Week 30 Professional Online Networks

This week we are reflecting on the potential that social media has in enriching the learning environment.  I’ve chosen to focus in on these two questions:

1. What are some key features of social media that are beneficial for teaching and learning? Why?
2. How do/would you use social media to enhance your professional development? Why?

The students I am working with (across different schools) use a number of different social media platforms to support their learning, each with its own potential benefits. I’ll just highlight a couple that I am enjoying using with my students at the moment:

Google Classroom

As an introduction to social media, I think this platform is fantastic for introducing students to the concept of online interaction.  It is not a public environment so the participants are restricted to your school community - but we find that this then provides us with a safe, closely monitored environment for our students to learn the basics of participating in online discussion and demonstrating safe, appropriate online behaviours.

It’s interesting to see how students behave when they first discover they have an ‘online voice’. Typically the discussion threads contain a lot of ‘wassup’s’, lol’s, and irrelevant ‘stuff’ as they seek to establish their online identity.  This is where the teacher can play a crucial role in determining the success of the online community by initiating the online discussions with thought provoking material and questions and providing opportunity for the students to reflect on their own online participation and how they go about relating to others in an online context. So much higher order thinking can come into play - forming questions, providing constructive feedback, showing empathy, perspective, synthesising, connecting ideas, reflecting … the list goes on. It is also important to develop shared expectations around online etiquette and build confidence to not only respond but initiate online discussion around their learning. This all adheres to the social nature of learning - one of the 7 principles for innovative learning environments as highlighted in the OECD ‘Nature of Learning’ research and supported by Bolstad and Gilbert (2012):

“Learning involves interaction—trying out and testing ideas with others. Some or all of it takes place in the context of relationships with other human beings. Sometimes these are people who know more than the learner, sometimes they know less, and sometimes they are learning together” (Page 12)

Seesaw Learning Journals

This is another platform that can be viewed as an introduction to social media, in a safe, closely monitored environment. Essentially it is a web-based tool that allows students to build an online reflective learning journal that can be shared with parents. Key benefits of this tool are that it can make the learning visible, encouraging students to articulate what they are learning and showcase evidence of learning through multimedia (visual, oral, written).  It also provides the students with an authentic audience for their work, encouraging feedback and feed-forward. With the ability to share to parents, it is also an effective communication tool, providing parents with a window into the classroom.

How do I use social media to enhance my own PD?

Wow… where do you start?  I’m loving the opportunities that I have available to me with the evolution of social media and online networking.  Here are a few the I am making use of at present:

Twitter - I have been building my twitter network for the past 5 years now - with a focus on using it for connecting with and learning from fellow educators.  I love how we are restricted to just a few characters, making it easy to scroll through and identify areas of interest.  If I want to dig deeper I click on the recommended links and browse the articles, blog posts etc.  I have to confess to being a real stalker at the beginning but have gained confidence over time to create my own posts. For this platform to be successful we have a responsibility to create as well as consume. :)

Facebook - Many of my Facebook friends are educators and often post relevant articles and start some really good discussions related to our practice. I find Facebook is a great place to seek advice or put the call-out for recommended resources.

YouTube - If you need to know anything - there is bound to be a YouTube clip about it!  I also use YouTube often to obtain thought provoking material that I can utilise in my classroom.  It has also been fantastic for sourcing Flipped Learning material.

Blogs - I subscribe to several blogs. Not only do I love the inspiration but it also feel it is important to keep up with latest trends, what is working well in other people’s classrooms and it is also an opportunity to share our my own expertise and hopefully help others!

Google + - hadn’t used it much until this course but am fast seeing the benefits.  I have enjoyed the online discussions - but again realise that I have a responsibility to not just ‘stalk’ but also contribute. I have also loved viewing some of the links that people have posted - that has lead me to some fantastic thought-provoking material.

VLN - in particular the iPad User group has been a brilliant source of PD, not only for sourcing recommended apps and lesson ideas - but also for highlighting potential issues and offering invaluable advice around BYOD programmes and app deployment.

