A commentary on the potentials of social media applications - Essay Example

?A COMMENTARY ON THE POTENTIALS AND PITFALLS OF SOCIAL MEDIA APPLICATIONS FOR THE SUPPORT OF COLLABORATIVE AND COMMUNITY-BASED LEARNING, DRAWING ON BOTH YOUR OWN EXPERIENCE AND THE RESEARCH LITERATURE Student’s name: Professor’s name: Institution’s name: Course code: Date Table of Contents Table of Contents 1 Introduction 2 Potentials and pitfalls of social media applications for the support of collaborative and community-based learning 4 Potential of social media application for the support of collaborative and community –based learning 4 Expectations about Social Media That Have Arisen From Policy/Practice and Theory Writing 9 From E-Learning to C-Learning? 11 Supporting of experimentation and take up 12 Creation of synergies: 13 Bibliography 19 Introduction The previous five years have resulted to a growing excitement within the community of education about web2.0 technologies. The technology is an umbrella term used to refer to numerous internet applications including wikis, social networking, virtual societies, folksonomies and blogging among others. Even though these applications differ in function and form, all of them share a characteristic that is common. That is, the supporting of interaction that is internet based within and between groups. Web 2.0 technology marks a different isolation from the 1900s internet applications and also the early 2000s internet applications, allowing forms of exchange that are “interactive” rather than broadcast” whereby information sharing is “many-to-many” as compared to one to many. Web 2.0 applications focus around sharing and appropriation of content between community users whose outcome is multiple dimensions of user-driven communication, content recreation and creation and collaboration. Commentators are now talking of a write/read web where individuals can generate easily their own content and also utilize content generated by others. For instance, Wikipedia is unique from the online Encyclopaedia Britanica. This is because, Wikipedia is a document that is open thus being updated, created, refereed and edited by its readers. This has made it derive authority and accuracy from the ever ongoing consensus and discussions rather than depending on a single expert word. Given the significance of collaboration, creation and communication to using of the above named technologies, educationalist have been on the forefront pointing out the web 2.0 potential for enhancing and supporting learning. The education agendas have focused on social software emerging practices. Social software is categorized broadly as software that enables interaction between groups. The most common among individuals are discussion forums that are internet based, dating sites and social networking. From the studies carried out by the Institute for Prospective Technological Studies (IPTS), it was concluded that, new opportunities for modernising and innovating training and education institutions and for purposes of preparing the 21st century learners, could only be achieved through the uptake of social media applications outside settings of formal education (Alan-Mutka 2009, 2010). The increased rates of internet use for mail sending and receiving are a good indicator of the conceived significance of the internet for knowledge and communication. In addition to that, the internet is crucial for information exchange. With the innovation and introduction of multiple applications in social media, interactive and active internet usage has been encouraged and the trend is further developing. The social media applications provide its users with communities and online networks for knowledge exchange and multi-directional communication (Fry 2004, p.305). Moreover, this application allows individuals to share and publish digital content like videos, photos and music. In the current world, the educational use of social software is not well incorporated. As such multiple actions are needed across practice, policy and developer communities prior to it becoming effective and widespread. Thus, the purposes of this paper is to write a commentary on the social media application potential and pitfalls for purposes of supporting a community- based and collaborative learning. In addition to that, the paper will address the social media expectations that have surfaced from policy/ practice and theory writing. Consequently, I will write about my own experience as a social media practical user for collaborating. Finally, I will relate my own experiences to a considerable research literature that concerns their utilization by some students. Potentials and pitfalls of social media applications for the support of collaborative and community-based learning Generally, social media entails democratisation of information. Social media have transformed people from mere readers to publishers of their personal thought. Social in this case have the mechanism used in broadcasting from one to many model to many to many models. In a narrow perspective, social media entails a section of internet based application which is developed from web 2.0 and accommodate user manifested contents. Social media have a significant contribution of social learning. Social learning is the exchange information, idea, and knowledge through friendly interaction. Social media have created a platform where people interact and share idea in a friendly manner. It has created a model where there is two way communications in sharing of ideas. People who are subscribed to the available social media services have the advantage of sharing ideas and opinion from their close and distance friend in a friend manner. As a result of this social media have enriched social learning with platform for interaction and connect different people in an informal manner. As observed by Ala-Mutka, (2009, p.123), social media have a significant contribution in collaborative and community-based learning. There are extremely numerous potential prospects in using social media services in community education and training. On the other hand, there are perceptible pitfalls associated with the use of social media in community-based learning and collaboration. Potential of social media application for the support of collaborative and community –based learning Social media helps in the emergence of information from different various numbers of people. Learners get a variety of information in their field of study which helps them in advancing the quality of their knowledge. According to Boyd and Ellison (2007, p.67), social media necessitates