Professional Online Social Networks

We have a school Facebook page administrated by our Principal, Deputy Principals, team leaders and office staff. It is the most effective way to communicate important notices, cancellations, celebrations etc with our parent/caregiver community. Facebook is easy and effective because most of our community have a Facebook profile and they know how to navigate it. Because it has a mobile app it means most people have it on their phones. Our followers are notified immediately if we 'update our status'. 

As a class we used to use Blogger and while we still have a blog, we use our Twitter account more often. We have found Twitter to be quick and easy, we enjoy tagging other people in our tweets and we love seeing them tweet back! We have attracted the attention of some pretty famous people this way and even had one turn up to a special event! It is easy to tweet several times a day about what we are doing in class and special events. However as quick and easy as Twitter is I do find it difficult to stay within the 60 characters and very few of our own parent/caregiver community follow us on Twitter.

We have faced some challenges while using social media as part of our teaching practice. We once had a mother complain because we posted a picture of her child on Facebook. It was in a learning context and we had her permission to post the child's picture online but she had a aversion to Facebook. I remember earlier this year when we posted an 'innocent' notice about stationery, parents began commenting negatively about our systems and practices. Things like how we asked students to label their books and pencils. I think too there is a gap in both the 'rules' around how to use social media in the classroom and professional development for educators that feel they need it.

I use Facebook personally mainly to share news and pictures of my family with friends and family that live in other parts of the world. A couple of years ago someone invited me to join the NZ Teachers (Primary Education) Facebook page. I have found it to be a great source of information, professional discussion and debate, a way to share, or rather swap all kinds of amazing resources. This kind of professional connectedness is not only current, but unique and tailored to me. I can based my professional learning on what is going on for me and my students, around my inquiries. Ala-Mutka (as cited in Melhuish, 2013) states that reports are increasingly indicating that technology can support the development of those personal and professional competencies required to be successful, metacognitive, adaptable learners.

I have also enjoyed using Blogger to reflect on my new learning and what this means for my current practice while doing my postgraduate. I think sometimes I get so busy and I very rarely have time to venture outside of my own classroom. Social media has given me this opportunity. To see photographs and read stories of what other teaching professionals are doing is exciting. Sometimes it is reassuring and I think "yeah, we're doing okay in Room 10" and other times it is an opportunity to reflect on my teaching practice and think what can I do differently to better meet my students' needs?

Moving forward I would like to use social media to enable my students to connect, and share their learning with other students from our local and global communities. This is something I haven't done a few years and they get such a buzz out of connecting with other kids their age from other parts of the world.

References

Melhuish, K.(2013). Online social networking and its impact on New Zealand educators’ professional learning. Master Thesis. The University of Waikato. Retrieved on 05 May, 2015 from http://researchcommons.waikato.ac.nz/bitstream/han...