Using Social Media in Conjunction with Lessons

The year is 2023, and on the whole, almost everyone has some type of social media whether it be Facebook, twitter, Instagram, Pinterest or any number or combination of a vast plethora of other social media platforms. Instructors and learners have had to adapt an evolve over the last couple decades to help meet the growing tide of students and try and reach their curiosity as well as educate them. How and what is the best way in doing this? Should teachers hold classes via Minecraft online learning communities? Should instructors design models and link them to YouTube or Xbox live? What is the best way to peak a student's interest? there are many factors an instructor must take into account before using. For instance, an instructor should first and foremost make sure that everyone learner has the same opportunity and availability. Some students may not have access to required platforms especially if those platforms require some type of subscription. Designers should also try to incorporate examples of what they want students to complete. Giving examples, can help alleviate anxiety and increase productivity. I thin k in this day and incorporating lessons via social media is a very valuable tool and will help reach students and their interests. 

Crowdsourcing

 Crowdsourcing has been described as "The practice of acquiring information or task inputs from a large number of people, can be used to encourage self-instruction through the creation of innovative teaching materials” (Wilson, n.d., para. 1). Essentially the entire completed task or goal is greater than the sum of it individual parts. I think this a wonderful tool for disposal because I believe it does increase student participation and overall synthetization of learning. It makes me think of a quilt for instance whereby many individuals may add a specific part to the quilt thereby adding to the overall completion of the entire quilt. This is just one example, but this technique can be very effective when dealing with the learning environment. Having students play a direct role in the learning process will lead to more desired outcomes. I could see this particular technique used within the business setting as well, with regards to many different employees contributing to the overall finish project, whether it be a budget or draft proposal. It also allows for information to be sharded and serves for overall better communication as well.     

 

References

Wilson, M. C. (n.d.). Crowdsourcing and Self-Instruction: Turning the Production of Teaching Materials Into a Learning Objective. Retrieved June 11, 2023, from https://eds-p-ebscohost-com.proxy.lib.fsu.edu/eds/detail/detail?vid=0%26sid=465d84fa-4f54-46fe-84f9-08a7f9be5f24%40redis&bdata=JkF1dGhUeXBlPXNoaWImc2l0ZT1lZHMtbGl2ZSZzY29wZT1zaXRl#AN=129300976&db=eue

We Don't Need No Stinking Badges!... Or Do we?

When working to complete a task, there can be many barriers and blockades in ones’ path to achieving their initial goal. This can take the form of reaching a certain level of education, earning credentials in an area of expertise or being as simple as receiving your driver’s license. Whatever the case, digital badges have been shown to play an important role in motivation for many different tasks and goals. I am still learning about some the various platforms and programs that offer me as a student and hopeful future instructional designer an array of prospective opportunities. Badges earned can strengthen and incentivize leaners to keep pushing and growing. 

Tagging

 

For this week's topics, we covered a term I was previously unfamiliar with. This term is referred to as folksonomy. It essentially deals with the tagging of specific words and or phrases and can help others looking or the same or similar information be found much easier. I have used hashtags before but not frequently. I must say, i had to include this hashtag because I do think sometimes it can be system overload at least for me personally. Also, I find it comical at times that we as a society use these hashtags so abundantly. I do also understand the importance of them and realize that they also can carry weight and influence opinion and gather support. My only suggestion would be to keep it simple and possibly not throw out so many that readers become flustered with so many phrases.  

Week 3 Reflections

 Week 3 brought some very useful information. The readings for this week helped me gain a better understanding of some terms I had previously been unfamiliar with such as lurkers and free riders. It also taught me the difference between community and networks. I was able to tweet an article in regard to lurkers and I also gave specific example with regards to my opinions as to why some people choose to offer more information online versus others. Is it because they are more qualified in a specific topic? Is it because they have less fear of what people might think? or simply they have a valuable take on a particular subject and want to share that information freely with the world? Or are there other reasons as to why there is such a divide within online communities?   

Lurkers

Lurkers are considered to be people who effectively interact with online posts via various platforms such as Instagram or Facebook but not contribute any real content to the overall topic or discussion. They can do by retweeting an original post or liking a specific post on Facebook or Instagram. Without really knowing it, they may have brought the original post to the eyes of another user just by retweeting or liking it. I myself am an introvert by nature, so I keep to myself for the most part with regards to posting digital content. I am of the mindset that the world wide web is a dangerous forest with many beats and pitfalls that can't easily be navigated and all tweets and posts to do not age like fine wine. Whatever you put out there can and will probably always be out there for consumption. I also believe it has to do with people and their personality. Some people love to have their opinions announced front and center the mountain tops while others choose modesty and prefer to listen and think versus becoming the pioneer of the latest TikTok challenge dance. I think it boils down to two things. How important is the information to the user and what is their overall comfort level with the world viewing their opinions and or perspectives? What do you all think? Is anyone else conservative when it comes to posting your business? Have you ever seen someone who thinks there is no such thing as bad publicity? Does the image below look familiar? 

Hashtags # and Their Relevance

This week I was able to setup a YouTube account as well as grow more comfortable with hashtags and their overall use and ability to start what I call "chain reactions". With Twitter possessing the ability for microblogging, many have discovered that hashtags can play a vital role in pushing a certain movement, agenda or simply to bring more attention to a specific cause or idea.  This hashtag effectively labels or tags whatever the tweet is and allows others to see and create their own tweets with the same or very similar hashtag. This allows for the creating and edit of ideas that seek to continue bringing attention to the topic. For me, joining twitter and following #EME6414 has been nice because it allows me the ability to see how my fellow classmates are participating and to see how they interpret varying topics covered. Do hashtags play a crucial role in the ability for online communities to come together and create more content or are they just an additional tag used to emphasize a certain viewpoint?