Apres Le Deluge: social media in learning and teaching

Abstract

The increased visibility of social media in educational settings prompts discussion on the transformation it has on student communication, interaction and learning, but this is only one set of pedagogical dynamics needing consideration. Our roles as educators and how we respond to the deeper challenges to traditional pedagogy offered by a user-driven and convergent media environment also require attention. Whilst there is no doubt that social media renders the space between the social and the learning and teaching space fluid, integrating social media into pedagogical practice raises a series of questions about engaged students, knowledge production and the relationships between educators and students. Contributing to the growing body of research around social media and its role in the classroom, this article engages with existing literature in the field whilst drawing upon research conducted at Macquarie University. This research explored live social media practices in student learning and assessment, examining the challenges and opportunities in social media-based learning and teaching strategies. We contend, cautiously, that social media opens up new possibilities for engaging students in their own active learning. The extent to which it is able to do so, however, is dependent on how lecturers introduce new tools to their students and what pedagogical work they see these tools as enhancing.

Keywords:

• social media
• pedagogy
• knowledge production
• convergent culture
• student participation

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Catharine Lumby

Prof. Catharine Lumby (BA (Hons) LLB PhD) is the author and co-author of six books and numerous journal articles and book chapters. She is currently writing a literary biography of the author Frank Moorhouse. She was the foundation Chair of the Media and Communications Department at Sydney University and the foundation Director of the Journalism and Media Research Centre at UNSW.

Nicole Anderson

Associate Professor Nicole Anderson (BA (Hons) PhD) is Associate Dean (LT) for the Faculty of Arts at Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia. She is the co-founder and chief editor of the journal Derrida Today published by Edinburgh University Press, the Director of the bi-annual Derrida Today Conference, and International Fellow of the London Graduate School. As well as numerous articles and book chapters in various academic journals, she is also the sole author of Derrida: Ethics Under Erasure (Continuum 2012); co-editor of Cultural Theory in Everyday Practice (Oxford University Press 2008), and is currently writing a book for Routledge entitled Culture which explores the intersection between, and co-implications of, science and culture.

Sky Hugman

Sky Hugman (BA (Hons), MA) is a PhD Candidate at The Institute of Culture and Society at the University of Western Sydney. Her dissertation explores the knowledge sharing practices of the Australian based Technology and Wellbeing Roundtable, a cross sector think tank aimed at creating positive conversations around young people's use of technology. Other research interests include interdisciplinary education, network representation and theory and the role of media in young people's understanding of sex, love and relationships. Sky holds an Honours degree in Anthropology and a Masters degree in Peace and Conflict Studies both from Sydney University.