Alan Cann

School of Biological Sciences

University of Leicester

Find me here: bit.ly/AJCann

This talk: www.slideshare.net/AJCann

Social Media and

Microbiology Education

MicrobiologyBytes.com

What is “social media” ?

• The part of the Internet where the content

is generated by users of the service.

• It's not about tools - it's about

conversations.

Is using social media in

education a terrible idea?

• Time

• Authority ("quality")

• Just not needed - traditional tools have

proved their worth?

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What do students want?

• Guidance and leadership through the

maze

• Compete with professional media

(Facebook, games, television)

• Value for money

What do we give them?

• By and large, we give them what we

experienced in education.

• Where technology makes it easy for

us to increase the pressure on them,

we do so (email, online assessment).

What do we want?

• Engaged, self-motivated, lifelong

learners

• And ... ?

So how do we get there?

• Invest time & effort in not just doing

it but in understanding how new

media work.

• Manage expectations - in particular

that education is active not passive.

• Give them clear targets and

something to aim for.

Digital Natives versus

Visitors and Residents

?

Pedagogies of Online Education

PLE versus PLN

• Personal Learning Environment (PLE)

- a collection of tools

• Personal Learning Network (PLN)

- a collection of people

It’s not about tools, it’s about

creating the right network

Bad networks!

Good networks!

Peer networks

- professional development?

• Facebook but not Facebook

• Minimalist guidance

• Reflection

• Feedback

• Discussion (object centred)

1. Content

3. Network

2. Context

More?

• bit.ly/AJCann

• microbiologybytes.com/blog/tag/edu

cation

• scienceoftheinvisible.blogspot.com