The following blog contains comments on learning with social networks using the EDTEC 467 course reading material listed below:
- Online social networks as formal learning environments (Veletsianos & Navarette, 2012)
- The relationship between frequency of Facebook use, participation in Facebook activities, and student engagement (Junco, 2011)
What do you see as the role of social networks in learning? I see social networks role as facilitating communications and interactions involved with learning. Collaboration on projects or ideas through social networks fortifies online identities and fosters motivation. The case study presented in “Online Social Networks as Formal Learning Environments” by Valestianos & Navertte (2012) noted that “The dominant theme that arose from the interviews concerned the social nature of the learning experience. Social interaction, combined with meaningful knowledge building, was a significant element in the course.” I think social networks are good as a supplement activity for learning. Any extra time spent on discussing or thinking about a topic will increase student engagement and learning.
In what ways might social networks be appropriated effectively for learning? Please provide examples of your own experience if possible to support your suggestions. I think social networks can be effective as a mode to review, reflect, and integrate learning within personal context in the present moment. Also, I think social learning helps develop communication skills, information management, and time management.
In my personal experience, within this course, learning through a social network was effective in all of the above mentioned attributes. For example, social learning helped me with information and time management. I tried so hard to capture and understand everything in my blog for each assignment, and also come up with new ideas. Then I would try to find new information and give insightful comments for classmate blogs. This took a lot of time. I thought Betty’s comment was perfect in the article noted above by Veletsianos & Navarette (2012). Betty stated that,
reading all of my classmates blogs and comments, commenting on the blogs and/or comments, reading the material for the course, trying to find and read any supplementary material, and then composing a blog is taking significantly more [time than] the course is supposed to take. I am taking two other courses, and I find that I do not have enough time to devote to all of my classes.
I know now that everything is not to be discovered and discussed, but common themes emerge that are emphasized and elucidated through personal views and experiences. I think the aggregated focus and repetitive examination of themes presented in blogs (in example writing and reading blogs/blog comments), helps review and reinforce learning those concepts.
Also, I have learned by reflecting on other people’s opinions; one example is my reflection on Wikipedia as a resource in learning after reading everyone’s blogs. Although, the most interesting aspect in this type of learning, in my opinion, are the new ideas that transpire as we learn. This helps integrate or change old material into new material that might be more meaningful in our personal lives or applicable in the present moment. Finally, I feel that my personal communication skills have improved over this course.
Do you think Facebook can increase student engagement in learning activities within an educational context? After reading the article The relationship between frequency of Facebook use, participation in Facebook activities, and student engagement (Junco, 2011), my opinion is that students would have to actively provide comments in order to learn within a social network. Table 1 in the article noted above lists positive and negative predictors of engagement scale score. If you look at the list, the top three negative predictors were playing games, posting photos, and Facebook chat (this surprised me).
The top three positive predictors were creating/RSVPing an event, commenting, and viewing photos (this surprised me, I thought viewing photos would predict less engagement then posting them). I did not include the gender predictor of “male” in my observation since this predictor is listed in both columns. Overall, the correlation between creating/RSVPing an event and student engagement makes sense. Students who attend or create events are active. However, I don’t think creating/RSVPing to an event can be used inside an educational context. Therefore, the only predictor that I can see helpful in student learning is commenting. Facebook commenting could provide the balance in commentary length between a Twitter comment and a blog comment and also provide a faster feedback response time. What do you think?
References:
1. Online social networks as formal learning environments: Learner experiences and activities | Veletsianos | The International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning. (n.d.). Retrieved March 28, 2014, from http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/1078/2077
2. The relationship between frequency of Facebook use, participation in Facebook activities, and student engagement. (n.d.). Retrieved March 28, 2014, from http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360131511001825
Lots of good points on your post. One that caught my eye was the one about the new ideas that occur as you engage with others and read their versions and perspectives on the texts that you have also read. I think in a case like this the advantage is that you get exposure to ideas that are qualitatively different and have different assumptions and I think that helps to refine one’s own thinking quite significantly as you try to sort out what is relevant and what is not. Do you agree?
I also believe Facebook can be a great supplemental activity for the classroom. It provides an arena for students to collaborate and communicate on projects. It also provides an opportunity for students to discuss on a daily basis their interpretations and thoughts on the lessons for a particular day. This will further the learning and dig deeper into the content to promote understanding. As with all social media, I believe their has to be somewhat of a structure and requirements to keep students engaged and moving forward. I would agree that it might not be the best place to deliver content and does need to be monitored closely. Facebook is a popular social media that students will be familiar with, but we need to clearly state our expectations of personal activity compared to school activity. These should not be combined and need to have separation.
Nice post!
I really like your focus on the communicative benefits of social networks. That’s where I seem to see the most potential as well. I’m not sure how much content can really be presented or shared on Facebook, for instance, but it provides a ready means for students to discuss and ask questions about the material.
I also like the idea that Tori (sorry if I got the wrong spelling!) shared here about the time constraints. My husband teaches a number of blended courses, which makes sense for software engineers. He’s relatively new like me. So he allowed the students to work at their own pace… great idea, right? Well, the only deadline was the end of the semester… So the day before finals week he received over 200 blog submissions… one per week for 15 weeks from almost every student.
So yes, some time and length constraints can definitely be helpful.
Hey Dana,
I tend to agree with you that extra time spent on a topic or interacting with the material will improve learning but I still think this time needs to be directed and scaffolded for the students. For example, reading comprehension/synthesis skills should be taught to the students and structured for them so they are able to learn deeply from the material and reflect on it.
I also was somewhat surprised by the Facebook article and did not really know how to connect it to increasing engagement in the classroom. It is not really a surprise that planning an event for a physical space increases engagement. I do not really understand why posting photos was negative but viewing them was positive and I do not feel they explained it that well/it was the beginning of research on this and they do not have an explanation. I like your idea of the comments being between a blog and twitter comment but I can easily see a class limiting blog comments to 100-200 words. Also, by having students write different length comments they need to focus and summarize differently. Students can learn different skills by leaving 25, 75, and 200 word comments and still making them meaningful.
When I teach online I have to put in the syllabus that I will respond within 24 hours on the weekday and 48 hours on the weekend and I think we need the same expectation for online classes when we take them. There needs to be a balance between this and other requirements in our life and I think students should be made comfortable with the fact that they do not need to be available immediately.