1. SMILE – Social Media in
Learning & Education
Janice Richardson
14 November 2012
www.europeanschoolnet.org - www.eun.org

2. SMILE – Social Media in Learning & Education
What is SMILE?
In 2011, Facebook announced a
Digital Citizenship Research
Grant:
“a new effort to support world-class
research that improves understanding of
the challenges and opportunities
associated with how children are growing
up in a world of media and technology.”
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3. SMILE – Social Media in Learning & Education
• Part 1: Online learning lab for 100 teachers
worldwide to investigate educational opportunities
social media offers.
• Part 2: Communities of practice for brainstorming,
sharing and mutual support between teachers
• Part 3: Dissemination of results through online
platforms, European and international conferences
and a publication scheduled for Dec 2012.
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4. SMILE – Social Media in Learning & Education
6-week eLearning Lab content
• Unit 1: What is social media?
• Unit 2: Using social media in schools…
• Unit 3: Using social media for learning and
teaching…
• Unit 4: Using social media for professional
development
• Unit 5: Using social media responsibly
• Unit 6: Social media policy…
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5. SMILE – Social Media in Learning & Education
Structure of eLearning Lab
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6. SMILE – Social Media in Learning & Education
1. What is Social Media?
bridges isolation, breaks down school walls
can be a powerful didactical tool
creates links with other teachers, making work more
interesting & rewarding.”
allows teachers to dip in and out of what other schools
are doing
offers inspiration to improve teaching
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7. SMILE – Social Media in Learning & Education
2. Using Social media in a whole-school approach
“…education is based upon relationships. Social media is
not just “technology”, it really bring our world together. With
proactive use of social media, the sky is the limit.”
“Steven Johnson says in his book ‘Where Good Ideas
Come From’ : Innovative environments are better at
allowing their inhabitants to explore...The trick to having
good ideas is not to sit around in glorious isolation and try
to think big thoughts. The trick is to get more parts on the
table. I hope that the school leaders out there will choose to
avail their students of modern resources, but first they need
to embrace them for themselves.”
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8. SMILE – Social Media in Learning & Education
3. Using social media for learning and teaching
“Whatever tool is used, whatever method is used or whoever directs,
controls or leads the students; the most important thing to keep in mind
is how to encourage students in literacy. If we can teach them how to
take their own learning responsibility, then every tool or other new
social media is worth trying.”
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9. SMILE – Social Media in Learning & Education
4. Social Media for professional development
Twitter has taught me to…
- make judgments about the good from the facile
- judge trends – to see what is concerning teachers & educators right now
Twitter is…
-engaging, needs organisational thought and time management!
-not as easy to integrate into class as I thought, but we are getting there!
-my Personal Learning Network – I look forward to filling an application
form and responding to the question “outline in-service courses attended,
with supporting documentary evidence” – … with my Twitter-stream!
-best explained by participation – tweeting a meeting is a great way to
demonstrate its power
-in its infancy in terms of possibilities – #edchatie recently examined
pooling teaching and learning resources – a tsunami of ideas and links
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10. SMILE – Social Media in Learning & Education
Twitter is also…
- without boundaries – you can offer social capital to your followers and
share ideas from those you follow – whenever and wherever…and so on…
But at the end of the day Twitter is about people – the best that education
has to offer – those teachers and educators, formal and informal who
realise that they are always learners and that learning never ever stops –
just like my Twitter stream!”
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11. SMILE – Social Media in Learning & Education
5. Responsible use of social media
SMILE participants consider that of all the resources that most useful for
educators, one resource is a MUST HAVE:
A PASSPORT TO THE INTERNET – an interactive literacy tutorial with a
teacher’s guide and handouts for students develop covering 5 key areas:
authenticating online information;
recognising online marketing ploys;
protecting their privacy;
managing online relationships;
dealing with cyberbullying.
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12. SMILE – Social Media in Learning & Education
6. Five challenges to adoption
How to integrate Social Media across the curriculum to avoid it
being just project-based or an add on for interested teachers?
Professional development is essential - change is hard, and requires
both knowledge and opportunity.
A change in the examination system to drive in-depth change.
Teachers alone can’t lead the implementation of social media policies –
it has to be a national, even a European implementation.
Digital natives know how to use the devices but need to be taught the
rules of their use.
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13. SMILE – Social Media in Learning & Education
Part 2 – Communities of Practice
Objectives
• Encourage collaborative learning and share best practice;
• Brainstorm and problem-solve together;
• Seek experience, map knowledge and identify issues or gaps.
Two main tasks
• Gather case studies, and choose one or two to discuss and improve;
• Develop a personal social media strategy
to be implemented during academic year.
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14. SMILE – Social Media in Learning & Education
Another 5 challenges to achieving implementation
Teachers’ busy schedule!
Holidays and change of class in new school year
Finding how Social Media fits in a rigid class schedule
Non-supportive reactions of colleagues and hierarchy
How to drive change in schools?
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15. SMILE – Social Media in Learning & Education
What next?
Participants will continue developing their own social
media strategy for implementation;
Communities of Practice will continue to support each
other as they implement their social strategy in schools;
Launch of a publication in December 2012 on trends
and best practices for integrating social media in the
classrooms.
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16. SMILE – Social Media in Learning & Education
Further information
Janice Richardson
janice.richardson@eun.org
smile@eun.org
SMILE
http://leedu.eun.org/web/smile/home
smile@eun.org
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