What Happened to the Potential of Social Media in Education?

A post that happens when Twitter isn't enough

Dean Shareski posted this to Twitter (SM = Social Media):

Read the thread of comments (it’s worth a minute or 2) by following the link.

I’ve written a bit about this before, and ironically that post from 8 years ago also involved Dean (Who’da Thunk?).

Dean is right, when this social media thing was new and all, some of us saw a powerful potential for it’s use in the classroom and beyond as a thoughtful, motivating and powerful way to connect our students with each other, and experts, and locations, and learning that hadn’t been very accessible before. Now they were available, and they were available on a global scale. Time zones were pretty much the major obstacle (and fear for some, really many I guess). I co-wrote a book about what we had learned along the way because we found it was pretty much as awesome as we thought it would be.

Many of us sang the praises of blogging and Twitter and Flickr and Skype and Facebook (except it was usually blocked even more often than the others). We’d encourage and almost demand that those attending presentations we were giving sign up for Twitter … RIGHT NOW! …. and provide the screenshots to follow and time to sign up. This was such an powerful tool we had to evangelize to the world about it.

So what happened? Plenty of good things happened. Many teachers made those connections and shared learning experiences that were leveraged by the use of online tools. Blogging was my favorite because a blog can be writing, but also photos, video clips, podcasts, and more … and the photos could be of student artwork field trips, math …. any subject. My class connected with Dean a few times when he was working with teachers in Canada … but we danced with students in New Zealand, performed experiments with classrooms around the world, shared guest speakers and much, much more.

So what didn’t happen? Plenty. Among the things that didn’t happen was what usually happens in education – a lack of professional development, especially for those that needed more support and experience to see the value. Just doing “technology” isn’t where the value is, but that is where schools/education in general tended to go … the message too many get is that just by doing school on a computer will bring the change we are looking for … so not true.

Fear was and is big – will the boogey-man get me or my students and will I get in trouble? Access – to the internet, to technology (well the lack of access really) is and was a roadblock. Time, in reality, but also the perception of lack of time for all this stuff stops many from gaining the experience necessary. A very demanding, narrowed and scripted curriculum that does not lend itself to integration, going deep and being thoughtful … that happened big time.

I think the potential is still there. It just needs a re-birth of sorts. At least more of us know the nuts and bolts of getting online and setting up accounts and some safety concerns. Perhaps now the focus needs to shift to the powerful collaboration, connecting, editing, sharing between our students about important things (not mostly bopping around via video-conferencing to figure out where someone’s school is) that these tools provide us. Share science data, stories, poetry, how to do things, art projects, robot designs and so much more … and take the time to do them well and even the time to re-edit and re-present. Then have conversations about them in the comments … and teach students how to have the positive, supportive discourse that makes it powerful and the world a better place.

There’s lots more to say about this, its a very important discussion that should be ongoing … maybe we can have some of that discussion in the comments here (or on Twitter or elsewhere). I’m out of time for now. I hope this continued Dean’s Tweet conversation in a meaningful way.

Learning is messy!

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7 thoughts on “What Happened to the Potential of Social Media in Education?

  1. There is always a new form of social media starting a new fad. Students look at SM sites like facebook and twitter and think they are for old people. Many of these SM sites are blocked by school servers or firewalls. Twitter is the only site that is actually accessible in my school this is only because the superintendents like to use it. Another issue is the fear of crossing a line between student and teacher. Many educators such as myself would rather not even worry about the blurred lines that exist

    • Social Media is a slippery slope. It has definitely made a small world smaller by keeping people connected who would otherwise have drifted apart by time or space, however, it has also created a social paradox where a person has one thousand friends but never sees a single one face-to-face. While I have appreciated my children’s teachers who keep in touch about classwork via various SM platforms, I also acknowledge that I avoid them all like the plague as a teacher myself, and I question when I hear that a teacher follows or friends one of my kids on SM. I rarely use my own personal SM accounts because of the fear of a student’s parent or even a co-worker seeing something I post, finding offense with it, or questioning connections I have. I agree that fear is probably one of the largest contributors to teachers not using SM to the degree it was originally deemed possible. SM has become a place where people feel free to say things they would never say directly, and therefore has opened the world of bullying to new extremes and has been used against teachers too often to ignore. There are multitudes of other ways to connect with families and students that are safer, so why take the risk by doing it through SM?

  2. It is my opinion that Social Media, while a powerful tool, has been too watered down and affected by negative actions that it’s impossible for quality learning to take place. While still a valuable tool Social Media, at times, can be and unreliable source with hacking and fake news who do you trust?

    Even communications can be misconstrued by individuals trying to make a quick buck $. I know of an instance where an educator was using kik to communicate with his students and he had asked if a student was going to be coming to class. Long story short the students family brought a lawsuit against the school siting the intention being cumming. The institution fired the quality educator and settled for an undisclosed monetary amount with the family. With social media you’re chastised for using a tool that can aid you in connecting with your students on their level. #socialmediafail #notmyintention #tryingtomakeaquickbuck

  3. This is greatly intriguing. I think that the use of Social Media to collaborate, connect, and share in common goals is crucial for the ever-evolving world of education. We are many times bombarded with the unwanted Professional development meetings that have nothing to do with the daily interactions we share with our colleagues and our students. I would love to discuss this topic more and perhaps endeavor ways to collaborate on a genuine collegial level.

    -Angelina

  4. It’s almost hard not to have some form of social media on the high school level to interact with students. In my short 8 years as a teacher I have found it easier to have a completely separate, yet private account dedicated to my school. It not only gives me access to my students but their parents as well. As a teacher, coach, and class advisor I have been able to use Instagram to send out numerous announcements that have allowed my students to stay in the know. I have also added my principal and other colleagues to the page since it’s intent is school related. This has been a big help the last few years and seeing how the world is shaping now with this pandemic it definitely seems needed.

  5. I completely agree that there is so much potential for social media in the classrooms. I really wish it was easier to create private spaces for students to interact with each other on sites like Twitter and Instagram. Instead, blogs are a great idea. I love your idea of connecting with classes around the country or world using blogs. I think we all could use a little more global connectedness not just to say we did it, but to help expose our students to more than just the people they see every day. Maybe through this they connect with someone that has many shared interests, sparking discussion and further connection away from the blog. The possibilities are endless!