Social Media in my Professional Development

I use social media in my professional development as a librarian.  As librarian I follow two national on-line communities– Slanza and National Library.  These both offer discussion and professional development courses, web sites with masses of information, and helpline connections.
Our school is part of a Manaiakalani outreach cluster, which offers professional development face-to-face as well as through a Google+ community. The community of learning also has a Google+ community.
Intra-school communication is primarily through email, and teachers are expected to follow up links sent to them.  School wide professional development is usually based on a meeting, with any follow up work available through blogs, google communities and the like. This means that professional development is available to staff as it is needed, and can be accessed from different places at times that suit individuals.
Comparative
All teachers at our school are expected to have a class site, and to move towards developing a learn–create-share pedagogy.  This has been more difficult for some than for others, and as teachers come and go there is a need for continuous development of skills by staff. While there is an opportunity each week for teachers to get one-to-one help, there is not enough time for everyone to have this help.  Therefore, teachers who choose to be proactive learn and develop their skills more quickly than others. Some faculty leaders have released teachers  from their classes so they can have this learning opportunities.
Whanau have access to their child’s learning through the classroom web sites, and whanau hui show they are keen to learn how to do this, and also how they can contribute. The school Facebook page keeps whanau informed of upcoming events as well as student successes.  Magette (2014) discusses the need for managing risks with social media use.  One of the school’s responsibilities is to teach safety while using social media, and education is given to students and whanau on this topic. This is usually limited to one or two whanau sessions for new students, and is not followed up very well. As yet, there is no policy or set of procedures for staff to follow.
Reflection
Whitaker (2015) suggests that teachers can overcome their feelings of isolation and lack of support by nurturing their own community through social media.  His suggestions for becoming a connected teacher demand a concentrated effort on the part of the individual, but will pay dividends in the form of sharing ideas, resources and support.  I tend not to use twitter, and think I would find it overwhelming to research and follow fifty educators on top of the personal and professional connections I already have.  However I find his suggestion of making four different responses each day ( a question, sharing a resource, responding to a comment and sharing my own thinking) is something I could do to move my involvement to a higher level than what it is now.

References
Magette, K. (2014). Embracing social media : a practical guide to manage risk and leverage opportunity. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.(Available in Unitec library).
Whitaker, T., Zoul, J., & Casas, J. (2015). What connected educators do differently. New York, NY: Routledge.

Legal and ethical contexts in my digital practice

I am reflecting on two very similar incidents that occured in my school, involving digital access.  Both involved cellphones and their use; one also involved facebook.

The first incident started for me when a student in a workshop being led by outside providers in the library suddenly leapt out of her seat, screamed and ran out of the room.  Within minutes others were checking their phones and leaving the room in various states of distress.  One of their classmates/whanau had just died.

The second incident was a little more subdued at first, but again involved a student getting a cellphone message and showing distress.  This student huddled with some friends before they all left the room in tears.  The whole school was soon outside - one of their classmates, whanau to many of them, had just committed suicide. This was recorded on facebook, and many of the students saw it before it was removed.

In both situations the school management team soon stepped in, and called a whole school assembly - te hohou rongo , ki te whakipiki ora, whakapiki wairua - to inform, settle and help students to move on. 

Where I have trouble with this ethically is not the management of either crisis, but in the use of the cell-phones.  The students are not supposed to use cellphones in class unless asked to by a teacher.  We actually have about the same chance of achieving this as King Canute did in stopping the tide.  In both cases the message originated from outside the school, but were received in class time.

We have also had students’ organising,  filming and publishing fights between students - off school property..

We can argue that out of school is not our responsibility  However the code of professional responsibility states teachers “will work in the best interest of learners by...protecting them from harm”  and will “engage in reciprocal, collaborative learning focused relationships with learners, family and whanau”  Students will also be encouraged to be actively involved in “issues important to the wellbeing of society” (Our Code, our standards

We regularly remind our students that cyber-bullying is unacceptable - what it is, what to do about it, who to report it to,where they can go for help.  What we don’t do is talk about responsible and considerate use of cellphones.  We haven’t discussed how appropriate it may or may not be to pass on information about a birth or death or some other event - when we do not have the permission of the people closely involved.  Some teachers may discuss plagiarism in relation to writing, or copyright in relation to using images from the web, but the next step to talking about publishing what we have the right to publish doesn’t happen.

 We also don’t discuss the accuracy of what is being passed along - fake news and misunderstandings, or misrepresentation can be dangerous personally as well as globally.We don’t discuss how the person receiving the news may be affected - if they have or will need a support system.

We can suggest to whanau that they contact tamariki during break times - but can’t enforce this.  We can remind students and whanau about the age limit for facebook accounts - but can’t ensure these are followed.

Ethically I think it is the responsibility of the school and staff to have discussions with students around these issues.

References
Our code, Our Standards https://educationcouncil.org.nz/sites/default/files/Our%20Code%20Our%20Standards%20web%20booklet%20FINAL.pdf

Thoughts after CoL workshop

Reflecting on CoL workshop.- notes for myself

 

Even after trying several different ways to reflect, I still fall back on my default position – record the good things first! 

The workshop session I took with the CoL teachers went well.  None of the points that I thought could be a disaster were; I showed participants new software to work with; or new ways to use software; the thinking skills from the alphabet keys worked well with the programmes.

Now I can reflect on the lessons I learned.  Next time, remember to have a whiteboard marker ( don’t lend it to someone else just before my session!) write down the daily password so I have it to give to latecomers. 

Using a blended approach worked well; having too much material was fine – I could just skip through bits and leave them for others to work on at their own pace later.

 

To improve for next time:  find a better way to have extra notes available for participants in case I do have to skip over things

 

Remember that just because I have done things several different ways, and they have been around for some time, there will usually be someone who has not seen my way of doing things.  Slow down.  Give a better handout at the end.

 

And the great thing about this session -  I learned from those who came to learn from me.  From the feedback, t seems as though they learned as well.