Embracing a New Wave of Online Social Media in the Classroom
Abstract: With highly accessible, network-based mechanisms, online social media (e.g., blogs, Twitter, wikis, virtual worlds) are more than ever empowering students to create and share content online. This change opens up new instructional opportunities as it allows for diverse means for student interaction and effective ways to manage collective knowledge. For example, a 3 dimensional online virtual world offers an immersive environment to mirror the real world and provides rich social cues to help students build connections with others through avatars and accomplish a collaborative task in real time. This presentation aims at providing new insight into the design of instruction by discussing how to best support learners with these user-centered technologies and addressing any trends and issues that may come with these new approaches. It will cover innovative strategies and significant issues to be taken into considerations at the five design phases of instruction.