researching social media in education: what can we learn?

Researching social media in education: What can we learn?

Steve WheelerPlymouth University, UK

Stev

e W

heel

er, P

lym

outh

Uni

vers

ity, 2

012

Funnels or Webs?

Ivan Illich

http://zumu.com

Stev

e W

heel

er, P

lym

outh

Uni

vers

ity, 2

012

“Education must begin with the solution of the teacher-student contradiction, by reconciling the poles of the contradiction so that both are simultaneously teachers and students.”

- Paulo Frierehttp://arts.anu.edu.au

Stev

e W

heel

er, P

lym

outh

Uni

vers

ity, 2

012

Stev

e W

heel

er, P

lym

outh

Uni

vers

ity, 2

012The nature of

knowledge

Surface Learning

Deep Learning

Stev

e W

heel

er, P

lym

outh

Uni

vers

ity, 2

012

Marton and Säljö (1976)

Data

Information

Knowledge

Application

Transformation

ENGAGEMENT

Stev

e W

heel

er, P

lym

outh

Uni

vers

ity, 2

012

Knowledge

Application

Transformation

http://slated.org

Stev

e W

heel

er, P

lym

outh

Uni

vers

ity, 2

012

Knowing that

Knowing how

Knowing why

Cognition

Problem Solving

Analysis

Synthesis

Declarative

Procedural

Critical

Evaluation

http://www.flickr.com/photos/specialkrb/2772991999

Stev

e W

heel

er, P

lym

outh

Uni

vers

ity, 2

012

Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruitWisdom is knowing you don’t put it in a fruit saladCritical awareness is knowing why there is a difference

A challenge to empirical knowledge – ‘Community as curriculum’

‘The rhizomatic viewpoint (…) suggests that a distributed negotiation of knowledge can allow a community of people to legitimize the work they are doing among themselves and for

each member of the group, the rhizomatic model dispenses with the need for external validation of knowledge...’

- Dave Cormier (2008)

Stev

e W

heel

er, P

lym

outh

Uni

vers

ity, 2

012

Rhizomatic knowledge

Participatory and negotiated experience of rhizomatic community engagement.

– Dave Cormier (2007)

http://users.soe.ucsc.edu

Stev

e W

heel

er, P

lym

outh

Uni

vers

ity, 2

012

MOOCMassively Open Online Course

Stev

e W

heel

er, P

lym

outh

Uni

vers

ity, 2

012

Source: Kelly Hodgkins http://gizmodo.com/5813875/what-happens-in-60-seconds-on-the-internet

Social Media use

>850 Million

>200 Million >150 Million

>260 Million

>14 million

articles>4 Billion images

Source: http://econsultancy.com

2 Billion views/day24 hours/minute

Stev

e W

heel

er, P

lym

outh

Uni

vers

ity, 2

012

>170 Million

Timeline Communication Technology Date

11 minutes ago Gutenberg Printing Press 1450

3.4 minutes ago Morse Code 1838

2.7 minutes ago Telephone 1875

2.5 minutes ago Radio 1885

1.6 minutes ago Monochrome Television 1929

54 seconds ago Fax 1966

41 seconds ago Personal Computer 1977

38 seconds ago Analogue Mobile Telephone 1979

25 seconds ago World Wide Web 1990

22 seconds ago SMS Messaging 1993

13 seconds ago Broadband 2000

1 second ago 3-D Television 2010

Source : Ken Robinson (2011) Out of Our Minds

3000 years of time compressed to 24 hours

Stev

e W

heel

er, P

lym

outh

Uni

vers

ity, 2

012

There are 5 billion mobile phone connections. 3 times as many mobile phones as computers on the planet.

Source: BBC News 2010

Data consumed in 2010 for mobiles 2.8 exabytesData consumed in 2009 1.1 exabytes

The global context...Social media use is on the rise with over 550 million users on Facebook and 24 hours of video uploaded every minute on Youtube. St

eve

Whe

eler

, Ply

mou

th U

nive

rsity

, 201

2

How can the power of these tools be harnessed in education?

