Social Media and Learners- Showcase post

This is a revamped version of a previous post by the same name. The previous post can be found at https://dominiqueonline.school.blog/2019/08/05/social-media-and-learners/

The vast majority of our learning happens in social networks, whether they are digital or in person. Humans are social creatures and, as I talk about often in my posts, relationships are an important piece of the learning environment. Digital social networks and/or social media allow us as a population to engage with others in a way that was unthinkable only a few years ago. The idea that you can have a meaningful interaction with someone who lives on the other side of the world, via a box, is mindblowing. My generation and those who come after us accept this as normal. The significance of having “internet friends” is no more or less important than having friends who we know outside of the digital realm.
When it comes to learning communities, it is relatively common now to have them online. I am in quite a few learning communities on Faceook and Reddit that are for teachers. The discourse in those groups allows the participants to learn from each other’s wisdom. Often there are book clubs that spring out of the collective desire to learn more, to develop professionally and to become better teachers. Some times these are facilitated by a leader; others happen organically.
It is a wonderful opportunity to learn from teachers with varied experiences. Some are new, some teach in wealthy schools, some teach in other countries, some have been teaching for many years. It doesn’t matter; there is no pretense about who is better than who. There is a fundamental wish for the collaboration and input from other teachers. While I love social media and online learning, many teachers cannot access our groups for a myriad of reasons: “lack of social media readiness, poor infrastructure, poor cost effectiveness, low literacy rates, quality control issues, the exclusion of women, challenges with participation and engagement” (Carr et al, 2018). I think that this is a great example of some pitfalls of digital learning. It is an amazing tool for collaboration and learning and for learners to explore ideas that they might not be able to get in person. However, many learners cannot access even the most rudimentary of digital tools. This can create an intergenerational gap in access and further the divide between “rich and poor”. I do not think that this is an insurmountable barrier, and I do firmly believe that the benefits of social media as a learning tool mean that more learners need to have access to these tools. It is a manner of training, funding and access, which while simple in theory, are not necessarily easy gaps to overcome.
As with the example of the wealth of teacher experience highlighted in the previous paragraph, social networks allow for a myriad of learners to engage with education in a way that they might not be able to otherwise. Social media in learning and digital learning encourage engagement for a section of the population who may otherwise face significant barriers to learning. This in turn allows for a less homogenous population and knowledge base in education, which only serves to create more well rounded learners. It is important that we create an environment in which students are able to understand the differences and similarities of life experience as these “can help today’s students, representatives of the Millennial generation, to connect with the instructor as well as with one another, and most importantly, can help students to realize the importance of understanding differences” Tsetsura (2011) p. 535
The modern learning environment is not a learning environment that is purely a pipeline from highschool to post secondary to a job that one will stay in for their entire lives. It is increasingly common that students will create their own jobs or work in an environment that does not currently necessarily exist. Having experience with classmates who have varied life experiences can only serve to create learners who are ready to adapt to the challenges that face the modern workers/workplace. Using social networks and social media allows our learners to develop a richer sense of the commonalities in life and how to facilitate for the differences.

References:
Carr, A., Thamizoli, P., Rengalakshmi, R., & Balasubramanian, K. (2018). Learning through social media: A promethean gift? CSI Transactions on ICT, 6(3-4), 301-310. doi:10.1007/s40012-018-0211-2
Tsetsura, K. (2011). How understanding multidimensional diversity can benefit global public relations education. Public Relations Review, 37(5), 530-535. doi:10.1016/j.pubrev.2011.09.020