Social Media in Teaching & Training
In the Classroom & In the Workplace
Social Media Today
Social media has really become intertwined into so many different platforms, it is no longer simply a facebook page style setup. Learners are interested in technology and social media, which makes it a great platform to be used in the classroom. Instructors must use careful consideration when deciding which social media site best suits their group of learners. Factors to be considered are age, maturity, learning environment, technology availability, and how the social media tool will be used. I explored two social media platforms created for educational use. The first Wikispace Classrooms is optimally designed for K-12 teachers, the second is optimally designed for a workplace setting. Check out the pros, cons, and how the two compare below.
Wikispaces Classroom
- Free for teachers and students
- Ideal for K-12 and Higher Education
- Capability to be school or university wide
- Classroom management system where assignments, announcements, and grades can be posted with an additional social aspect
- Manage all forms of assessments and grade book
- Emphasis on Project Based Learning capabilities
- Ability to create individual, group, or whole class projects and assignments
- Private social space the teacher can monitor
- Social environment is set up as a familiar newsfeed type display
- Teachers can monitor student work live
- Teachers can provide immediate feedback and assistance
- Send student scores, accomplishments, and work samples to parents
- Capabilities for a Flipped Classroom setup
Click Here for More Info on Wikispaces Classroom
Potential Activity using Wikispaces Classroom:
Since Wikispace Classroom emphasizes the platform's project based learning capabilities, I would design an interactive activity for small groups. For example, groups are assigned a theory, problem, or topic and given the rubric for their project. They will then collaborate to research the topic, provide several forms of resources, create a video or other type of presentation to teach other members of the class what they have discovered. These completed instructional presentations can then be housed as a resource for everyone to access to use as study guides.
Showd.me
- Unique peer-to-peer training platform
- Allows employees within a company to connect from anywhere for on demand learning
- Users can find the training they need from another employee with the desired knowledge or skills
- Online training can be one on one, small or large groups
- Ability to video chat, phone chat, share screens, documents, and resources
- Training sessions are recorded and archived for future learners
- Learners can link the social media learning platform to other forms of social media such as Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+
- Ideal for large companies, who may have offices spread across the country or globe
Click Here for More Info on Showd.me
Potential Activity using Showd.me:
Showd.me is all about companies harnessing the skills of their own employees to provide diverse and unique training opportunities. If I were to create a training activity to host on the social platform I would select a topic of interest that I was an expert in and could be beneficial for others. The topic would really depend on the company and the field. Personally, I really enjoy using Prezi as an interesting presentation software for any topic. I would create a training for how to get started with Prezi, all the way through advanced actions. The training would be conducted as a group video conference where learners could ask questions, practice with the tool, share their creations and receive feedback from peers.