Stev

e W

heel

er, P

lym

outh

Uni

vers

ity, 2

012

Learning

User generated

content

Wisdom of crowds?

Architecture of participation

Stev

e W

heel

er, P

lym

outh

Uni

vers

ity, 2

012

Learning 2.0

ToolsCollaborating

Sharing

Voting

Networking

User generated

content

Tagging

Stev

e W

heel

er, P

lym

outh

Uni

vers

ity, 2

012

User Generated Content is…

“…content that is created and shared freely by students and/or teachers and which has not been through a process of formal peer review”

Concede Project, May 2010

Stev

e W

heel

er, P

lym

outh

Uni

vers

ity, 2

012

Web 3.0Semantic Web

Web 1.0The Web

Web x.0Meta Web

Web 2.0Social Web

Degree of Social Connectivity

Deg

ree

of In

form

ation

Con

necti

vity

Connects information Connects people

Connects knowledge Connects intelligence

The eXtended Web

Stev

e W

heel

er, U

nive

rsity

of P

lym

outh

, 201

1

http://www.slideshare.net/courosa/why-social-networks-matter

Societal Shift

Stev

e W

heel

er, P

lym

outh

Uni

vers

ity, 2

012


Societal Shift

Stev

e W

heel

er, P

lym

outh

Uni

vers

ity, 2

012

“The average digital birth of children happens at about six months.”

“In Canada, USA, UK, France, Italy, Germany and Spain... 81% of children under the age of two have some kind of digital profile or footprint.”


Learningis changing


Image credit: Lisa M Lane (2010)

Honestly I found it quite helpful as I re-read what I had written and it helped

clarify my thoughts into what I actually wanted to say.

I didn't use it extensively but when I did […] it helped clear

my thought processes.

Stev

e W

heel

er, P

lym

outh

Uni

vers

ity, 2

012

What the students said about Twitter...

http://jcbarrington.blogspot.com/2011/05/on-twitter.html

Stev

e W

heel

er, P

lym

outh

Uni

vers

ity, 2

012

‘New’ learners are...• more self-directed• better equipped to capture information• more reliant on feedback from peers• more inclined to collaborate• more oriented toward being their own “nodes of production”.

Education Trends | Featured NewsJohn K. Waters—13 December 2011

http://coolshots.blogspot.com/2007_02_01_archive.html

Stev

e W

heel

er, P

lym

outh

Uni

vers

ity, 2

012

‘New’ learners are...• more self-directed• better equipped to capture information• more reliant on feedback from peers• more inclined to collaborate• more oriented toward being their own “nodes of production”.

Education Trends | Featured NewsJohn K. Waters—13 December 2011

http://coolshots.blogspot.com/2007_02_01_archive.html

Stev

e W

heel

er, P

lym

outh

Uni

vers

ity, 2

012

But they need

much more...

“Technological fluency means much more than the ability to use technological tools; that

would be equivalent to understanding a few common phrases in a language. To become

truly fluent in a language (like English or French), one must be able to articulate a

complex idea or tell an engaging story – that is, to be able to make things of significance with

these tools.”

The Computer Clubhouse: Technology Fluency in the Inner City: Resnick, Rusk, & Cooke (1998)


“Knowledge that is acquired under compulsion obtains no hold on the mind.”

- SocratesPlato

http://www.fotopedia.com/items/flickr-713124904

Darwikianism

Stev

e W

heel

er, P

lym

outh

Uni

vers

ity, 2

012

Stev

e W

heel

er, P

lym

outh

Uni

vers

ity, 2

012

Wikipedia is crowdsourcing

evaluation

Learners need ‘digital wisdom’

Stev

e W

heel

er, P

lym

outh

Uni

vers

ity, 2

012

“60% of all Internet pages contain

misleading information.”

