Here are some examples of how social media can be used by educators to share teaching strategies and

resources:

Pinterest

Pre-service teachers can use Pinterest to explore and share ideas for teaching and classroom
management.

Global Read Aloud (GRA)

Teachers use social media to find other teachers to pair with for synchronous and asynchronous
activities.

Twitter

School leaders use Twitter to organize a community of practice and communicate policy.

Facebook

Teachers use Facebook to support each other in implementing new learning approaches. Teachers can
also use Facebook groups to create interest-based groups for students, facilitate discussions, and share
content.

Case study 3

A sense of community is central to student engagement and satisfaction. However, many students
strugglewith developing connections in online programs. Drawing on interviews with 13 instructors,this
paperexploresthe strategies that they use to help students develop a sense of community in
synchronous virtual classrooms. Four strategies for building community online are identified: reaching
out to students often, limiting time spent lecturing, using video and chat as
modestoengagestudents,andallowingclasstimetobeusedforpersonalandprofessionalupdates
Here are some strategies for building community and encouraging interaction in an e-learning platform:

Content-based activities

These activities can help students learn content and build community by encouraging collaboration with
peers. For example, students could find songs that use concepts from the course.

Chats

Instructors can use chats to encourage students to participate in online discussions.

Breakout rooms

Instructors can use breakout rooms to help students have deeper interactions with smaller groups.

Frequent announcements and feedback

These can help strengthen connections between students and instructors.

Built-in communication and collaboration tools

These tools can include blogs, wikis, forums, groups, journals, and conferences.

An e-learning platform is a set of online services that provide information, tools, and resources to
support education. One type of e-learning software is a learning management system (LMS).

4.2

Establishing clear goals for an online student community is a fundamental step in creating a successful
learning environment. Clear goals help students understand the purpose of their activities and how they
contribute to the overall learning goals. They also help students stay motivated and engaged.
 Facilitating interaction in online student communities involves creating opportunities for students to
engage with each other and with course content, as well as with the instructor:

Student-to-student interaction

Create opportunities for students to share ideas, ask questions, and get feedback from each other. This
can be done through discussion forums, group work, or online games.

Student-to-content interaction

Ensure students have opportunities to engage with the course material and use it to complete activities.

Student-to-faculty interaction

Make sure students feel the instructor's presence in the course. This can be done through weekly
announcements, providing feedback, and engaging in discussion forums.

Social presence

Use strategies to help students feel a sense of community, such as icebreakers and "get to know each
other" activities.

Student-facilitator interaction

Student-facilitator interactions can help guide attention, boost motivation, and create conditions for
learning. This can be done by clarifying instructions, identifying areas for struggle, and providing
feedback.

Hashtags are a handy way of grouping and categorising tweets, and they help people follow topics in
which they're interested. Anyone searching for a specific topic can find relevant tweets immediately
rather than having to scroll through their Twitter feed.
A classroom hashtag is a word or phrase that comes before the hash symbol (#) and is used to categorize
or classify information. Hashtags can be used in the classroom to:

Organize information: Hashtags can help organize information and make it easier to navigate.

Coordinate learning: Hashtags can be a valuable way for communities of participants to coordinate
learning.

Summarize information: Students can use hashtags to create a summary of complex texts by adding a
hashtag to the margin after each paragraph.

Some examples of hashtags that educators can use include:

#OutdoorLearning: A hashtag that can help expose educators to ideas for what to do with their students
outside

#BlendedLearning: A hashtag that can help educators stay informed about the future of education and
how to balance virtual and face-to-face learning

#EarlyEd: A hashtag that can help give early education a platform to share ideas

#PassionDrive: A hashtag that can help educators stay motivated and motivate others

They are also known as virtual or networked learning communities.

It defines online learning communities as groups that convene around shared purposes or domains of
study. They can be solely online or blended with both online and offline interactions. Effective online
learning communities use tools like discussion boards, video conferencing, and content creation tools.

Real-time communication (RTC) is a way of exchanging information between users with little to no delay.
It's characterized by a direct path between the source and the destination, with data going from one to
the other without being stored in between.
The Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework recognizes the importance of interactions between the
teaching, social and cognitive presences in creating positive and collaborative learning communities

The Garrison model for online learning communities, also known as the Community of Inquiry (CoI)
model, is a framework for building online learning communities that focuses on three key elements:

Teaching presence

The design, facilitation, and direction of cognitive and social processes to create meaningful learning
outcomes

Cognitive presence

The ability of learners to construct and confirm meaning through reflection and discourse

Social presence

The ability of participants to identify with the community, communicate, and develop relationships

The CoI model was developed by Dr. Randy Garrison, Dr. Terry Anderson, and Dr. Walter Archer in 2000.
It is one of the most widely used models for building online learning communities.

