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