"But who has ever torn himself from the claw that encloses you when you drop a seed in a TV parlour? It grows you any shape it wishes! It is an environment as real as the world. It becomes and is the truth. Books can be beaten down with reason. But with all my knowledge and scepticism, I have never been able to argue with a one-hundred-piece symphony orchestra, full colour, three dimensions, and I being in and part of those incredible parlours."
--Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury
In the past, I've been very guarded about sharing my thoughts and opinions online. Unless you count sharing a song I love or commenting on a funny picture. The idea of sharing my personal opinions with the world, about being vulnerable to judgment by the whole Internet, feels like jumping off a cliff into the dark unknown. It's time that changed. Now is the time to be courageous. Life is too short not to share the whole of who you are with the world. We live in America, people!
In this blog, I vow to be as open and honest as possible. My thoughts will be disjointed; that will be the nature of the beast. Here I will attempt to articulate my thoughts on technology, on education, on whatever comes up. I will do my best NOT to over-edit my posts, trying my best to write just the way I would talk. Letting my thoughts flow. I welcome your comments and criticism, and hopefully we can help each other formulate more complete perspectives. I hope you will enjoy this journey with me!
To the topic at hand: I'm extremely critical of most social media platforms, but I do recognize their utility within certain contexts. I think when used consciously as a supplementary aid to sharing class materials and Internet resources, social media can be an invaluable tool. I really love Brightspace, for instance. I love having all of the class materials for all of my courses uploaded to one place. I can easily check my schedule to see what's due. The discussion posts are also a wonderful tool. It's nice to feel that we can ask each other questions as they arise rather than only during class time. YouTube is also an invaluable resource for teachers and auto-didacts. As they say, is not just for cute cat videos anymore! And I love the idea of creating class blogs. It makes so much sense, especially for an art class.
I do think, though, that it's misguided to integrate social media (particularly Instagram and Facebook) into the classroom in an attempt to "relate to kids at their level." This is a cliche now to say, but I'm averse to the vanity and shallowness that certain social media networks feed into. I do believe that over-saturation in social media and the Internet can have a detrimental effect on the development of writing skills, verbal skills, and critical thinking. If you are an effective teacher, you don't need Smartboards or technological spectacle to keep your students engaged or entertained.
I can sympathize with the point that Katie Benmar is making in her article My Favorite Teachers Use Social Media: A Student Perspective. Teachers can't be naive about how addicted students are to social media these days. Sometimes infiltrating a popular social media platform (e.g., the teacher who posts assignments to Instagram) may work. For me, though, the method feels sly and underhanded. Students know that you're trying to make them feel guilty for wasting time. Instagram and likewise Facebook don't feel like ideal platforms for communicating your expectations to students. Going to these platforms does not challenge students to actually look at the class's online hub. And regarding Facebook, the young folks aren't using it anyway! My cousin, who is seven years younger than me, hasn't updated her profile picture for several years.
A brief explanation of my social media usage. Facebook was my first social media platform, but I don't use it like I used to. I didn't get an account until I was a sophomore in college and part of our grade came from establishing an online presence. I do consider it an important way of communicating with colleagues and sharing online resources. The same goes for Twitter. I have a LinkedIn account, which I can't say I use much. I do try to keep it current just in case it comes in handy. Within the last month, I gave into the pressure of my friends and got an Instagram. It's shiny and appealing, but man, it scares me how my brain feels after being on it for more than a few minutes. I was very impressed by how nice detail shots of my etchings look on the app. It's also really cool when someone from across the globe follows you or likes your picture. But then, the convenient marketing comes at a price. Anyone could take a screenshot of my work and use it for their own devises. So here I stand in the middle of the see-saw again!
I know I focused a lot on the negative points of social media in this post, but I know it isn't all bad. I hope this course can help me become a little less cynical. Social-media is a double-edged sword. With this blog and this class, I hope to traverse the choppy waters and establish a healthy relationship to sharing online and develop effective ways to incorporate social media in my future classrooms. I plan to post more about these topics to articulate my thoughts as the semester continues. I can get very passionate, and perhaps that is why I need a blog!
--Claire :)
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