Social and Collaborative Media: Tools and Strategies for Today’s Educator

James Surowiecki captures the power of social media technologies in his book, The Wisdom of Crowds (2005). His premise is succinct: “Large groups of people are smarter than an elite few, no matter how brilliant—(They are) better at solving problems, fostering innovation, coming to wise decisions, even predicting the future.” Although ‘group power’ is not an entirely new concept, thanks to social media, the definition and function of a ‘group’ is changing. Traditional institutions such as schools and libraries as well as educators around the world are at the forefront of this discussion and are being forced to revisit the new learning demands on a daily basis. Having examined ample evidence of the, “social media rubber” meeting the demands of today’s , “educational road” from several of today’s leading social media contributors and their websites, blogs, podcasts and wikis, one can easily conclude that traditional education/ role of educators and students today is indeed rapidly changing. The questions for me throughout this investigation however are 1) Is education changing for the better or for the worse and 2) How can educators (at all levels) use this technology to improve learning?
Sarah Robbins Bell believes that social media technology provides a way to open our classrooms, our students and ourselves to the world. She believes that if we don’t find ways to integrate technology, our students will find the way forward without us. In her podcast at the EDUCAUSE Conference in 2008, http://hosted.mediasite.com/mediasite/Viewer/?peid=5eb9cd4798a4488288e0b6d117f5c99c Bell recognizes the desire of many colleges and universities to hold onto the concept of lifelong learning by simply providing access to a high quality education. However, because learners and social media technologies are changing the way students and teachers interact, she says that institutions have to change their thinking and embrace technology vs. limit access to it. She specifically warns that, “If we are not careful, social media will replace us.”
She brings this point home by contrasting the major differences between traditional higher-ed and social media networks suggesting that while education institutions provide the credibility that many seek in the form of a diploma, social media provides the day to day interactions and collaborations that many of us use along the way and throughout our learning lives. The bottom line for Bell is that social media technology offers new forms of communication; “ad hoc” education if you will, on a scale that we have never seen before. In addition, social media gives everyone a voice (even those hard to reach students) and it’s always “on.” I connect most with Bell on 2 things here: 1) We educators cannot continue to believe that we alone control access to formal knowledge 2) We should encourage learning independence for our students and view technology as a tool or gateway to learning. Although educators don’t necessarily create the technologies we use, we can teach students to use them effectively and apply critical thinking skills.
As an educator I will use technology to communicate with parents and to collaborate more effectively with my peers. I see an opportunity here to leverage social media groups to more effectively communicate whether it’s extending the lesson, homework assignments or projects or research that’s relevant to our daily work. I believe in lifelong learning and feel that the best way to encourage learning is to provide students/families and colleagues with access to information, communication and guidance or support along the way. Although technology has limits, it provides us with a way to communicate more effectively, differentiate learning for our students, encourage discovery and establish the classroom as a learning community.
Steve Hargadon furthers this discussion during his podcast on the value of Web 2.0 technology to help educators ( http://www.portical.org/podcasts/social-networks-%e2%80%94-a-framework-of-tools-part-1-of-4/176.htm ), supporting the use of (Web 2.0 wikis, blogs) in and out of the classroom to develop and sustain cost-effective, global, bi-directional communication. Although he recognizes the limitations for teachers (access to technology, limited time, cost), the benefits for him far outweigh the concerns.
With the advent of web 2.0 technologies such as blogs, wikis and the NING.com environments, educators and students have an ability to engage in or create their own virtual community of learners. In addition, social media/networking provides a way of accessing each other, more flexibility, and more access to information. I have recently become a member of a first year 5th grade teacher community and am thrilled to have found a community I can belong to that share many of my questions, hopes and ideas.
Libraries and librarians (to my constant surprise) are at the center of these discussions too. The need to integrate with social media in their world seems much like a life or death situation. In other words, it’s not a question of if you use social media it’s how often. In 10 Ways Library Schools Should Be Teaching Social Media (http://blog.danielhooker.com/2009/06/23/10-ways-library-schools-should-be-teaching-social-media/) the authors describe the importance of integrating social media in terms of:
1-Promoting Content-“Social media tools bring traffic, and they connect with users who aren’t physically able or necessarily willing to come into the library.”
2-Crowdsourcing – “Social media tools provide unprecedented ways to interact with a large user base with very little effort. “
3-Publishing with Social Tools – “Pushing your openly accessible research out through social media only provides further benefit to those who are following your web presence.”

