Tom Whitby reminds us that social media is a very powerful tool that can have lasting effects, as we’ve seen with President Trump. Social media is designed for the rapid spread of messages to a global audience. We have witnessed the rapid changes social media has caused within society. As teachers we have been used to slower change, allowing us time to learn and adjust. The speed of twenty first century technology changes expectations of teachers and the teaching profession needs to keep up. The infographic included shows some staggering statistics in relation to social media in 2020.
Seen in a positive light social media fosters collaboration and promotes global conversations. To reap the benefits it requires user involvement. What’s stopping us from building and developing fantastic personal learning networks? For some it means moving from our current comfortable position into an unfamiliar, uncomfortable one. For many of us it means using some of our already precious time to focus on learning and using new skills.
I’m not using social media, but that’s ok…. isn’t it?
If you aren’t having conversations that enhance your learning via social media then you are dependent on face-to-face collaboration with local colleagues. While still very effective, it is limited compared to the global collaboration social media allows. As teachers we are role models for our students, if we aren’t making the effort to continue our professional development what message are we giving them and does that follow through for all your teaching? Our students’ world will change more rapidly than ours and it is critical that we prepare them with the skills, abilities and resilience to participate. If we aren’t immersing ourselves into new technology and staying on the cutting edge of education how will we teach the digital literacy skills these and future students require? As Whitby points out… ‘to better educate our kids, we need first to better educate their educators.’
