Social Media

In today's ICT class we were introduced to using social media to develop knowledge and some of the theory which underpins it. At the beginning of the lesson we discussed the various types of social media which all the members of the class frequently use. This included Facebook, Twitter, Skype, e-mail and some others. We were then told that there are two types of social media, synchronous and asynchronous. Synchronous social media consists of, for example, Facetime and Skype, where an action will recieve an instant response. When using both of these social media tools, the user is directly communicating with someone else in real time. Each participants actions and sounds are displayed instantly to each another. Asynchronous social media is when an instant response may not be given, for example, Twitter and e-mail. When using these social media tools a user may post a "tweet" or send an "e-mail" and it may take several minutes, hours, or even days until a comment or a reply is made. Facebook is quite unique in that it has incorporated both synchronous and asynchronous social media through the use of posts and instant chat.

The use of social media within the classroom can provide endless possibilities if used within an appropriate context. They can offer opportunities for the class to communicate with and directly see and or speak to other classes from around the country or even world. This could help enhance a particular topic and improve the classes learning of different cultures. In a similar method individual children could communicate via facebook or other social media. In addition, children in a class, if working in groups, could possibly use social media to constantly communicate ideas and work when not in class. This provides the opportunity for constant interaction between the group and not just when set class time allows it. Thorough supervision will be required when using sites such as these to ensure they are being used properly. Many teachers may consider to be a downfall and may deter them from using social media in the first place.

Moving on from the types of social media we began to talk about communities of practice and collaborative working. "Communities of practice are groups of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly." (Wenger, 2006, no page) Quite often successful collaborative working is important within a community of practice. This led us to discuss Meredith Belbin's model of team-building in which puts forward the idea that when working collaboritively in a group there are a number of different roles which individuals will take. It suggests that these roles are linked to the personalities of the individual and that the effectiveness of the group depends on the combination of these roles.

We then discussed amongst our own groups what roles we thought each member best suited. I found it interesting that a members own opinion of what role best suited them more than often differed from what the overall group thought. This may have been down to the person being modest or even not wanting to believe that they are a certain type of role.
I am still struggling to identify what my specific role might be but it will no doubt become clear as our group begins to take on bigger tasks which involve more work and collaboration.