Introducing social media for learning

The third toolkit being developed in this week’s MELSIG Toolkit in a Day event will focus on Social Media for Learning. (See introductions to FAB and PPP)

In considering social media for learning, we will take a broad view that encompasses the formal and informal experience of our students.

Social media disrupts a traditional view of the learning environment. In particular, it is pervasive and does not respect the boundaries of the formal or informal space as we have known it. Neither does it distinguish between the personal and academic space and can best be understood as media that positively crosses boundaries and thereby changes our very understanding of what learning means. In this respect, social media for learning has a lot in common with ideas of blended learning and the hybrid learning space. In constructing a toolkit, we will look at both the opportunities and challenges this suggests and will draw upon evidence from our own experience to populate it.

In doing so we will use social media to create artefacts that both test our understanding of social media and demonstrate its characteristics. Our aim is to critically assess social media for learning and, where appropriate, advocate its use with examples.