SOCIAL NETWORKING AS AN EDUCATIONAL TOOL

 

SOCIAL NETWORKING AS AN EDUCATIONAL TOOL

 

Web 2.0 has changed the popularity social networking sites which have three defining characters:

·       A profile: it includes the name or nickname of the user or information about the person’s sex, age, location, etc. also, most of them include photographs of the users. Profiles have unique URLs that can be visited directly and updated.

·       Traversable, publicly articulated social network: participants have the ability to list other profiles as friends or contacts.

·       Semi-persistent public comments: participants can leave comments on others’ profiles for everyone to see. These are semi-persistent. Because, they may disappear over some period of time or upon removal.

 

USER GENERATED CONTENT

·       Users have the tools to actively engage in the construction of their experience.

·       Content will be continually refreshed by the users.

·       Many of the new tools support collaborative work.

·       Shared community spaces and inter group communications should contribute to users’ persistence and motivation to learn.

 

THE LIMITATIONS

It is widely known that Critics of users-created content refer to a break down in the traditional place of expertise, authority and input. Also, they say that new technologies encourage a short attention span and lead students to demand immediate answers rather than thinking for themselves.

 

                                                          STUDIES OF STUDENTS BEHAVIOUR

Students who have grown up with digital tools learn differently and demand a more engaging form of education which has led to numerous studies of students behaviours.

Learning characteristics are defined as follows:

1.     study

·       Ability to multitask

·       Preference to learn from pictures, sound and video

·       Preference for ineractive and networked activities

2.     Study

·       Skilled at teamwork

·       Techno savvy

·       Preference for structure

·       Desire for entertainment and excitement

·       Biased toward experiential activities

3.     Study

·       Scanning skills

·       Multi-tasking

·       Processing interrupted information flows

·       Non-linear learning

 

Collaborative learning

Studies demonstrate that cooperative learning online results in higher achievement than individualistic learning. One of the implications of online collaborative work is that educators need to rethink the individualistic foundation of assessment in higher education.

 

Student centered course design

·       Designing a course around the learner’s needs is a cornerstone of open and distance learning where it usually involves passing at least some control to the learner. It is argued that control is a dynamic relationship between independence, power and support.

·       The obvious implication of student-created content is a changing role for the teacher and the educational institution.

·       There is a need for the teachers not only to master the new technologies but also to understand and comprehend on the pedagogical implications.

·       There is a need for the institutions to monitor students access to the technologies and consider what to provide for students and what to leave to social trends to determine.

 

Beyond constructivist theory

·       İt is mostly considered that course design based on contructivist theories of learning is highly compatible with the use of web 2.0 tools.

·       Constructivist curricula chooses an open-ended, negotiable approach which structures activities.

·       The two tenets of contructivism:

1)     Learning is an active process of contructing knowledge rather than acquiring it.

2)     Instruction is a process that involves supporting that construction rather than of communicating knowledge.

·       Communication through the language environment is a key feature of contructivist design.

·       Constructivism suggests that learners create knowledge as they attempt to understand their experiences.

·       Connectivism presents a model of learning that reflects a society in which learning is no longer personal, individualistic theory.

·       From siemens’ perspectives, connectivism:

1)     Learning and knowledge rest in diversity of opinions.

2)     Learning is a specialized nodes or information sources.

3)     Learning may aside in non-human appliances.

4)     Capacity to know more is more critical than what is currently known.

5)     Nurturing and maintaining connections is needed to facilitate continual learning.

6)     Ability to see connections between concepts, fields, ideas is a core skill.

 

 

 

Learning design

·       ıt reflects a shift of focus in course design from an emphasis on providing content to an emphasis on designing activities that help students learn through interaction with sources, ideas and people.

·       Learning designs provide a way of representing learning activities so that course designers can easily identify the essence of a design or learning sequence.

 

OUT-COME BASED DESIGN

Learning outcomes are statements of what students will know or be able to do or what is going to be taught.