3.2 Social technologies for enhancing presence
Some social media tools can be utilised in online teaching to help the learners develop a sense of place within the ‘wider world’ and to start enhancing their online profile (Veletsianos, 2016). Blogs can be used to help learners become used to critically reflecting on a given topic, to become familiar with expressing themselves in a ‘public’ arena, to enable the teacher to put explanatory text alongside class materials to allow absentees greater context when catching up. Twitter can be used to demonstrate the power of the collective, to share discovered resources, to seek feedback, and to contact ‘experts’ in a given subject area.
Activity 4 Thinking about the role of social media in online teaching
Take a look at this infographic [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] which provides a wide range of suggestions for ways in which social media can be used in education: (You should be able to click on the image to zoom in closer).
Using the section entitled ‘How to use social media in class’, write down two to three ideas that you might like to try out one day.
Discussion
Social media tools can be useful in teaching, even though they may require careful implementation. This activity is designed to get you started with thinking about how social media may play a role in your online teaching, and what factors you need to consider when implementing them.
3.1 Social technologies for promoting community