Journal #3
Coffin, T., & Fournier, J. (2015, June). Social Media in the Learning Setting: Opportunities and Challenges. Retrieved October 16, 2016, from https://itconnect.uw.edu/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Social-Media-in-the-Learning-Setting.pdf.
Friesen, N. (2010). Education and the social Web: Connective learning and the commercial imperative. First Monday, 15(12). doi:10.5210/fm.v15i12.3149
Summary:
In the article “Social Media in the Learning Setting” I read about the advantages and disadvantages of using social media for learning. A survey was taken to find the advantages and disadvantages. Some of the opportunities were communicating with peers and instructors. Students are able to stay in touch and share relative information regarding the class that they are taking. Instructors are also able to hold virtual office hours. This allows for flexible hours and quick responses. There are also disadvantages of using social media in learning. It could be hard to separate a student's academic and personal life. Most students want to keep their personal social media accounts separate from their professional accounts. Faculty and students find social media distracting. It talked about how instructors should be more strict and enforce rules about using social media in the classroom. An instructor talked about how technology comes with its own problems. If students are able to use computers to take notes they will usually end up looking at their social media. Faculty feel they are not prepared to integrate social media into the classroom. Faculty want to learn best practices for integrating social media into the classroom. Faculty also said it would help to take introduction course on how to use social media. Even with the survey there is still a lot of unanswered questions concerning the use of social media for educational purposes. What they did find was that their should be guidelines in which the campus follows and that their should be training for faculty.
The other article Education and the social web was about connecting users with the right advertisements. Using social networks is a way to connect multiple users but it is also a way to analyze your search patterns and focus advertisements at you. In the first quarter of 2010 google earned over 2 billion just from advertisements. Google uses a complex algorithm to target the consumers with the right adds. Unlike TV the ads are not as specific and are targeted for a larger audience. Other social media companies are doing the same thing by using algorithms to target the user and give them other information that they might be interested in.
Q1. Was their any classes at Cal Poly where the professor said you could not use your phone?
A1. Their was only one class where the use of a phone was prohibited and that was TH 208. It was a class where you watched movie clips. The professor strictly said that if your phone ringed during class you would fail. During that class not a single phone was used in class. As for my other classes most students would keep their phone on their desk and usually not text unless it was an emergency. Most rules about using technology in the classroom are rarely went over.
Q2. How does social media target you with ads?
A2. Using special algorithms. Social medial sites can figure out things that you are interested in just by using past data of things that you clicked, liked and searched. The more information you feed it the more precise it can target you with the information that you are interested in.
There should definitely be guidelines when using social media, or different technologies, in the classroom. It is something that every teacher should already be doing in their class when it comes to classroom rules and guidelines. I believe that part of the issue against using social media in the classroom is that teachers are uneducated. It takes time to learn about how to implement it, but I feel that the pros outweigh the cons. Students should be learning how to network, and social media will be around for a very long time.
ReplyDeleteI have a background in digital marketing, so targeted ads throughout my social media accounts and other digital mediums are welcome. I would much rather see a product displayed that has relevance to my likes and interests, as opposed to a product of which I have no interest. Un-targeted advertising is a waste of the advertiser's money; and since advertising is just the nature-of-the=beast, its most effective if it is customizable and focused.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you about being a disadvantage with using social media. often time teachers don't want to be on the clock all the time dealing with both in class sections and social media responses
ReplyDelete