Merry Christmas

 

Well, it has been a while since I have posted much on this blog.  I am in the process of working on more posts soon.  Just know I have been really busy.

Look out for more posts soon.

Social Media Apps.....

 *** Author's Note********************************************************************

 This Post is being done for credit on an assignment at Liberty University for the EdD program.

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    As an Educator, the use of apps, is something that we are all getting used to. Especially in this age of COVID-19.  Teachers are using apps for grading, online classrooms, along with communication with peers and students.  Here is a brief review of five apps that I think students will be using in the the classroom.    

App # 1- WhatsApp

WhatsApp is a multi-platform messaging application that is owned by Facebook.  According to .  Sutikno, Handayani, Stiawan, Riyadi, and Subroto (2016), it has a marketshare of about 60%.   WhatsApp allows for people to video, voice and text chat to other WhatsApp users using End to End Encryption.  The privacy concerns are highlight the need for a person to be cautious when using a phone app to discuss anything.  One concern from using WhatsApp, revolves around the ownership of the software, Facebook.  Thubron (2021) writes in his article about WhatApp, that there are a number of concerns with the privacy policy imposed on users of the app.  The article cites a number of concerns to include the use of conversations to direct advertisement to users.  In essence if one discusses a private matter, then the subject of that conversation could be a data-mined to target ads.  The concern would be that the information could provide an unknown actor to have more information about you, even without knowing the content of the messages. To illustrate this, think of a letter.  Until the letter is opened the contents are still private.  The information however that is contained on the outside, the metadata, provides a lot more information.  The sender, the recipient date the letter was mailed, location to name a few.  This information alone, without the contents could give someone a lot of information.  If the letter was from a doctor for examples, looking up the type of medicine that is practiced along with other data could lead someone to make an educated guess on a possible health issue.  With WhatsApp’s policy of scanning messages to target ads, this information could give a bad actor information about a number of personal matters.

As an educator, I am uncomfortable using WhatsApp for communications that are work related, especially where student privacy is concerned.  I would offer that other forms of communication offer students and education professionals a much more robust form of privacy without sacrificing ease of use and expense.

https://www.whatsapp.com/ 

App # 2- Google Docs

Google Docs is a wordprocesser part of the Google Suite.  It provides a web-based office platform for people to work. Google Docs is Microsoft Word Compatible, and host a number of other features to include, web based operations, app based operations on mobile platforms, cloud storage, and compatibility across a number of word processing software packages.

One of the greatest benefits to using Google Docs, is cost.  Generally speaking, Google does offer a free version of the software suite with its free Gmail account.  Schools and Business are able to purchase a license to operate the suite with additional features.  Central Middle School, uses Chromebooks and relies on the Google Docs software for the students to use a wordprocesser.  

One of the concerns about the google docs software that has been encountered at Central Middle School, has been the use of the chat feature to hide conversations among students.  It is difficult for people to monitor these communications because they could be hidden among any document. Unlike email, where there is oversight by the school district, the use of the chat feature with Google Docs, makes it a novel way to hide communications. Gugino (2018) also highlights that there are concerns with using the platform from a security perspective. The general observation about security revolve around the ability to rapidly share the documents over the internet.  The concern becomes with the types of information contained that is protected by FERPA or other privacy laws.  Gugino (2018) discusses how the use of the online tool should include the best practices for information security that are used in traditional media. 

https://docs.google.com/ 

App # 3-Discord

Disccord is a social media app, that allows users to interact based on a topic or shared interest.  I have become familiar with discord through watching Youtube videos, where the host uses discord as a way to interact with their audience.  One of the nice things about Discord, is that if you create a room for people to participate you also are able to moderate the room and set rules that people need to follow. You are also able to create rooms with different topics.  One of the ways I am considering using this is in conjunction with a Youtube live stream, similar to what I have experienced.  In my use, I am planning on creating a Homework Hotline for students to tune into three days a week, and I plan to use Discord so that students can ask questions that I can answer during a live webcast.  One of the challenges with using discord, is getting the sign off from admin, as my districts technology policy does not allow for it to be used for student communication.  An advantage to using Discord in this way, is that I can create a room for each episode and I can lock the chat so that it is archived for people to watch.  This would also allow for people to see what time questions are asked then they are able to go to that point in the archived video.  One of the reasons I think this is better than saying recording a Zoom meeting, has a lot to do with privacy.  If I were to record a Zoom meeting, then the students who participated would be part of that recording.  Using a discord, viewers use pseudonyms as apposed to real names, and on the Youtube video, there would be no recordings of personally identifiable information.  With this being said, like any app and service there are ways it the app can be abused.  In a Gizmodo article titled “How a Video Game Chat Client Became the Web’s New Cesspool of Abuse” discusses how people use the platform to conduct activity that is less than appropriate, especially for young people.  Discord like other apps, provides a people a great deal of freedom to use the service, but abuse can happen.  The best way to address this is by parents and educators monitoring the activity of children and students. 

https://discord.com/

App # 4- Instagram

Instagram is a social media platform that allows for people to post photos. One of the concerns that I have learned about Instagram deal directly with privacy and the ability for people to share personal information.  I have used Instagram, to share some family photos, but I have mostly used it share photos of artwork I have done.  Instagram is an online community, it allows anyone to access it and there is very little in the way of safeguards that protects a person from being targeted from cyber bullying.  As a parent one concern is something that is shared among multiple social networking platforms, and that is, there is little to no vetting of the people who have access to the platform.  The opportunity to meet and interact with anyone, is both a resource and a concern.  Where children are involved, this medium allows for those with bad motives to interact in near anonymity.  

