Twitter,

Facebook, and Google +▫Use relevant hashtags on Twitter

•Read Twitter posts & engage in discussion/retweet posts of interest

What I’ve learned…• People want to share their ideas.

• People want to share your ideas.

• Not all ideas are worth sharing.

• Not every idea is directly transferrable to the classroom, but a lot are.

• These are just tools, the value is in how you use them to meet your needs.

Challenge to educators…

•Educate yourselves▫Ask colleagues how they use social media in

their professional lives▫Seek information about creating your online

presence •Don’t be afraid of making mistakes

▫Spend some time observing how social media is being used by others (lurking is ok!)

▫Sign up for a new tool and try it out. If it’s not for you, stop using it.

•Engage with online contacts

Discussion

•What might be some benefits of using social media to facilitate personal learning networks in your educational setting?

•What might be some challenges to using social media to facilitate personal learning networks in your educational setting?

“Social Media is simply a conduit for connections...When educators are connected to other educators the natural discussion is education.”

▫Tom Whitby, @tomwhitby

References• Brannan, D., Bleistein, T. (2012). Novice ESOL Teachers’

Perceptions of Social Support Networks. TESOL Quarterly, 46(3).

• Ito, Mizuko, Kris Gutiérrez, Sonia Livingstone, Bill Penuel, Jean Rhodes, Katie Salen, Juliet Schor, Julian Sefton-Green, S. Craig Watkins. (2013). Connected Learning: An Agenda for Research and Design. Irvine, CA: Digital Media and Learning Research Hub.

• Learning Forward. (2011). Standards for Professional Learning. Oxford, OH.

• Wenger, E. (1998). Communities of Practice: Learning as a social system. Systems Thinker, 9(5).