Social Media: Sin or Salvation?

Social media! In classrooms! That has to be the most ridiculous thing ever to have been suggested. If you believe this statement then you should probably not even bother reading any further, unless you want a whole new world opened for you.

All over the world social media is a form a communication and carrying across information. Everyone thought the world became small when air travel across continents became an everyday thing...but with social media the world is even smaller now.

There is no need to be concerned about students being on facebook/twitter during class time if cell phones are allowed, as many of them are anyway on some sort of social media during class time. Not necessarily in all schools or universities but generally people are busy with some sort of electronic device all the time.

For an education system to really work and be effective we (as teachers) need to be able to connect with the learners and teach them in a way they can relate to. I like technology and I enjoy using various social Medias to watch videos, read the news, and catch up on sport, weather, and other people’s news and life events. So next year (2017) I am planning on teaching which means that I will not be a lot older than the majority of the learners that I will teach. This then makes sense that I and the learners will both enjoy using social media in class so it would probably be a good idea to using social media to ensure the best pedagogical experience.

My specialisation subjects are Natural Sciences and Life Sciences. Science is an ever-changing field and therefore one needs to be careful of stagnating in it. In essence if you want to be successful science teacher you need to make the learners aware of changes occurring daily. An example of this could be the discovery of gravitational waves. This type of work will not be in the curriculum but by using technology (computers and the internet) it will be possible to show them on the news in class about the latest discoveries.

Another idea that could help learners in your class could be to set up a twitter account and then post information on twitter. For example what homework is due and when. By doing this the learners are able to engage with one another as well as with the teacher. If you are able to have more teachers at the school that are also interested in using technology and social media – one can tweet during class time to another class. If there are no facilities to tweet you could improvise by using stick notes and writing your tweets (answers) to a specific question on there. That could then be taken to the class next door and then the two classes can engage in that way.

In natural sciences when something like photosynthesis is discussed, YouTube videos can be shown of the different experiments regarding photosynthesis. I feel that this approach will keep learners interested and excited for coming to class and learning.

Google/twitter/YouTube/facebook is really wonderful things and if we as teachers make use of them so often, then learners should have the opportunity too. With all things in life there are limits and even although social media can be used for the wrong reasons – it is impossible to protect children forever from the outside world. Therefore the sooner they realize that there is more to internet and social media than what they know (in terms of engaging and learning) it will result in them using it more responsibly too.

I would definitely want to use different forms of teaching in my class as it is something I would have liked to have.

What is digital pedagogy and its importance ?

Teaching is one of the broadest and most rewarding disciplines. When one thinks back to your own schooling career various types of teachers jump into mind – strict, fair, unfair, likable, boring etc. People often misunderstand the concept of what a teacher is and often even teachers do not understand their occupation fully.  

By now it is known that pedagogy can be expressed in various ways. According to my own definition it is the process of teaching and learning simultaneously. Wikipedia states that it is the method and practice of teaching. Another website says that it is the function or work of a teacher. This all has some truth but an article by Sean Morris defines pedagogy as praxis. Pedagogy is thus a very large concept to fully understand. It is not merely teaching or learning or the act thereof, but it is the place where philosophy and practice meet.

So taking into account the confusion of the word ‘pedagogy’ imagine the confusion relating to ‘digital pedagogy’. Digital pedagogy is not teaching online. Showing videos, Power Points and using the internet in a classroom is not digital pedagogy. Learning does not necessarily occur by showing a video. One has to really engage in class. To really be able to call yourself a digital pedagogue you need experience and have to have an absolute passion for your discipline, more importantly you need to be able to convey that passion to a group full of learners. Digital pedagogy is complex and not the easy way out when teaching.

One needs to realise that children are all different and therefore have the desire to learn in different ways. I recently watched a Ted Talk video where it was documented that learners can learn so much from the internet – but they also need their peers in order to gain more knowledge and insight into certain scenarios. To me passing a subject by having to study from a textbook and write an exam does not test ones knowledge or cognition. Having real knowledge is when you can have discussions about things that are happening around you – a general knowledge. Unfortunately our schooling system still wants learners to study Biology from a textbook, study word for word, write a test and receive a distinction because then you are labelled as clever. Even if you world knowledge but you get 50 % you will be labelled as someone who won’t make it in life.

In a documentary, Testing Hope, it portrays the fear that people have of the word ‘matric – grade 12’. This year literally makes or breaks you.

Digital pedagogy becomes important in all aspects because it equips learners for life. We all know that we forget most things we study for an exam. I only remember facts when I have had time to research it and find different ways of looking at it. We as the future teachers of South Africa need to start taking digital pedagogy more seriously as we need to shape future leaders, politicians, economists, teachers and accountants to name a few. 

Tools and technology will no longer limit the pedagogical process

Pedagogy is the combination of teaching and learning. I had never heard this word until 1 February 2016. Since then I wouldn’t be exaggerating if I say I’ve heard the word at least 15 times a day. This work has a significant meaning once you try and really grasp the concept of what actual teaching entails. Teaching goes a lot further than merely standing in front of classroom and reading out of a textbook. Teaching is the act of preparing young adults for the future, preparing them for obstacles they may encounter and essentially preparing them for the real world. Learning is not as simple as learners which learn for a test or exam. Learning can take place in various forms – the mistake that most people make is thinking that teachers have learnt everything, but the fact that teachers can learn from learners is often overlooked.

Teaching and learning has various facets. This process is able to take place in numerous amounts of ways. I often thought of technology as being expensive and therefore it can be used in affluent schools. This idea of mine was changed when I heard that long ago paper was seen as technology that would revolutionize the world and people were unhappy about it. Technology often has a stigma attached to it.

Whenever we hear the word digital we also automatically think of unaffordable technological devices and think of it as quite impossible to use it in classrooms. On the contrary, digital pedagogy does not have to be anything electronic. Therefore there is not limiting factor when making use of digital pedagogy.

Living in the 21^st century technology is all around us, everyday and everywhere we go. This cannot be denied but not having access to technology in the form teaching and learning does not have to hold one back.  Tools and technology does therefore not have to limit pedagogical creativity. In one of our classes the lecturer illustrated examples how we can use mainstream technology such as twitter or blogs in a classroom where there might not even be an internet connection. Post-it notes can be used to write ideas on and it can be stuck on surfaces such as walls or blackboards, this can then read as tweets by the learners. I liked this idea because it encourages a different way of interacting and sharing ideas.

We need to steer away from the idea that technology is just iPads, laptops, smartphones etc. To me personally technology means anything that is different to how it has been done before- any change that learners have not experience. In essence evolving and using different strategies in a classroom environment. If we want to improve the quality of the learners leaving matric at the age of 18/19 we as teachers need to find better and more innovative ways to capture the minds of our learners. Teaching them to think creatively, critically and out the box is the only way that the future of South Africa will start looking a little brighter. We also need to stop using excuses such as too little resources available to not enhance the pedagogical process.

This also is summed up in an article by Fyfe (2011) where various aspects of pedagogy, digital learning and teaching naked are addressed. In conclusion we shouldn’t allow anything to hold us back as teacher to not allow for the best possible way to teach learners and the future of the world.