That is just a few ways that social media benefits my professional learning.  It’s hard to think what it would be like without it now!

Week 29: Influence of Law and Ethics on Professional Practice

Interesting reading this week - looking at some of the legal and ethical dilemmas that we face as we engage with social media.

Personally, I am an avid user of social media. My Twitter and LinkedIn accounts are a brilliant source of PD for me and I am a regular user of Facebook. My Facebook page was originally set up with the purpose of connecting with friends and family who I don’t get to interact with that often. It was also set up to share photos and little anecdotes about my growing children - particularly appreciated by the grandparents and family who live overseas! Over time my Facebook profile has become a precious online journal that the kids and I often look back on and reflect.

I can also see the benefits of social media in the classroom. Immediately it can generate an authentic audience for the student’s creations. An audience that can provide instant feedback and interactions at a global level. Now that’s exciting! Many schools find Facebook as the most effective way of reaching their parent community through online communication.

With so many potential benefits, I’m against the notion of banning social media in primary schools. I also am aware that our children are surrounded by social media, this is the world they live in and something that they will engage with (either now or in the future) - so I see that ethically - we have an obligation as teachers to teach our children how to engage with social media in ways that add value to their learning and social interactions - in a safe and responsible manner. In the NZ Code of Ethics for Certified Teachers, under ‘Commitment to Learners’ it states that we should strive to “encourage learners to think critically about significant social issues” and “promote the physical, emotional, social, intellectual and spiritual wellbeing of learners”. I think that the use of social media provides a platform and opportunity for these important conversations to take place in the classroom.

Dilemma: Teacher Personal Use of Social Media - Accepting Friend Requests from Students

When I had my first friend request from a student I was delighted. This was a student who I had taught several years ago and had just started her university study. I admit to enjoying the opportunity to see what my students were up to later in life, what they become, their achievements - something we often miss out on as teachers when our students move on.

At the time I thought I had all of the risks of accepting students as Facebook friends covered. Looking at the School Docs policy around staff personal use of social media - I thought I had ticked all of the boxes:



From SchoolDocs:http://www.schooldocs.co.nz

I had been mindful of my audience every time I had posted to Facebook in the past (especially given my family elders and in-laws were included in my audience!) so I was happy for my students to see any of these posts. I had also set up a group in my privacy settings that restricted the content that certain people could see and interact with.

What I hadn’t anticipated were some of the issues that later came to light:

1. Photos I was unexpectedly tagged in
Didn’t see this one coming. Hadn’t considered the photos/content that my friends might post and tag me in…. Yes those alcohol induced moments that you never anticipate being shared out of context!

2. Inappropriate content being posted by the students
I could cope (only just) with the poor spelling and grammar - although did wonder where I went wrong in my teaching!!! ;) What I made me really uncomfortable and confronting were the sexually provocative photos that my young female ex-students were posting publicly - along with so much personal information - including phone numbers. These students were practically adults now - so in some respects this was none of my business - however - I still felt that ethically as their teacher (whether it be past or present) I had a responsibility to warn them of the dangers … but how do you go about approaching this with an 18 year old!

3. Friend requests from students under 13
Then there emerged the problem of friend requests from students under the age of 13. This one was a little easier to tackle although in many cases it was the parents who had set up their accounts. For this one I drew the line and did not accept friend requests from these students - but ethically I felt I needed to take this further - particularly given that we have a responsibility as teachers for the wellbeing of our students. At the time we had issues with other social media tools - Instagram and Snapchat. This lead to an open conversation with the students around the use of social media. I was open about my own dilemmas that I had faced and posed a range of scenarios for the students to think about. We also made use of the Netsafe resources and talked through the concept of a digital footprint. Also recognising the importance of involving the parents in this discussion (Code of Ethics - Commitment to Parents/Families/Whanau) - our school held a cybersafety education evening for parents and we promoted the use of the Netsafe resources for parents.


