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Annotated Bibliography for Social Media in the Classroom

Rachel Braswell, Ashley Burch, and Patrick Kosal

Appalachian State University

CI 5630

Dr. Marks
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Annotated Bibliography

Ahern, T.C. (2016). A waterfall design strategy for using social media for instruction. Journal of

Educational Technology Systems, 44(3), 332-345.

Aherns journal article describes a strategy for selecting the best social media

avenue given an educators intended learning outcome and the appropriate

connecting epistemic task. Ahern argues that the epistemic tasks of description,

explanation, critique, argument, prediction, and persuasion allow discourse to

build understanding. Three categories - persistence, presence, and personal

interaction - are used to evaluate the nature of popular social media outlets,

placing examples within a Venn Diagram for easy comparison. A social medias

location on the Venn Diagram is then matched to a related task that connects back

to an intended learning outcome. This article serves as a model for teachers who

may have multiple social media options and need guidance regarding the best use

of each option. It is important to note, that many school districts still have

limitations on the social media options available to teachers, limiting possible

learning activities.

Al-Bahrania, A., Patel, D., & Sheridan, B. (2015). Engaging students using social media: The

students perspective. International Review of Economics Education, 19, 36-50.

The authors of this article argue that social media can increase student

engagement beyond the confines of class meetings with Instagram, Facebook,

Twitter, YouTube, and Google+ being preferred by students in that order. Despite
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its potential benefits, personal privacy between students and educators remains a

concern as some students do not wish for their instructors to see their behavior on

social media. A useful insight provided by Al-Bahrania et al. is that students feel

much more comfortable when the communication is one-way, meaning that

teachers can not access student information through their social media connection.

It is important to note that this article is written through the lens of the

college-level economics curriculum, but their findings may be generalized to

other content areas and perhaps secondary students.

Barnes, M. (2014). Teaching the istudent: A quick guide to using mobile devices and social

media in the k-12 classroom. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.

Barnes book is a testimony of an expert teacher that has successfully

incorporated technology into his middle school classroom. He highlights his

successes and failures of using various technologies and provides rationale for

how each technology can aid in student achievement and excitement for school.

Also included are case studies and testimony from other North American teachers

who have used apps, blogging, and a variety of web resources to enhance

students connection to the outside world. Emphasized most is the idea of

teaching students to be content curators: using technology to filter, sort, and make

sense of the vast amount of knowledge the internet provides. Even though most of

the book specifically addresses technology use in elementary and middle school

classrooms, the book nevertheless is relevant to our research because Barnes

presents solutions to frequent difficulties that arise when any teacher initially
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begin using technology. He also gives inarguable rationale for why doing so is

crucial to engage the current generation of iStudents that has been raised

alongside the internet and mobile devices.

Churcher, Kalen M.A., Downs, E., Tewksbury, D. (2014). Friending Vygotsky: A Social

Constructivist Pedagogy of Knowledge Building Through Classroom Social Media Use.

The Journal of Effective Teaching. 14(1), 33-59.

This paper explores Vygotskys ideas on social constructivism within the

framework of learning communities as they are seen in social networking sites

used in the classroom. The researchers conducted two studies in which social

networking sites were utilized connect students in order for them to further grow

their knowledge on course topics and materials. Following Vygotskys concepts

of social constructivism in which students create meaning through dialogue and

interaction, Churcher, Downs, and Tewksbury found that teacher guided

discussion via a social network sites, in this case Facebook and Wiki, lead to

student collaboration and increased participation. Student reflection of the studies

showed that they experienced better retention and a deeper understanding of the

coursework. Overall, Friending Vygotsky connected a standard teaching

principle with the modern needs of students in higher education.

Davis, Vicki (2014). A guidebook for social media in the classroom. Edutopia. Retrieved from

https://www.edutopia.org/blog/guidebook-social-media-in-classroom-vicki-davis.

This witty and fast paced article provides profound insight into the argument of

providing opportunities for social media in the classroom. Teaching 21st century
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skills are critical component to most teacher evaluations. Davis makes it clear

with several real-world examples that social media is the most powerful form of

communication of this time and modeling for students effective and safe ways to

communicate online will only enhance student engagement and set them up for

success in the future. Important to our research is the variety of resources linked

to this article as well as an abundant supply of ideas for teachers who want to use

social media in the classroom. For skeptical teachers, a list of safe alternatives is

provided as well.

