Challenging pedagogy through social media applications (Facebook and Twitter)

Technology today is more than simply a mere tool; it’s an approach to be able to do things differently for students and teachers. Students already have the technology, universities have the pedagogy but there is an apparent divide in place inhibiting both of these areas from overlapping and functioning for the benefit of shared learning experiences. By exploiting new forms of technology use in educational settings it is allowing a shift from the strict confines of pedagogy; particularly in traditional Higher Education institutions and allowing more androgogical learning focused experiential learning to take place for the first time. The traditional strategy for imparting knowledge in the classroom has been through lectures. Although, as Bradshaw and Lowenstien (2011) point out, this does very little to promote and stimulate critical thinking skills. This is further echoed in our methods for sharing/depositing materials. In the current ‘VLE’ based system of HE learning, we upload PowerPoint slides for students to download and print off to bring to the lectures to listen to them being read through slide by slide on many occasions; supporting pedagogy but doing very little to actually challenge it. Higher Education is faced with identifying teaching strategies that promote learning and crucially enhance critical thinking abilities of students. There is very little in the way of overlap between pedagogical practices and social media technologies. This is mirrored in real life, where both students and educators have a clear divide between ‘life and studying’. Jones (2010) argues that by allowing an overlap to occur on the ‘Continuum of socio-learning divide’; the learning can address both the needs of the student and also the institution. ‘We would definitely argue that learning and social personas may overlap but that learning needs to be designed so that it addresses the individual’s preferences to combine or separate the two domains’ (Jones, 2010, p.4). This study has seen that through overlapping social media in a way that complements learning and teaching pedagogy, then new elements of creative ways to learn, think and understand the topics covered in programmes is evolving and moving towards a much more andragogical ‘learner focussed’ philosophy. A Learning community was created in 2011 using Facebook. It was initially set up with the intention of only being used as a pre-induction tool for new starters joining an Enterprise Management Programme. The group has grown to over 400 members; containing both past students, present students and also new starters. It has also become a group which contains student members from both universities in the region; a suggestion which was put forward by the members of the group last year. The group structure can be seen in Fig 3. The main group also is then subdivided in to other smaller groups, either for use on particular modules or as part of student’s societies. Students can also create their own groups for use on projects etc. There are no restrictions on postings and approval of these postings, which has enabled the group to be self-managing and student led. My academic profile is seen as an administrator/facilitator of the group, which is also helped by using an icon rather than a normal picture. Platforms such as Twitter are allowing a shift in thinking for pedagogical engagement in the lecture theatre. Twitter is enabling the lecture to move from a learning place to a learning space, opening up topics to a worldwide audience. It shifts the focus from that of tutor to learner, towards learner to learner collaborative delivery methods. No longer are PowerPoint Slides the pivotal element of the lecture, but discussion and debate are placed centrally… To do this, I have created a university Twitter account and in the lectures theatres. Twitter is shown on the main projector screen in the lecture theatre and sometimes split the screen to allow for PowerPoints or models to be included. Students ‘Tweet’ to # tags, created around the themes on the lecture topic and this shapes the entirety of the discussion for that session, meaning the students are in control of the discussion and the lecturer is there to talk around points of interest. The objective of the study was to examine both the impact of social media, including both Facebook and Twitter on learning and teaching for students. The research aimed to (1) identify the benefits students saw in engaging with social media as part of their students (2) report on students experiences including opportunities and challenges (3) help understand how this is shaping pedagogy and the wider impacts. Quantitative research methods (online questionnaire esurvey.com) were used to ascertain views as well as a small selection of qualitative methods (interviews) to clarify and inform the student’s views and attitudes towards using FB and Twitter as part of their studies. The study was undertaken with both post graduate and undergraduate students over the period of 2011-14 who were enrolled on an enterprise course. The names of the interviewees as well as the institutions are anonymous due to the consideration of confidentiality and ethics.