Social Learning Tools - Blogs, Twitter and Videos

As a budding educator, I must admit that there is so much more that I need to learn in order to be most effective in providing the necessary skills needed to integrate technology into lessons in an effort to enhance learning. What’s more, as I think about using technology in reflection, I believe there is a little more understanding as to how I can achieve this with the sole purpose of allowing my students to engage in critical thinking reflection no matter the age group. I hope to get to the place where, through reflection in technology I can engage students and allow for collaboration among them which would provide an environment for learning.

I always considered myself to be an expert in PowerPoint and that was the extent of my technological capacity which I know now is not quite enough especially in aiding in reflection. This module spoke to blogs, videos and twitter which can assist in reflection. Before commencing this course, none of these technology tools to which this module referred, would have meant anything to me when speaking about reflection. In one of my classes in my undergraduate studies, I had the opportunity to complete reflections every week, but, these reflections were done the old fashion way, pen to paper.

Out of all these tools learned in this module, blogging remains the way I can definitely see being very useful in reflection. This may be so, as this is the only one to which I am familiar with. I see how it can allow for students to publicly share their thoughts and effectively collaborate with each, all the while learning from each other in a controlled environment.

What was most impactful to me was the article by Boltivets et al. (2018), in which they questioned blogging and its ability to achieve “curricular goals”. Blogging for me, can play an active role in reflection as students are able to provide information and their thoughts on a particular topic in a creative and fun way. In an article by Azizineshad and Hashemi (2011) they sum up blogging as being of a benefit as a teaching tool as it leads to collaboration, discussions and even portfolio material by the student which not only shows what they have learnt but also provides others with their knowledge and experience. On the other hand, it was made clear from some researchers that they do not believe that blogging can lead to individual reflective learning and collaboration as all persons may not have a sense of belonging in a blog space. I laugh as I think about this, because, if not asked to do this in this course, I for one would not have ventured into what I would consider to be the unknown, that of blogging. Being knowledgeable about what it can do, I intend to educate students on the benefits to be derived from such a tool in reflection. Below I have a copy of my blog which I am very proud of, which shows my thoughts on various topics and some of the artefacts that illustrates who I am.

When I saw twitter as a tool used for reflection, I could not possibly understand how, not sure if this is because I do not even have a twitter account or is it because I am thinking this is more a personal form of socializing and may not have a place in education?

Recognizing, as stated by Dewey (1933), that reflection leads to "an act of searching, hunting, inquiring to find material that will resolve the doubt, settle and dispose of the perplexity", I stepped outside of my readings as I dug deeper for an understanding as to why and how to use twitter in reflection. What I learnt was, it can be used to scaffold learning and engage students in critical thinking as noted by Mistry (2011). Hmmmm, though I understand and appreciate that it could be beneficial, I am still not convinced that this is a method I would consider to be used for my students. Twitter for me - not yet. What I need to first do so that I am not one who is considered as stifling students, would be to engage in this form of social networking to gain a better appreciation for what it can do and what I can do to incorporate it in the best possible way into teaching and by extension reflective practices.

I have had the opportunity to prepare and complete many videos, what was confusing to me was how do I reflect on the videos that I did, and similarly, how would I expect students to engage in reflection after completing a video. The Gibbs model, came to mind as this would be able to look at our reflection through the cycle. This would be accomplished by describing what happened, taking a look at what the feelings were at that point, being able to see the good and the bad in the experience, analyzing the situation and concluding by seeing what could have been done differently before putting the plans into action.

As I take a look at this model, one of the elements that stood out to me most is the bad experience I got in completing the video. This was so as I struggled with the form of technology used, this led me to analyze the situation, recognizing that I need to familiarize myself before assignments are due with various forms of technology in an effort to be knowledgeable with these tools. I have shown also what I would do differently as I await the next assignment to put these plans into action.

Below I have shared with you one of my videos that I have created. This video led to much reflection as there is so much that needs to be considered in how this was created. Colleagues, using the Gibbs model, share your thoughts on the reflective cycle using the video as your reflection exercise.

Azizinezhad, M., & Hashemi, M. (2011). The use of blogs in teaching and learning translation. ProcediaSocial and Behavioral Sciences, 28, 867–871.

Boltivets, S., Acharya, S., & Santos, A., (2018) Educational blogging: Implications, benefits and challenges to pedagogical practice.

Dewey, J. (1933). How we think: A restatement of the relation of reflective thinking to the educative process. Chicago, IL: D.C. Health.

Mistry, V. (2011). Critical care training: using Twitter as a teaching tool. British Journal of Nursing, 20 (20), 1292-1296.