In this
post, we will continue to explore how Singaporeans are using social media in their
lives, but this time more specifically in the educational context. Singapore
has always been considered as having a high-performing education system, but
exactly how have we adopted and used social media to support learning in our
system? So I went to google in the hope of exploring cases where educators had
employed Web 2.0 technologies and social media in the classrooms. The results
were interesting and encouraging, and this was what I found:
A
secondary school history teacher is using Edmodo (social learning network) for
his students to upload photo montages about the Cold War, so that they can
showcase their products, share viewpoints and comment on each other’s work at
their own convenience. On the same platform, the teacher also upload resources
and notes, facilitate discussion boards and create quizzes to assess his
student’s understanding.
Another
group of 4 secondary school teachers are bringing social media into the
classroom to help engage their students in literature study. Again, Edmodo is again the preferred tool for students to live out their lives of the main characters
in their literature textbook "Red Sky in
the Morning". They learn by posting status updates on Edmodo as those
characters, and as the story progressed, their status updates had to reflect
the change and growth of the characters. In addition, students also interact
within a closed Facebook group that was specially set up for the class, using
the platform to discuss their literary opinions and share materials.
In a
local university, a professor is using Facebook to teach a Business
Communication Course. A closed group was set up to facilitate the learning
process; the professor had used the platform to connect with his students, share
resources, communicate information and facilitate group discussions.
A
polytechnic math lecturer is using Twitter to send out math problems and asking
the students to “tweet” out the answers, while projecting the responses on a
screen in front of the class in real time.
These are
just some examples of how Singapore educators are employing social media to
support learning in the classrooms.
Do you
identity with any of the strategies above?
In the
context that you are familiar with, are there other interesting social media
strategies that you had come across to support learning in the classroom?
What a wonderful post! As I may have mentioned previously, I have friends living and teaching in Singapore! Professors and high school teachers use Edmodo at home in the Bahamas as well to encourage out of class interaction between students on topics covered in class. Facebook use is common but I've never seen anyone use Twitter. The Twitter segment of our class is a new experience for me.
ReplyDeleteYup I think the reason why Facebook is preferred in most cases is that it is already a pretty matured social media and networking platform where most people are connected with, so by virtue of convenience and its many utilities, educators would favor this tool more than others!
DeleteI think that using twitter to send out math problems is a really awesome way to keep students engaged. Students like to be on their phones and connected at all times. Using twitter in this way could curb their want to be on their phone. I think the only thing to consider when doing that is to make sure students are using their phones to participate rather than communicate with their friends but I'm assuming projecting their answers could help monitor this. Thanks for posting. Such a fun way to use social media!
ReplyDeleteAgreed that it could also be problematic with so many distractions on the smartphone, but I guess educators would have to strike a balance between using such platforms to support learning, and giving the students the space and trust to do the right things!
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