Group 2A5 Activity 10 

Social media as a professional development resource

I have learnt quite a lot from going through this activity.  The idea of using social media for learning and teaching is relatively new, but it is rapidly growing; in fact, it has been described as a revolutionary way to learn.  Previously, learning in the workplace was done mainly through training initiative organized on the job site; but with social networking, the principle of workplace learning is not just restricted to learning at the workplace but indicates that it is social and informal and can happen anywhere and at any time. Further, it happens everyday; it is not structured and is continuous providing a powerful means by which people can connect, share, collaborate and learn at or off the workplace.  The interaction can be local or across the globe and is a useful method of promoting continuous learning and performance improvement in the workplace and thus helping us to become smart workers.

The use of social networking for teaching and learning is not widespread in my country, although it has been catching on.  The Ministry of Education has been providing training and this has been one aspect of the training.  From this though, I am seeing that the island wide ban on cell phones in schools will have to be lifted to allow for their use as a tool in teaching and learning with social media.

I however feel that there are so many different types of social networking, that educators will need to choose which ones will best help them to be smart workers.