MacQuarrie (2017) discussed in article about the uses of Instagram in Education.  Noting that Instagram is a photo sharing site, Instagram does offer a few educational opportunities.  One suggest MacQuarrie offers is to use the post as writing prompts.  This is one way to get students to engage with others and look for prompts.  In my own classroom, I have used the InkTober challenge with my special needs students by having the students use the drawing prompts to work on vocabulary.  MacQuarrie (2017) also suggest using the app for Photo journaling.  I think combined with Hashtags, this is a good way for students to use Instagram as a digital portfolio.

http://www.instagram.com

App # 5- Snap Chat

Snapchat is a social media app that allows users to share location and create photos of themselves.  One of the concerns with using snap chat among young people is that the photos are geo-tagged.  That is the location data is attached to the photograph allows others to know the location of the photo and the location of the people in the photo.  This is of concern for young people who are not aware that they would be sharing this data with the entire world.  One other concern with providing the geolocation of people, is that would allow a bad actor data about the person, that other wise would not have and allow a person to build a profile of a person based on time and location.  

One of the interesting aspects of Snap Chat is that it notifies users if someone screenshots a snap, thus preserving the message outside the control of the author.  Something that I have witnessed my peers doing to prevent motivations is to use a separate device to take a photo of the screen.  The app has no way to know this was done, and the new photo time stamps the new image. 

In an article from National Public Radio, Lee (2016) discusses how a teacher uses snapchat to engage students.  The article notes that students are engaged in social media.  One of the concerns as a teacher I am required to follow my districts policies.  As it stands right now, direct messaging to a student could cause a teacher to be in violation of district policies.  

https://www.snapchat.com/

Regardless of any app you use, there are going to be dangers.  The use of apps in education is going to expand.  I suspect that as education continues to develop both in the traditional and virtual classroom, students will use the apps to create both a digital portfolio and as a means to learn concepts.  Chrum and Sumerfield (2020) explain the how powerful Gamification can be in education. The case studies that they examine highlight the success of engaging students in games.  I think the same could be said for creating authentic assessments that use apps as a way of documenting the learning that takes place in the classroom, in whatever form that takes. 

 

References

Amy Jacques. (2011). Your real-life network: How GroupMe lets you create a private social 

group. Public Relations Tactics., 18(6).

Gronseth, S., & Hebert, W. (2019). GroupMe: 

Investigating Use of Mobile Instant Messaging in Higher Education Courses. TechTrends, 63(1), 15-22. http://dx.doi.org.ezproxy.liberty.edu/10.1007/s11528-018-0361-y

Sutikno, T., Handayani, L., Stiawan, D., Riyadi, M. A., & Subroto, I. M. I. (2016). WhatsApp, 

Viber and Telegram which is Best for Instant Messaging? International Journal of Electrical and Computer Engineering, 6(3), 909-914. http://ezproxy.liberty.edu/login?qurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.proquest.com%2Fscholarly-journals%2Fwhatsapp-viber-telegram-which-is-best-instant%2Fdocview%2F1801636262%2Fse-2%3Faccountid%3D12085

Thubron, R. (2021, February 22). Refusing to ACCEPT WHATSAPP'S new privacy Policy? Here's what will happen to your account. Retrieved March 11, 2021, from https://www.techspot.com/news/88700-refusing-accept-whatsapp-new-privacy-policy-here-what.html

  

Gugino, J. (2018). Using Google Docs to Enhance the Teacher Work Sample: Building e-Portfolios for Learning and Practice. Journal of Special Education Technology, 33(1), 54–65. https://doi.org/10.1177/0162643417729135

Menegus, B. (2017, February 6). How a Video Game Chat Client Became the Web's New Cesspool of Abuse. Gizmodo. https://gizmodo.com/how-a-video-game-chat-client-became-the-web-s-new-cessp-1792039566. 

Macquarrie, A. (2017, November 20). Instagram in Education. Learning Liftoff. https://www.learningliftoff.com/instagram-education/. 

Lee, J. (2016, March 29). 10 Seconds At A Time, A Teacher Tries Snapchat To Engage Students. NPR. https://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2016/03/29/467091289/how-teachers-are-using-snapchat. 

Schrum, L., & Sumerfield, S. (2018). Learning supercharged: Digital age strategies and insights from the edtech frontier. Portland, OR: International Society for Technology in Education.

PODCAST!

Here is a podcast that I participated in during my recent trip to Washington DC.

https://www.hmhco.com/blog/hmh-learning-moments-teachers-in-america-garrett-jackson-saipan-cnmi?fbclid=IwAR1ZCH65WETkdr_7OOmgubjh-SK7zMFUGjIBcluinu9FJt7LuGmFhqE1C50