learners with assortment of information. Social media have the potential of instilling the required knowledge to the trainees. The contents availed by social media advances the quality and equity in community based learning. It also necessitates the availability of the required materials. As a matter of fact, community learning can only be effectual if there is plenty of resources and content to the learners. Social media is also known to enrich the digital content for other people to access. It therefore encourages active and participatory community learning approach (National School Boards Association 2007, p.542). Social media have the potential of connecting different learners with the experts and within themselves. This enables them to have high standard education from experts’, researchers’, practitioners, and their peers. Social media is also known to connect learners from diverse ages and social background. Social media for that reason, offers different alternative channels of acquiring knowledge and competent among community learners. The collaboration between learners and the trainers is also facilitated through apposite utilisation of social media in community-based learning. Trainers and trainees in this case pull the available resources together for a common goal (Lin and Huang 2008, p.742). As stated by Brady (2010, p.8), community learning using social media enhances pedagogical innovation. Social media encourages learning based on collaboration and personalisation which is very beneficial to learners. As a result, social media changes the interaction among students and the trainers. Social media have the power of redefining the role of teachers and learners. Teachers change their role from lecturers and instructor to mediators, designers, mentors, and teachers. Learners on the other hand take the responsibility of controlling their learning progression, develops new learning contents and they support each other in their learning activities. Community learners develop their own rule and learning strategy. The change of role among teachers and student helps in improving the quality of community based learning which is very beneficial to learners. According to Wheeler, Yeomans, and Wheeler (2008, p.987), social media enhances improved efficiency and quality of community based outcome and provision. Social media offers variety of tools necessary for community learning. It also involves learners directly in their learning activities and progress. This allows the execution of more effective learning strategy. As stated by (Swan and Shih 2005, p.115), self motivate learning strategy fosters individual performance. As a result, social media cultivate individual aptitude and enhance flexibility in learning and acquiring skills. Wenger (2008, p.56) stated that, social media promotes equality among community learners. All community members have equal rights in the learning fraternity. Social media provides an avenue for participation of every learner including those who are excluded in a community. It also improves incentive and learning desires among the community learners. As stated by (Redecker, Ala-Mutka, Bacigalupo, Ferrari and Punie, 2009, p 54), social media provides education opportunities outside and inside learning institutions. Social media is as well common in making learning morbidity a reality among community learners as well as making learning a lifelong activity. It supports lifelong learning through providing accessibility of different learning material to the community members. It also offers dynamic and flexible environment for learning which complements preliminary training. The collaboration and interaction among different community learners and teachers who are geographically apart is also enhanced by social media. Social media such as twitter and face books have potential of overcoming space and time barriers. The connection between people from different social setting advance the quality of education offered to community based learning. Pitfalls of Social Media Applications for the Support of Collaborative and Community-Based Learning Despite of the potential benefits social media services have in enhancing collaborative and community based education, they have various shortcoming in community based education. Access to internet among different communities is one of the main pitfalls facing the introduction of social media in community learning. There are some communities which do not have access to internet. A research conducted by Smith in America in 2009 indicated that, very few people in America community subcultures have basic digital skills required in accessing social media like podomatic, twitter and thikbinder in community-based learning. Insufficient knowledge on digital skills and limited access to ICT has also been reported to be the main barrier in enhancing collaboration among learners themselves and their trainers. On the other hand, teachers do not feel comfortable in using ICT in their training activities. Learners on the other hand need to have the proficiency required in social interaction before they benefit from social media services. Abuse of social media can as a result have a daunting effect to community-based learning. Social media have also proved to be ineffectual among individual with physical complications. People with visual problems cannot access social media services. This increases inequity in community based learning. The available alternative tools to cater for people with physical complications are inaccessible to ordinary people who may require community based learning. Teachers may also have a problem in changing their role as teachers as required for when using social media services in learning. Teacher may therefore be in deficient with the required training, methodologies, and tool to facilitate their assumption of their new role in teaching (Lave and Wenger, 2001, p. 67). As stated by Salmon (2005, p 342), some social media like twitter and face book undergo continuous changes over very short period of time. This therefore brings the uncertainty issues on whether the present features accessible in this social media will be available in the near future. As a result of the uncertainty issues brought about by tremendous changes in social media services, the introduction of the same in community-based education can be inappropriate and offensive. On the other hand, expert in the education sectors have raised concern over the privacy and safety available in introducing social media in community-based education (Ozkan and McKenzie 2008, p.272). There are some