Social Media in the Classroom

Social media refers to various technologies and tools that facilitate collaborative knowledge development, so it's hard to relegate to comfortable, clear roles within a classroom. Most of us are quite aware of the growing body of research on multitasking--rather, on our inability to actually do that, and the risks that come with allowing or encouraging device use in classrooms. 

Here's the thing, though: our students are comfortable with social media. PEW updates the demographic breakdown of social media use every year, and while it might be tempting to argue that some students are less native to this technology, the numbers show otherwise. If we can leverage social media to our advantage in educational settings, shouldn't we? 

So: how do we balance the risks (distraction, disorganization) with the benefits (collaboration, constructed learning)? 

YouTube

Especially in our fields, social video platforms like YouTube offer the opportunity to create digital narratives. In composition courses, students can create their rhetorical texts in a medium that works for their target audience; or, in literature courses, YouTube projects can allow students to restory (Thomas, 2016) an old narrative, and allow the students to "writ[e] themselves into existence" (330). In other words, projects like the Pemberley Digital adaptations of Austen's works can offer a model for updating what seem like archaic, unapproachable texts for students. 

Whether writing or rewriting, YouTube is a venue through which our students can construct their own understanding of text within their own rhetorical moment. 

Getting Started  Since YouTube is owned by Gmail, and our school uses Google Apps, this is yet another tool that's easy to integrate with those your students already use--including Canvas, which enables embedding of YouTube content in wiki pages and discussion threads. Their school GMail accounts come with an associated YouTube account, and simple videos can be created right within the platform. Most phones come equipped with sufficient audio and visual recorders, but hardware can also be checked out from Morgan Library. I would recommend starting with a small project, completed as a class, before assigning individual or groups of students more formal assignments.

Additional Resources: 

• Sample Student submission in a digital argument class
• 6 Tips for Successful Mobile Video Assignments in the Classroom
• Thomas, E.E. & Stornaiuolo, A. (2016). Restorying the self: Bending toward textual justice. Harvard Educational Review, 86(3). 313-338.

Twitter

Twitter is often used as a communication tool (Tang)--as Antero often recommended. However, if you (like me) also feel this can be disorganized and chaotic, there are many other options for integrating Twitter in our classes. For composition courses, microblogging can be an effective choice for communicating text to target audience in a participatory environment: this can be an object lesson for exploring Ede and Lunsford's discussion of modern audiences roles. Multiple composition courses could even benefit from engaging in Twitter conversations about course content (Tang) or sharing training and support opportunities for similar projects. 

In literature courses, Twitter can be another way to restory our primary texts. A group of my students once created an account for Swift's Gulliver, to capture his wanderlust in bite-size reactions to Laputa's oddness (I wish, I wish this account still existed for me to show you, but alas even my records have evaporated with the move from Blackboard to Canvas). Students also might explore author context or character motivations through taking on a pseudonymous Twitter handle. 

Getting started  Twitter is a separate tool, but it's quite easy to set up: twitter.com, create a handle and password, start tweeting. It integrates with visual microblogging platforms like Instagram and Tumblr, so the opportunities for multimedia text help to explode the character limitations. You also might consider using a secondary tool like Storify or TweetDeck to help students keep track of tweets over time, and collect them for future reference. Most importantly: create a class hashtag and use it.

Additional resources: 

• @Shakespearehttp://www.chronicle.com/blogs/profhacker/shakespeare-using-twitter-for-student-questions/35968
• Informal weekly check-in assignment
• Twitter in Literature classrooms
• Tang, Y. & Hew, K.F. (2016) Using twitter for education: Beneficial or simply a waste of time? Computers and Education, 106. 97-118

Facebook

Lastly, the one we all love to hate when we see it on student screens. Facebook, perhaps because it has so many features, offers many channels for students learning and engagement. Manca and Ranieri (2016) suggests that it's particularly helpful for reminding students that learning is not separate from the rest of their lives, and Callaghan and Fribbance (2016) suggest this is even more true for online students. Our department's presence on the platform aligns more with the latter, but there's room to consider Facebook for class assignments in the same vein as those that lend themselves to other social media platforms. 

Perhaps a group page allowing a composition group to publish their final argument text? Using Facebook literacy to teach larger principles of rhetorical analysis? Or a page dedicated to author or character explorations. Or even a class page where micro-assignments like weekly check-ins can land, or students can share additional outside resources found in their own investigations.

Getting Started  If you're not on Facebook already, you may not know that personal pages are required by user agreement to be your real name: this can make distinguishing your personal Facebook presence from your teacher persona pretty difficult. It may be more useful to set up dedicated pages or events for specific assignments, and set your own privacy settings to keep students from seeing your personal page.

Additional Resources:

• Facebook for Rhetorical Analysis
• Comparing Digital Genres: an exercise in rhetorical analysis
• Callaghan, G. & Fribbance, I. (2016). The use of facebook to build a community for distance learning students: A case study from the Open University. Open Learning: The Journal of Open, DIstance, and e-Learning, 31(3). 260-272.
• Manca, S. & Ranieri, M. (2016). Is facebook still a suitable technology-enhanced learning environment? An updated critical review of the literature from 2012-2015. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 32(6). 503-528.

One more thing

Whatever platform you use or recommend for students, remember to scaffold your assignments to highlight learning goals. Just as with other digital tools like the collaborative writing options described in the last post: students need clear guidelines and lots of extra support. Even when they're already comfortable with social media in a personal and/or informal environment, they'll need some guidance in shaping texts that adhere to the course goals and guidelines.