4-Building Community and Rich Content – “Community has long been an essential part of the library’s function, and it only follows that your library should be doing everything it can to encourage the growth of its user base, both physical and virtual.”

5-Ethics –“Without an understanding of how to separate personal and professional or public and private identities online, it is far too easy to end up excluding or alienating users that normally could have found a home in your library’s online community.”

In my exploration of social media tools, my biggest discovery was the way in which they are being used to find and use research. I was amazed at the depth of the collaboration particularly in regards to the creation of open source curriculum that is underway worldwide. There were 3 sources in particular that really helped expand my thinking on these topics:
1-Twitter as a Learning Tool – Really (http://www.astd.org/LC/2009/0409_galagan.htm)
The point of social media is to turn learning into a more participatory activity. However make no mistake people; Tweeting is not just about socializing. Twitter is indeed a major player in education (whether it’s a political fight, an event or critical discussion or source for more depth and understanding) and can provide educators with immediate feedback on material, class conversations, additional interests and the need for more support. Twitter allows teachers to quickly post tips, questions, writing assignments, and other prompts to keep the learning going.

A minor concern with Twitter, like any social media technology, is the fact that you have to be careful with what you publish. I do think this for the most part is a minor concern given the educational uses I examined but knowing that what you tweet is open for all to see is an important caution for all users.

2-Global Education Collaborative Twitter Users (http://globaleducation.ning.com/group/twitter)
“The mission of the Global Education Collaborative is to bring people together in order to build the professional relationships necessary for effective collaboration related to global education topics.”
3-World Wide Workshop (http://www.worldwideworkshop.org/)
An example of open source information is The World Wide Workshop. They are “a global foundation for developing open-source applications of social media technology and game production, to enhance learning, innovation, entrepreneurship, and an understanding of the world in economically-disadvantaged and technologically-underserved communities.”

“The GLOBALORIA program uses open source social media and Web2.0 technology to empower youth, educators & professionals to create, collaborate, contribute and lead in today's digital and globalized world.
Participants learn thorough creating original interactive media, simulations and web-games with social and educational purpose. In this process they learn content, technology and livelihood skills.”
I was most impressed with the scale of these 2 open source organizations. It was amazing to discuss just how accessible and relevant (not to mention) open sourced information can be.

Whether or not James Surowiecki, Sara Robbins Bell, Steve Hargadon and a worldwide community of social media devotees are right about the power of the group or not, one thing is for sure, the role of education and the demands for information on a global scale is changing because of social media technology. Having reviewed what I would consider only the tip of the social media iceberg, I believe that we educators must thoughtfully evaluate and incorporate the technologies that we feel are most relevant to our learners and our objectives in the classroom. That’s not a cop out by any stretch. I believe that our value as educators is to make students/colleagues/communities aware of what’s available (technology wise) and use critical thinking skills (that transcend technology), to engage in exploration. Like Sara Robbins Bell, I believe that we should not should not fear technology or hope to maintain a monopoly on access to education. We should open our classrooms and ourselves to a world of learning.
To do this, I will personally use a variety of social media technologies such as NING communities and Twitter and Diigo to identify groups, ideas and resources to enhance learning and communication. I will use Blogs and Wikis to manage projects, share information and communicate with students/families/colleagues outside of the classroom. I will use and create podcasts, Facebook accounts, Skype calls to participate in educational activities outside of the traditional learning realm. Most succinctly, I will embrace technology as a tool for communication and collaboration.
Sara Robbins Bell says it best, “all communication is education.” While true, this can backfire. We have to be careful and know that technology has its limitations. Sources like Twitter, Wikipedia, Facebook, are not always credible sources. To this point, I believe that if we are going to make students aware of technology and encourage investigation and exploration it is our responsibility to serve as their guide on that journey. As an educator and technology user I hope to 1) use these technologies myself with my classes and collages and in that way serve as an example to them and 2) educate my students on these technologies and how to use them in a safe and appropriate manner. I will commit to experimenting and sharing what I have learned with others.
There are certainly roadblocks to using technology. They include: time to learn them (let’s face it we are not all lifelong learners), access (our schools block several of the technologies I listed here), cost, immediate gratification/adoption, lack of control can certainly be hindrances. However, like Steve Hargadon I think the positives here far outweigh the negative.