issues raised due to privacy, reputation, trust, and identity of social media. Some of the most prudent issues are the openness of social media services. As a result of this, it is complicated to employ social media applications in community-based learning. Learners have to ensure the dignity and respect of their learners is well upheld. The rules of conduct in the education sector need to be addressed in applying social media service in the education sector. Normative theory of education The normative theory of education explains the requirements in education sectors. People attend education institution for different reasons. On the other hand, different organisation provides education for different reasons. Therefore, normative theory explains the standard, goals, and norms of educations. In reference to this theory, the application of social media services should be in line with the norm, values and standards of education sector. Any services which will fall short of education norms should not be accepted. According to the theory, different level of education have different acceptable standard. Social media services should be effective to abide by the set standards. Expectations about Social Media That Have Arisen From Policy/Practice and Theory Writing In most countries around the globe, United Kingdom (UK) included, there exists a shift in terms of emphasis at the policy level (Cohen & Hill 2001, p.350). Researchers and policy makers have focused their views on the content the school going children are taught. Their major concern is how best they can enable the students learn. Most of the policy initiates are skewed towards recognizing that we are leaving in a dynamic world. As such, the world is changing rapidly and the young individuals leaving learning institutions cannot expect to be confined within the same carrier or the same work sphere for the whole of their lives (Owen et al, 2006, p.2). Similarly, as the manufacturing industries are decreasing in the western side of the world, it is expected that the young people should compete in terms of knowledge rather than industrially or economically (Kitto & Higgins, 2003, p.25). As a result, these trends need to be cautiously approached as they have inflamed the increased emphasis in education policy. This will support young individuals to understand how to learn for purposes of allowing them and societies to compete effectively in the global knowledge economy. The above beliefs have been viewed to underpin various strategy documents and education policy initiatives in the UK. These are such as enjoyment paper and influential excellence, harnessing technology strategy and the five year strategy for learners and children (DIES 2005). These documents have been perceived to offer an overview to various approaches that are radical to educating young individuals. In that case, institutions of learning might be reconfigured from institutions that are monolithic to resources operating across multiple dimensions of domains. The domains are such as school, home and community. As a matter of fact, educational practices might prioritise reflection and collaboration on process rather than content knowledge acquisition (Boyd 2007, p.235). Furthermore, educational objectives might be re-imagined as bespoke and personal rather than “one-size-fits-all” and mass-industrial. At the central point of these visions are the collaboration, personalisation and learning to learn themes. My argument is that, for the above visions to be achieved fully there is need for digital technologies. The digital technologies need to be exploited for purposes of enabling learners to learn jointly through collaboration and build new knowledge. This raises the question of what is new in the web technology. Even though people compare the web to an advertising brochure, its initial use was as a form of social software. It was used as a tool for sharing and discussing experimental findings by physicists. However, in the current years, due to various developments known as “web 2.0’, individuals have come to witness a revitalization of the idea with the emergence of resources, tools and practices that have facilitated social interaction and collaboration. The activities carried out on the web which includes wikis, web logs, sharing cites, social book marking and contact sites have helped people to keep themselves updated with the goings on the web through syndication. This is realized through sharing of ideas between individuals where one writes a comment and gets a feedback from the fan fiction readers and writers. The use of social and interactive sites has made me wonder if they will allow us to comprehend education policy tentative visions around the globe. This has resulted to various suggestions from individuals. For instance, some have suggested that, the use of web 2.0 will eventually lead to e-learning 2.0 culminating to a rethinking of the correlation between learning and technology, to the establishment of educational practices that centrally places the learners via the development of community-based, collaborative and learning experiences. For purpose of exploring this issue further, it is essential to concentrate on the principal theme of shifting potentially in the thinking from ‘e-learning to ‘c-learning. From E-Learning to C-Learning? Call it communicative learning, community learning or collaborative learning, its main objective is to emphasize that learning is a process that is social. According to (Lemke 2002) in his view to re-engineer education, he came up with suggestions on how individuals learn in an environment that is contemporary. The suggested ways are such as, reading of a book or surfing the web for information, asking an expert or a friend for an explanation, tinker with things and as an individual try to figure out what they mean, getting a group together for purposes of finding an answer or making something happen, watching other people doing something and try it on your own, exploring a territory that is new with a company or alone, interacting with people, making and writing diagrams, movies, multimedia and music, Inventing ideas or new things of your own, comparing different experiences and different ideas, asking questions such as hoe else, how and why? All these activities involve the interaction with various people via conversation or engaging in ways individuals have portrayed their ideas in the media. This perspective of learning is a process of diverse and rich experiences and encounters thus suggesting that, “it takes a village to teach a child.” In the light of the above, if