Again, I see the importance of being open with our students about the dilemma’s we face in our use of social media and use them as opportunities to think critically and engage in those important conversations around how we can overcome those challenges, protect ourselves and reap in the benefits that social media use can afford.

Week 28: Indigenous Knowledge and Cultural Responsiveness in my Practice

“Cultural responsiveness is much more than introducing myths or metaphors into class. It means interacting with their families to truly understand their reality; it means understanding the socio-political history and how it impacts on classroom life; it means challenging personal beliefs and actions; and, it means changing practices to engage all students in their learning and make the classroom a positive learning place for all students”

Earl et al (2008) as sited in the Tātaiako - Cultural Competencies for Teachers of Māori Learners

In reflecting on my own beliefs around indigenous knowledge and culturally responsive pedagogy I was interested to hear Russell Bishop talk about the educational disparities around Māori Achievement. In honoring the Treaty of Waitangi, I see it as our duty as educators of Māori students to actively work to address these disparities. This means developing understanding around where our Māori students are coming from, what is important to Māori and their underlying beliefs about learning - valuing what they bring to the classroom. It is about building respectful, positive relationships with the students and their families and constantly inquiring into how to better engage and improve learning outcomes for all students - and as Russell Bishop asserts - this takes professional commitment.

In considering what is important to Maori, I find the six elements of the Effective Teaching Profile (Bishop & Berryman) a useful resource:

Manaakitanga – teachers care for their students as culturally located human beings above all else.
Mana motuhake – teachers care for the performance of their students.
Nga whakapiringatanga – teachers are able to create a secure, well-managed learning environment.
Wananga – teachers are able to engage in effective teaching interactions with Māori students as Māori.
Ako – teachers can use strategies that promote effective teaching interactions and relationships with their learners.
Kotahitanga – teachers promote, monitor and reflect on outcomes that in turn lead to improvements in educational achievement for Māori students.

Reflecting on how my school addresses cultural responsiveness in practice:

Because I have only been teaching at my current school for a short time, I have chosen (for this task) to look at the school where my own children attend and where I am a BoT parent representative - a slightly different hat! The areas I’d like to focus on are around policy development and communication methods - from a BoT perspective.

Policy Development
This is an area that we feel we have improved in significantly over the past few years, in relation to cultural responsiveness. Recognising some major gaps in our understanding, we engaged in a great deal of professional development around better understanding (as a Board) the intent of the Treaty of Waitangi and Māori Achieving as Māori - through Dr Richard Manning (UC) and CORE Education. This also involved an intense review of where we were at as a school and from this a comprehensive Maori Action Plan was developed. This Māori Action Plan feeds directly into our Charter and Annual Plan. As a result we are seeing real traction across the school. There is still a way to go, but there has certainly been improvement and better understanding of our Māori students and teacher actions that can really make a difference. Just some of the actions that have come out of this review process and plan is the establishment of our Whānau group, community-wide cultural celebrations, thriving Kapa Haka group and the inclusion of the cultural competencies in Teacher Appraisal.

With specific policy development, we spent a great deal of time working with our Whānau group and external advisors to develop our ‘Improving Educational Outcomes for Māori’ policy - which informs many of the decisions that we make. Ideally we would like to better engage our Māori community as we work through the policy review process - which leads me to an identified area of improvement …

Communication Methods

Although we made great progress initially as we engaged with external PD providers and our Whānau group, we have since faced challenges in finding the recipe for effective consultation and we think that this is largely due to our methods of communication. Interestingly we have experienced the same concern when engaging with our Asian families. To address this we have identified the area of ‘Effective Communication’ as a strategic priority in our current Charter and have appointed a Community Liaison Facilitator to work with our families to better understand the communication methods that will work for them. We also strive to continue building on the positive relationships that have developed over the past years through our annual cultural activities and group celebrations - that have proven highly successful with huge turn-outs, positive vibe and positive feedback! Really keen to hear what is working well in other schools …