According to Mourlam (2013), social media facilitates communication between individuals and groups and allows for the sharing of updates, resources and other information. In the classroom, these traits can be very helpful with making learning more engaging, efficient, and effective.
After using other learning management systems with social media capabilities, I started using Google Classroom this year in my English and creative writing classes. While the platform allows student interaction through posts and comments, the question feature allows for content-focused interaction. The image below is a screenshot of a question with responses that I posted in my English classes with the analysis of the Emily Dickinson poem, “This is My Letter to the World.”
In relation to engaging instruction and to the MAPS heuristic of Hicks (2013), this mode and medium requires each student to engage in the content by responding to the question with text-based evidence. For my purpose of assessing the students’ mastery of inferring main idea, I did not want them to see and be able to respond to each other’s individual responses. I wanted each student response to be valid and not a duplicate. However, once all students had responded and I had quickly reviewed them, I displayed the responses on the projection screen and led a class discussion.
Although my structured use of the question feature was due to my student audience and the situation of having several low-level readers, I could use this question feature in a more engaging manner by making the student responses viewable by other students and by allowing responses to each other. This interaction would better engage the students, and therefore, they would be more likely to master the skill, which is the primary purpose of the activity and interaction, an emphasis in the MAPS heuristic of Hicks (2013). In addition to the technological improvements, I could also improve my wording of the question, which I believe would prevent some of the wording errors in the responses.
Regardless of the delivery choices for a question in Google Classroom, it is an ideal example of how social media can be more engaging with the interactions. Nonetheless, it is also an example of how social media can be used within a few minutes to assess student mastery when traditional pencil and paper assignments can take much more time for students to submit and for teachers to evaluate. This efficiency ultimately leads to better effectiveness.
The following link includes many resources concerning Google Classroom: http://alicekeeler.com/google-classroom/
References
Hicks, T. (2013). Crafting digital writing: Composing texts across media and genres. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Mourlam, D. (2013). Social media and education: Perceptions and need for support. Journal on School Educational Technology, 9(3), 23-28.
Mourlam, D. (2013). Social media and education: Perceptions and need for support. Journal on School Educational Technology, 9(3), 23-28.
I like that you address the use of social media as engaging and efficient. There are not enough hours in most days and efficiency in assessment is important. I agree that social media streamlines communication as a means of clarification through peer engagement. As a means of engagement, educators would be remiss for opting not to utilize social media. I think that it would be interesting to also incorporate Twitter into your Google Classroom. Hicks (2013, p. 142) mentions that he shares tweets by adding relevant hashtags “and sometimes even direct my tweets to a specific other user using “at replies” by mentioning another user with the @ sign and his or her Twitter handle.” I believe students would become even more engaged when using both Twitter and Google Classroom because they would have more opportunity to engage in peer/class discussions which wouldn’t feel so much like school.
ReplyDeleteHicks, T. (2013). Crafting digital writing: composing texts across media and genres. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
I agree with your statement that
ReplyDelete"social media can be used within a few minutes to assess student mastery when traditional pencil and paper assignments can take much more time for students to submit and for teachers to evaluate." Social media allows students the opportunity to create a "living archive of work" (Hicks, p. 153). Students can use technology and social media to respond to an instructors probing or questions in a way that would take longer the traditional way. Social media and social networks are here to stay, we as educators need to jump on board.
Hicks, T. (2013). Crafting digital writing: composing texts across media and genres. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.