Social Media Tools
Today I learned how to make a blog! I was also learning about social media tools - A journey through the 21st century. These included emailing, facebook, twitter, skype and are used as a way of communicating. There are two different categories of social media tools; asynchronous - which is not happening at the same time, it is not instant, or synchronous - which is instant. In my opinion, both types of social media sources are valuable to learning and sharing in the classroom. Synchronous can be used to share, discuss or present to others in the class, this can be sent to others quickly, as an instant process. Asynchronous on the other hand is also beneficial and can be used in the classroom to contact other schools, via email, sharing learning experiences. This can also be helpful for contacting parents, presenting work carried out in class. A disadvantage of this type of social media in contrast with synchronous is that it is slower to send and receive.
Communities of Practice
Communities of practice are groups of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly (Wenger, 2006). Last year I was introduced to Wenger and his views on a 'community of practice'. Today, I was also introduced to Meredith Belbins model of team building which suggests that people within a group or community have different roles when working collaboratively. Each person carries out a specific role in the group. In relation to Belbins roles, he categorizes three different roles, including: - doing/acting - thinking/ problem solving - people/feelings Meredith Belbin emphasises that the behaviours of a team or group are organised and the preferred team roles are linked to personalities. He also believed that the effectiveness of a collaborative group depend on a combination of roles(Belbin, undated). During placement, I was interested in collaborative work. I experimented with it in the classroom and I feel the children benefited from working as part of a collaborative group. I started off with the children collaborating independently with one another, without having a specific role in the group. However I also tried another method of collaborate group work where the children had the opportunity to choose different roles to carry out in the group to ensure everyone was actively engaged in the task. This was effective and I agree with Belbins role of collaborative work.
Belbins Model of Roles
References
Belbin, M. (undated). Belbin Team Role Theory. Available at http://www.belbin.com/rte.asp?id=8 [Accessed 17.01.12]
Wenger, E. (2006). Communities of Practice. Available at http://www.ewenger.com/theory/ [Accessed 17.01.12]
This is very interesting! I really like the picture you have used.
ReplyDeleteI agree, a very interesting post with a perfect image to illustrate Belbin's model. It was interesting to read how you were able to reflect on previous experiences against what was discussed during the input.
ReplyDeleteTip: You are discussing two aspects in your post. Just like an assignment you either separate them with paragraphs or you create two posts.