using social media for learning & teaching

1. Using Social Software Tools for
Learning & Teaching
Using the
Cloud
Icons by DryIcons

2. Joan Walker & John Maguire
JISC RSC Scotland
Overview of Social Media
Using WIKIs
Using Blogs
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Curating Web Resources
Social Networking

3. WIKIs •Wikipedia
•Wikispaces / Wetpaint
• Blogger / Wordpress / Elgg / Typepad
Blogs / Micro Blogs
• Twitter
Social • Scoop.it / Tumbler / Paper.li
Bookmarking/Digital • Delicious / Diigo/ Digg / CiteUlike /
Curation Stumbleupon
Social Networking • Facebook / LinkedIn / Bebo / Ning
http://www.jiscinfonet.ac.uk/infokits/social-software/index_html

4. WIKIs
• Website which can be edited collaboratively
• A range of media can be incorporated
(text, video, images, hyperlinks)
• All editing is recorded and easy to revert to the previous
version of the wiki
• Good for group activities as changes can be documented
and thought processes recorded
Social Bookmarking / Digital Curation
• Enables storing, organising & sharing favourite websites
• Meaningful keywords added so collections are searchable
• Bookmarks can be shared with students or colleagues
• Sets of resources can be presented in visually stimulating
ways

5. Blogs
• Online journal with chronological posts that are also searchable
• Commenting facility
• Other media can be easily incorporated (e.g. video or images)
• Excellent tool to encourage reflection
• Records distance travelled
• A good tool for building up evidence
Micro-blogs
• Post small pieces of digital content (maximum number of characters)
• Posts followed (by friends, colleagues, students)
• Instant publication with few restrictions
• Portable tool which feels organic and spontaneous
• Good collaboration and information sharing tool
• Can encourage reflection, peer review with the potential to enrich
learning experiences

6. Social Networking
• Users create a profile and make it available to
“friends”
• A network of contacts is built-up
• Tools include blog, photo & video upload, IM & chat
• Now being used more than email
Multimedia sharing
• Photo sharing – Flickr
• Video sharing – YouTube, Teacher tube
• Presentation sharing – Slide Share

7. Benefits
Social Media applications are easy to use and and can be easily accessed
online using a browser
Modernises the curriculum with many already being used by young people -
Can communicate with students outside class time
Increases choice and the scope for personalisation & learner autonomy
Improves possibilities for deeper & reflective learning
Supports collaboration & communication (tutor to student & student to
student)
Largely free or very inexpensive & inherently scalable

8. Things to Consider
Older people are not familiar with social software services to the same extent
& lack web2.0 skills and attitudes
Learners & staff may not find mixing social and academic spaces desirable
Start with one tool and add others later – Think quality not quantity
Awarding Bodies require to have confidence in systems - Rubrics for assessing
work that use social software tools require to be developed
Use tools to collaborate and communicate with colleagues

9. Using Social Software Tools for
Learning & Teaching
Using the
Cloud
Icons by DryIcons

10. Contact details
http://www.rsc-scotland.ac.uk/
support@rsc-scotland.ac.uk
Twitter: @RSCScotland
Mail List: http://bit.ly/RSC-info