- Thomas Edison

Learners need ‘digital literacies’

Stev

e W

heel

er, P

lym

outh

Uni

vers

ity, 2

012

language

Managing identity

nameimages

netiquettereputation

avatar interaction

privacy

personal data

identity

legacy

reputationname

privacy

images

interaction

http://i.dailymail.co.uk

Learners need e-safety

Stev

e W

heel

er, P

lym

outh

Uni

vers

ity, 2

012

Learners will need new ‘literacies’

• Social networking• Privacy maintenance• Identity management• Creating content• Organising content• Reusing and repurposing• Filtering and selecting• Self presenting

http://www.mopocket.com/

Stev

e W

heel

er, P

lym

outh

Uni

vers

ity, 2

012

Skills or Literacies?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/afronie/161969948/

Stev

e W

heel

er, P

lym

outh

Uni

vers

ity, 2

012

Literacy goes beyond skills. It involves full immersion within the culture

Are you open?

Stev

e W

heel

er, P

lym

outh

Uni

vers

ity, 2

012

“Web2.0 tools exist that might allow academics to reflect and reimagine what they do as scholars. Such tools might positively affect - even transform - research, teaching, and service responsibilities – only if scholars choose to build serious academic lives online, presenting semi-public selves and becoming invested in and connected to the work of their peers and students.”(Greenhow, Robelia & Hughes, 2009)

Open Scholarshiphttp://www.slideshare.net/courosa/why-social-networks-matter

Copyleft/Creative Commons

Ultimately: Freedom to openly access, use, copy, modify and share content

Stev

e W

heel

er, P

lym

outh

Uni

vers

ity, 2

012

“Understanding how networks work is one of the most important literacies of the 21st Century.”

- Howard Rheingold

http://www.ischool.berkeley.edu

Stev

e W

heel

er, P

lym

outh

Uni

vers

ity, 2

012

Researchers...

• are given public money for research• write in a language the public can’t understand• give their work to the publisher for free• edit, review and revise for free• work is ‘published’• ...behind a paywall• we pay the publisher to read our own research

Stev

e W

heel

er, P

lym

outh

Uni

vers

ity, 2

012

Stev

e W

heel

er, P

lym

outh

Uni

vers

ity, 2

012

From NAGPS (2011) via h4p://bit.ly/oIwVut

From NAGPS (2011) via h4p://bit.ly/oIwVut

Stev

e W

heel

er, P

lym

outh

Uni

vers

ity, 2

012

A tale of two papers

http://www.fromoldbooks.org

Stev

e W

heel

er, P

lym

outh

Uni

vers

ity, 2

012

Open Scholarship

Stev

e W

heel

er, P

lym

outh

Uni

vers

ity, 2

012

Open peer review

Stev

e W

heel

er, P

lym

outh

Uni

vers

ity, 2

012

Transparency of review

Stev

e W

heel

er, P

lym

outh

Uni

vers

ity, 2

012

Open impact

Closed Journal

>30 months

19

Unknown

2.05

Open Journal

<5 months

511

102,396

1.93

Time from submission to publication

Number of citations

Number of views/reads

Journal impact factor

Statistics collated on 5 January, 2012

Stev

e W

heel

er, P

lym

outh

Uni

vers

ity, 2

012

Open impact

Closed Journal

>30 months

19

Unknown

2.05

Open Journal

<5 months

511

102,396

1.93

Time from submission to publication

Number of citations

Number of views/reads

Journal impact factor

Statistics collated on 5 January, 2012

Stev

e W

heel

er, P

lym

outh

Uni

vers

ity, 2

012

What type of journal I am likely to

publish with next time?

Stev

e W

heel

er, P

lym

outh

Uni

vers

ity, 2

012


Stev

e W

heel

er, P

lym

outh

Uni

vers

ity, 2

012

Average 80,000 views per month

"The greatest danger in times of turbulence is not the turbulence. It is to act with yesterday's logic." - Peter Drucker

http://pixdaus.com

Stev

e W

heel

er, P

lym

outh

Uni

vers

ity, 2

012

W: steve-wheeler.netE: [email protected]: steve-wheeler.blogspot.comT: @timbuckteeth