4.3

Collaboration tools are programs, apps, or platforms that help people work together more effectively.
They can be used by students, instructors, and teaching assistants, as well as by businesses to manage
projects and resources.

What are Collaboration Tools? Collaboration tools allow students, instructors, and teaching assistants to
exchange resources in a number of different ways, depending on what is needed for a particular task.
Tools include document and resource sharing and collaboration, as well as web conferencing
Developing teamwork skills: Students learn to collaborate and work together to solve problems. They
also learn to delegate roles and responsibilities, and hold each other accountable.

Gaining new perspectives: Students are exposed to different perspectives and styles of thinking.

Improving communication skills: Students learn to communicate with others and share their ideas.

Building confidence: Students learn to assert their ideas and gain self-assurance.

Developing metacognitive skills: Students learn to think more critically and reflectively about their own
learning.

Establishing a shared identity: Students develop a sense of belonging with their group members.

Finding peers to emulate: Students can learn from and be inspired by their peers.

Developing transferable skills: Students learn skills that they can use in different environments, such as
at work or in other educational settings.

Group work can be an effective method to motivate students, encourage active learning, and develop
key critical-thinking, communication, and decision-making skills.

Social media can be used for group projects with students in a variety of ways, including:
Creating a classroom community

Students can use Facebook groups to share, ask questions, and help each other. Teachers can set rules
for the group.

Creating a class blog

Teachers can create a class blog on platforms like WordPress, Blogger, or Tumblr for students to write
blog posts and discuss topics.

Sharing educational content

Students can use social media to access and share educational content, such as informative videos.

A group project is a cooperative learning assignment that requires students to work with peer group
members to plan, discuss, and complete a specific project, often over the course of an entire semester.

Peer feedback using digital platforms is when students provide feedback to each other on their work or
performance through digital tools. Digital platforms can include online forums, e-portfolios, shared
documents, and annotation software.

Peer feedback is a collaborative learning activity that can help students improve their communication,
critical thinking, and emotional regulation skills. It can also help students gain a variety of perspectives
and receive more feedback

Peer mentoring is a type of mentorship where the mentor and mentee are similar in age, career stage,
or experience, and work together in a collaborative, non-hierarchical relationship. Peer mentors can
provide support, guidance, and knowledge, and help mentees develop professionally and personally
peer mentoring is a collaborative relationship between a mentor and a mentee that uses technology to
provide learning, support, and encouragement. The main difference between online and in-person peer
mentoring is that online sessions take place over a video call or phone call.

Peer review is a structured process where students provide feedback to each other on their work. It can
help students develop skills in assessing and providing feedback, and improve their own work. Peer
review can also help students learn to collaborate and work with others.

An online group study is a collaborative learning environment where students in the same class or
subject matter work together to review material, solve problems, and improve their study skills. Online
group studies can take place in small groups or as a whole class discussion.According to Bandura,
learning can occur by watching others and then modeling what they do or say. This is known as
observational learning. There are specific steps in the process of modeling that must be followed if
learning is to be successful. These steps include attention, retention, reproduction, and
motivation.Albert Bandura's social learning theory suggests that people can learn new behaviors by
observing others, a process called observational learning:

Explanation

Bandura's theory states that people learn by observing and modeling the behavior of others, rather than
through direct experience. This process can be used to learn new skills, knowledge, and beliefs.

Social models

Social models are people who are usually higher in status or authority than the observer, such as
parents, teachers, or police officers.
Learning process

To learn a behavior, four conditions must be met:

Attention: The person must notice the behavior

Retention: The person must remember the behavior

Reproduction: The person must perform the behavior

Motivation: The person must be reinforced for performing the behavior to

For example, if a child observes their parents going to work every day, volunteering at a local community
center, and helping their significant other with tasks around the home, the child is likely to mimic those
behaviors. If rewarded, these behaviors become reinforced and most likely repeated by the
individual.Modeling is the process of demonstrating behaviors for others to observe and imitate. It's a
fundamental concept in social learning theory, where people learn skills, habits, and social norms from
models in their environment.

Examples

Social learning can be used in the workplace to model productive behaviors. For example, a student who
sees other students being praised for academic accomplishments may engage in scholarly behavior to
receive similar rewards.

Here are some ways to model role models using online interaction:

Be a good digital role model

Children are influenced by their parents' online behavior, so parents can model responsible social media
use. This includes:

Avoiding offensive or harmful posts

Not oversharing personal information

Setting time limits for internet use

Having dedicated digital detox times