Goble, D. & Leicht, G. (2014, October 1). Should teachers be using social media in the

classroom?. Retrieved 2 April 2017 from

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/social-media-valuable-tool-teachers/

In this blog post two accredited teachers discuss the benefits and negative aspects

of using social media in the classroom. The first author, Don Goble, begins by

noting the connections made for students when they are able to put their work out

for others to see. Within that idea, though, the author noted the importance of

social media and technology literacy. According to the author, those skills can be

built in the classroom and have far-reaching impacts. From there, the second

author explains how social media, albeit modern, is no longer a new and

interesting tool for young students. Although this blog post contains some

personal opinions of the authors, it sheds light on the possible future of social

media use in the classroom.

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Marciano, J. E. (2015). Becoming facebook friendly: social media and the culturally relevant

classroom. English Journal, 104 (5), 73-78.

This article highlights the many ways that students are already using social media,

such as Facebook, to relay information about assignments and to learn more about

the college application process. Marciano acknowledges the apprehension of

educators using social media to connect with students, but emphasizes that there

are still ways teachers can use the relevance of social media to engage students.

Useful for our research, she encourages teachers to learn from students the ways

in which they currently use social media, make it easier for students to share

classroom artifacts and their research, instruct students to tag their classmates in

their posts, and share with families and the community the positive ways social

media sites like Facebook can be used to enhance learning. These steps will lead

teachers to creating a Facebook-friendly course to capitalize on culturally

relevant methods of communication present among our youth.

Scott, K., Simone, D., & Williams, L. (2015). #Socialnetworks: Making nonfiction trend in your

classroom. Reading Teacher, 69(2), 181-188.

This article presents four free student-safe alternatives to popular social networks,

such as Pinterest, Twitter, YouTube, and Blogs, that may be used to expose

students to authentic nonfiction resources. Networks presented include Padlet,

Kidblog, SchoolTube, and TodaysMeet. A major point made by the author is that

students need more opportunities to engage in nonfiction text at an earlier age to

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be better prepared for future studies and to create lifelong learners. Furthermore,

engaging in social media in the classroom facilitates students comfort with using

technology required on end of year exams. Most notable is the research

explaining the impact of using an authentic audience to motivate and engage

students. This article is unique in that it provides bullet point lists of helpful

strategies for teachers interested in using social media in their classroom which

will aid the argument of expanding the social media use for educational purposes.

[TedxTalks]. (2013, October 7). Incorporating social media in the classroom: William J Ward at

TEDxKalamazoo [Video file]. Retrieved from

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLBMiy3VBQQ&t=80s

In this video lecture, social media professor Dr. William Ward highlights the

importance of incorporating social media within the classroom. One stated reason

is because the world is changing extremely rapidly due to the internet and

technology breakthroughs; schools must focus on creating students that are

adaptable enough to keep up. Another key idea of Wards is that of a permeable

classroom: one that does not enclose learning within its four walls. Ward argues

that by using social media in the classroom, students can access other scholars

expert opinions besides the teacher, engage in discourse with their peers during

the lesson, and grant invitations to other learners across the globe to share in the

lesson. Although Ward is a college professor, he clearly intends his teachings to

extend to the K-12 classroom environment. Though he doesnt examine the

downside of social media in the classroom during this video, it remains a relevant
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resource as an expert-given argument that social media use in the classroom is

becoming increasingly necessary for students.

Wenzel, A., & Carano, K.T. (2015). Research summary: Social media for middle level

classrooms. Retrieved 2 April 2017 from

http://www.amle.org/TabId/270/artmid/888/articleid/553/Social-Media-for-Middle-Level

-Classrooms.aspx

This posting from the Association for Middle Level Education focuses on the

benefits of social media in the classroom. Utilizing recent research, the authors

note the unique types of social media with real examples on the web. Types of

social media include collaborative projects, blogs, social news, and virtual

game-worlds. As the authors progress, they note challenges to be faced in using

social media in the classroom, including but not limited to; plagiarism, student

safety, access for all students, and professional development for teachers. They

note strategies of inclusion so that all students are able to participate in the

assignments due to the nature of flexibility in the sites. To conclude, the post lists

resources for teachers interested in beginning work with social media in the

classroom. The resources would guide a teacher to Twitter chats to collaborate,

blogs and articles for research, and student resources. Overall, the reader would

see positive viewpoints on the topic of social media in the classroom.