collaboration, learning to learn educational personalisation experiences is the centre of the recent agendas of education, we need to identify ways of allowing young people to collaborate with, come into contact with and learn amongst themselves and other people. Social media is all about bringing individual’s ideas and minds into contact. This is already happening in the globe outside schools creating what is known today as global village. This makes one asks himself, has the curriculum changed with the emergence of social media? This calls for policy implications which have been suggested by various policy makers. The policies are aimed at addressing the strengths and weaknesses experienced while utilizing media for educational purposes. Policy implications Supporting of experimentation and take up In that case, learning 2.0 should incorporate a joint vision which helps in guiding and taking up of stakeholders through advising them on how to accrue all the social media benefits for learning. In addition to that, they will acknowledge how to implement and use tools of social media and how they can address security, safety and privacy concerns. Furthermore, encouraging stakeholders on how to utilize the learning 2.0 approaches will help in promoting inclusion and equity. Encouraging Teachers The policy should devise strategies that acknowledge the principal role of teachers in promoting new teaching and learning approaches. These approaches are to empower teachers to be creative and innovative while using social media for educational tasks. The teachers can also use the social media to provide measures and networks that are supportive for learning new approaches and skills. The policy should also come up with or propose incentives for encouraging teachers to play a role that is active in transforming training and education. Catalysing the Institution Efforts There is need to formulate strategies that support organizational change. In addition to that, they should provide guidelines that are practical in easing the level of training and education institutions transformation. Revising the Assessment Strategies A controversy should exist on matters concerning the function and the role of assessment, accreditation and certification in order to accrue the social media benefits. This allows or necessitates for varied assessment forms. As a starting point, the European Qualification Framework new approaches, recognition opportunities and social assessment should be taken into consideration. Creation of synergies: There is need to foster dialogues between practitioners, researchers and decision makers. The main aim of doing that is to investigate and monitor the continuous developments, gathering evidence of sufficient and successful practices and suggesting viable steps for the landscape of European Educational Influences In summary, various evidences claims that social media are significant in affecting the manner, in which individuals create, find, learn and share knowledge via opportunities in the rich media and in collaborating with one another(Edmond 2005, p.367). These practices form the major component of education and training. This is because they help in promoting the competences necessary for participating in a society that is knowledge based and acquiring of a job. Strengthening of training and education, new skills acquisition and lifelong learning are considered to be the critical drivers of social and economic performance of Europe. Various organisations including the Brussels think-thank and the “ Lisbon Council” are debating on how they can effectively address the social media challenges on a broader front basing on the social consensus revolving around skills which are perceived to be the Europe’s future(Lisbon Council 2009). European training and education systems should embrace innovative learning and social media practices and opportunities that have been enabled by the emergence of new technologies for purposes of keeping them up with change and preparing learners for the whole of the 21st century. Personal Experiences as a Practical User of Social Media for Collaborating Social media does not only entail conversations but it also includes collaborations. Various social applications help people in networking with other people the world over. Social media application includes magazines, the internet forums, weblogs, twitter and facebook. Social media applications have become very popular with the people due to its benefits. However the use of these social media applications has various disadvantages that come with it. Social media applications have enabled the coming together of many people especially in the education sector (Finkelstein, 2010, 24). File sharing has enabled students to share knowledge through the process of collaboration. A student is able to obtain a file from a friend and this can enable students to acquire knowledge. Blogs enables students to share their experiences as well as being able to start a discussion through which it enables them to gain knowledge. Through these discussions, students are able to solve issues that they face in the education system. The use of the collaborating tools enables all the students to access all the learning materials equally without any bias. This feature therefore enables students to share knowledge equally without any disparities. Lucy (2009, p. 24) points out that in the communication and technology sector, social media applications help in improving learning amongst the students. Through advertisements an institution is able to inform its potential students on the availability of courses together with their costs. De Klerk (2009, p. 1) points out that various applications such as weblogs enables an institution to display a wide range of the courses it offers thus the students can easily view the available courses offered by the institution. The internet is full of people who do not reveal their identity thus it becomes difficult for a potential customer to verify the sender of the information as being genuine or not. Balas (2011, p. 40) affirms that some applications like wired PR works which is a social mobile application that enables students and teachers to access various tips, thoughts and strategies that helps students to prosper, strengthening the student’s knowledge base as well as keeping in touch with other institutions especially in sharing information. Sharp (2011, p. 30) points out that an institution is able to learn how other existing institutions are doing academically. Geographical locations enable a learning institution to import important