Crafting Social Media in Education

          "Social media is the telephone for this generation of teens (and, increasingly, adults)" (Hicks, 2013). The use of social media can be a very powerful tool for education both for the educator and the student. I have traditionally been a social media skeptic. I have steered clear of the traditional networks in favor of the more observation friendly areas. I have had a Twitter account using an alias for years, but I was 39 before getting my first Facebook, and it is set up for maximum privacy with no friends.

          Used correctly, I cannot deny how beneficial Social Media could be in the classroom. However, I find myself being very pessimistic in this regard. "Sharing of personal information on social media makes it easy for predators to quickly propagate rumors and share content and photos," (McNeill, Rice, & Wright, 2016). I know it is not going anywhere; therefore, I must put away my bias and as Hicks said, "think of all the possibilities for using it in our classrooms," (Hicks, 2013). Hicks also told us that we as educators are responsible for training on the proper use of technology. (2013, p. 138).

       
          With all of this in mind, what is the correct way to use social media as a mentor text? I would like to look at the following re-tweet by Dion Norman:

RT @amichetti: ideas for how to help students learn #medialiteracy to counter spread of fake news https://t.co/9DnRUPf0DH

— Dion Norman (@dionGnorman) January 19, 2017

          I found this article using Flipboard. Tweets should show up well in a reader's feed. The tweet uses hashtags (#) and references a longer article with more information, (Hicks, 2013). This tweet was posted through another program so it shows up on Twitter and on Flipboard where they see a preview. The illustration catches your eye and makes you curious to read the whole product.

          This is a re-tweet, but Mr. Norman had a different audience in mind and edited the tweet so that it did not reflect the political motivation behind the original post. He recognized the educational benefit of the article referenced in the tweet.

          I do think that he could have done a little more with this post. I personally like to share articles directly from their source when possible. Within the tweet itself I think the grammar and picture could have been edited a little more. It would have been a little more appeasing to see the full illustration. Here is the final version of what I used to re-tweet this on my school account:

#EDL577UM #UMedTech
The Smell Test. Use #informationliteracy to identify #fakenews https://t.co/pDEL2xuxlz

— Wesley Lawley (@wes_lawley) April 17, 2017

          We have the ability to move education forward for both the educator and the student. Teachers can learn a great deal of knowledge within their field by growing their PLN and staying current on feeds. Students are already using many forms of social media, but many must learn responsible use. We must move them from consumers to producers of digital literacy.

It is argued that social media has the potential to bridge formal and informal learning through participatory digital cultures. Exemplars of sophisticated use by young people support this claim, although the majority of young people adopt the role of consumers rather than full participants. (Greenhow & Lewin, 2016)

Greenhow, C.  & Cathy L. (2016) Social media and education: reconceptualizing the boundaries of formal and informal learning, Learning, Media and Technology, 41(1), 6-30, DOI: 10.1080/17439884.2015.1064954

Hicks, T. (2013). Crafting Digital Writing: Composing Texts Across Media and Genres.  T. Antao (Ed.). Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

McNeill, L., Rice, M., & Wright, V. (2016) Advantages and Barriers to Using Social Media in Online Education. Distance Learning Administration 2016, ANNUAL. Retrieved from:  http://tiffanireardon.com/documents/2016-dl-proceedings-updated.pdf#page=143

Values4life. (2013, August 1). Social Media Etiquette. [Video File] Retrieved from:
            https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=social+media+etiquette

EDL 577 Voice Thread

Past and Future of EdTech

Video Editing

        It did not take long after beginning the course, Survey of Instructional Technology, for me to get pulled out of my comfort zone. First I had to create and begin using a Facebook account. Then my first assignment required me to create an introductory video. I thought about ideas for this assignment for days before recording and submitting a video. In the end I submitted a video that met the requirements but nothing more. It was a mentor text that “we, as adults and teachers, may be loathe to describe as such,” (Hicks, 107). I am pretty sure that I broke most of the rules these students warned us about (link).

       Now I am faced with the task of updating and editing that introductory video. Again I find myself thinking of ideas to make my video more appealing but still relay who I am. Focusing on the MAPS heuristic I know that my purpose and audience will remain the same and that I need to improve my mode and media.

Students create multimedia compositions in essentially three ways: by designing all their own media; by repurposing existing media; or, most often, by composing a text that uses their own media as well as those created by others, (Hicks 113).

           

       My first video was all my own media. It was simply me in front of a camera talking about myself. I did not even do a good job talking about myself. I stumbled and stammered and was not fluid with my speech.  I knew that in order to improve my video I would need to combine my own media with other forms created by others.

       I specifically wanted to focus on the ideas of narration, transitions, and captions to enhance my introduction video. When I went back and watched my first video I bored myself. I spoke as if I was the only audience. CJ Brame stated in his article Effective Educational Videos, "The use of conversational rather than formal language during multimedia instruction has been shown to have a large effect on students’ learning,” (Brame 2015). I think that was part of my problem. My only goal was to relay information. It was not specific to an audience.

      

        I hope that my second try was an improvement. I still wanted to relay the same message, but used the MAPS heuristic as well as Hick's other tips for video editing to make it more effective. Creating effective videos will be a vital part of educations future. More and more content is moving online, and more of that online content is going to be in the form of videos. 

https://www.slideshare.net/Vidyard/hubspot-and-video-a-match-made-in-data-heaven

Brame, C.J. (2015). Effective educational videos. Retrieved [3/23/17] from http://cft.vanderbilt.edu/guides-sub-pages/effective-educational-videos/.

Hicks, T. (2013). Crafting Digital Writing: Composing Texts Across Media and Genres.  T. Antao (Ed.). Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

MrsRaygor. (2009, May 4). What Not to Do in a Speech [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1If_s-8BA2M