SMCEDU: A Mashable Opinion
October 5, 2009 by Yong Lee
I had the opportunity to chat with Brett Petersel of Mashable on Monday. Brett, the events director for the world’s largest social networking blog, is a former K-12 teacher and still teaches classes and seminars on eBusiness and social networking for a college in New York.
It was great speaking with an educator and someone who’s got his finger on the pulse of the tech/information movement. He shared some surprising stories that involved the reluctance of many teachers to recognize the usefulness of social media tools in the classroom.
I thought about these points after our conversation:
- There are teachers, many of whom are have been teaching for decades, that are dragging their heels when it comes to either implementing social media/digital collaboration into their teaching methods, or even addressing the topic in their curriculum.
- Students should be more vocal about their interest in using these technologies in the classroom. This will, of course, mean that they have to see the value of these technologies beyond Facebook.
- Social media will affect a number of degree programs. A bigger point of interest for educators may be how they use it to teach, rather than teaching the subject itself. Social media as a degree program may or may not work yet. What is certain is that it can be used by teachers to reach out to students in a more engaging way.
Social media has been in classrooms for a number of years: I remember using Blackboard as a student, and more importantly, that we as students didn’t really use it to our full advantage.
There are numerous reasons for this, but I recognized that a number of teachers probably didn’t understand how to use it themselves. Tools such as Classroom 2.0 and Social Media Classroom are available, but how many “old-school” teachers would be interested in learning a now-school way of doing things?
Brett used the term “education reformat” — instead of teaching by the book (i.e, teaching at the students), why not embrace new ways of communicating?
This isn’t an attack on teachers that haven’t adopted, but it is a recognition that things are changing.
I know it’s a perspective that’s held by other educators that are familiar with newer ways of sharing information. Just ask Bill Handy, and take a look at what his journalism students at Oklahoma State have done in just one session.
Has anyone ever seen a study confirming that students actually do want social media in their classes?
Just asking, but some data would be nice.
You are probably right that some teachers might be dragging their feet, but I think the reluctance to adopt social media in the classroom might also be partly to blame on institutional pressures – especially in higher ed.
For years we put up walls around our classrooms in an effort to protect our students’ privacy, mainly because noone really knew how to interpret the Family Rights and Privacy Act (Ferpa). In the past, some professors got into trouble for seemingly little things such as having students provide feedback to one another through in-class peer grading exercises. Students complained it was a violation of Ferpa laws. Granted, the courts ruled it wasn’t, but the point is that lots of professors around the country have had FERPA hammered into their heads and might be fearful of getting themselves into hot waters for removing the physical walls of their classrooms and sharing the students’ work with the rest of the world.
FERPA laws were revised in December 2008 to clarify a lot of these things, but it may take a while for universities and professors to feel comfortable enough to fully embrace social media as a learning tool. That said, there are a lot of educators out there who already fully embrace these technologies and I’m currently guest editing a special issue of the Electronic Journal of Communication that will feature some of the best practices in social media education. So keep your eyes open for that special issue!
I think teachers and schools have a hard enough time getting and using the mainstream technology. For example, my daughters elementary school has teachers that are willing to take advantage of their website by updating it with useful information for parents, but don’t have access themselves and can’t get anyone to update it for them.
One can hope that social media affects these teachers personally (probably best demo group for Facebook) and they bring it to work..
teachers today don’t get the latest technology – but 10 years from now, when generation WEB are Adults, teachers will know about tech
And I think teachers and schools have a hard enough time too .
I suspect with the lack of funding that public education receives, that teachers and schools will find it harder and harder to keep up with technology.
Sorry for the late responses, we’re working hard to answer everyone!
Willozap, I’m looking for studies. I’ve based my opinion on my own experience in school, and I’m in touch with students at several universities that have expressed interest. Granted, it could be a biased opinion given their tech leanings, but a part of the issue comes from so many students not having a better understanding of what technologies are available. We’re talking about communication/collaboration tools, technologies that will enhance what students traditionally do within classrooms.
Corrinew, that’s an excellent point. Social media is changing at a rate that few can keep up with, and each new application blurs lines, often legal, that haven’t faced ambiguous challenges. I’d like to reach out to some legal experts to get their thoughts and will share them in a future post.
Barry, one can only hope…but as time lapses, what’s considered innovative today becomes mainstream tomorrow. The challenge lies in understanding how to adapt to the constantly changing digital landscape, and to understand the principles behind the tools.
To all, teachers are having a hard time just plain teaching. It’s true that it takes an investment of time and effort to learn, but what we’re ultimately doing is trying to equip both teachers and students with an understanding of what’s going on now and what will become the norm soon. Change is happening, slowly in some places, but inevitable in all.