ideas that are very beneficial to the performance of students. However for an individual to be successful in using the social media applications one should be in a position to understand how these applications work, and should also have the technical know- how for them to fully realize the benefits of these social media applications (Dumas, 2002, p. 250). Social networking is becoming prominent among the learners in that social applications give the qualities of a good and official technology in education. Social applications like Facebook enable a learner to get feedback and be able to match various social contexts of learning. Various scholars who have the same dilemma can interact together and share information thus helping each other in solving their problems (Wang, 2011, p. 192). Young people are also the most prominent group of people that use the various networking media like Facebook, twitter and you tube to exchange various ideas in the real world. The negative impacts of social media applications cannot be ignored. The student learner might decide to use the social media applications negatively. An application like face book and twitter can be used by a student in other sectors that are not related to education for example using the application to interact with other students on the current fashion trends (Dickson & Holley, 2010, p. 470). The students can use the social media applications to tarnish the name of their institution as well as that of their staff members. These students can post information on the social site that will be highly detrimental to the institution’s image (Hemetsberger & Reinhardt, 2006, p. 188). Campbell and Poeter (2008, p.20) states that the use of social applications is supposed to be fun rather than being hectic on an individual whether he or she is a teacher or a student for learning purposes thus if any social application is hectic on an individual therefore it is a waste of valuable time since no benefit will be realized. Many people consider the various social media applications available in the market as a waste of time especially to the youth who only visit various social networking sites to pass time and do nothing serious. Various scams and harassments are also rampant in the social media applications. Some various sites apply varied measures to ensure that the sites are safe for the people who access it but some form of harassment, cyber-stalking, and online scams can still be experienced. Various people are good at hacking information therefore they can easily acquire some private information like passwords thus being able to interfere with information (Duffy & McKean, 2004, p. 8). Caldwell (2006, P. 26) states that the information shared through the internet cannot be trusted since the sender of the information is anonymous thus it becomes difficult to verify the validity of the information. Information from an anonymous individual cannot be easily trusted thus any individual who depends on the social media application and that his identity cannot be verified will be difficult to establish trust among other students (Lager, 2006, p. 16). Being the director of information technology schools in Michigan, I have used social media several times in making people aware of the school programs. From using the social media services, I have learned and experienced several positive and shortfalls of social media in my advertisement. I first used twitter in 2010, to advertise a newly introduced course in the institution. There was high number of people who turned up for the interview to study in the school. On the other hand, it was the cheapest form of advertisement I have ever used. It cost me very limited amount of resources (Duffy & McKean, 2004, p. 8). The people who applied to study in my school were elite from urban areas. The encouraging outcome motivated me greatly to use social media services in my advertisement. In the recent years, I have been using social media in advertising new programs in the institution. However, there are some pitfalls I have noted in my advertisement exercise. To start with, social media is only popular to the elites who reside in urban areas. Individual who are less competent with information technology cannot access social media services. On the other, not everyone who sees the advertisement takes it seriously. This is because of the perception created to the social media services regarding its application. Social media applications is very critical in the world today since organizations are able to integrate these applications to their benefit for instance education has been boosted through the exchange of information in the various social applications available like twitter and face book. The protection of the social media application users should be improved as this improved protection will help in enhancing and protecting the flow of information through the network. Many people will feel free to share ore information that is educative to the rest of the users. The development of various technologies that bear the integration and interoperability of data and information is important. The application of the social media in education system might challenge the technology sector to generate technology that can handle the integration and interoperability which might be too complex for various institutions to achieve and manage (Wang, 2011, p. 192). Conclusion The invention of social media can be referred to as one of the most effective invention in the information sector. It has a profound tribute in uniting people from different world geographical regions. Some of the frequently used social media services include twitter, face book, think binder, spring note, and podomatic among others. According to my own experiences, social media services are very effective in education, social, political, and economic sector. Its impact on community-based learning is exceptionally paramount and realistic. Its execution in education sector has to a great extent enriched this sector through inclusion of new technologies, ideas as well as encouraging participation among all involved players. Social media have the potential of enhancing collaboration in community based education. Learner can effectively interact within themselves and with their tutors. On the other hand, there are some pitfalls association with the introduction of social media in community based education. Some of the pitfalls in can tarnish the image in the sectors. They can also dissuade the attainment of the intended goal of community based learning. 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