Reflections about using social media for teaching and learning
Social media provides a platform for people to share their knowledge. At the same time, they can gain recognition and credibility in their chosen field or specialism. Several experts agree that nowadays social media is the best form of direct contact with a target audience.
Despite having studied journalism at university, I must confess that I am a novice at using social media, both for personal and professional reasons. A couple of years ago, when reluctantly I opened a Facebook account, my head of department advised me to join the group Secondary MFL Matters. It was mentioned that on this site I could find different ideas and take part in professional discussions to develop my practice.
Joining this group has certainly broadened my horizons. I found out that I could share resources, ask questions, read relevant comments regarding what is going on in the MFL area, read some educational blogs and access resources shared by other colleagues.
Shortly after, I discovered other Facebook networks created by colleagues, such as MFL Middle Leadership Matters, MFL Teachers, MFL Success and The MFL Classroom. Until last year, I was a passive member who used to enjoy reading Esmeralda Salgado's blog, watching Mari Cruz Enciso’s cultural videos, being informed about Gianfranco Conti training courses and scrutinising Helen Myers articles regarding different government policies.
This situation changed in November 2022 when one of my year 11 Spanish students; with a big smile on his face told me how much he was enjoying, revising for his Geography and Science mocks. I must admit that I have not heard many students saying that revision is a pleasurable activity, so I wondered where his delight was coming from and without hesitation, I asked him. His answer was simple, he was using songs that were available in YouTube. I was not aware that other disciplines were using music to support teaching and learning.
I feel passionate about using songs in my lessons, I have written lyrics since I was a child. The student’s comment made me reflect about finding a way to produce songs in Spanish that would include vocabulary and grammar, accessible enough for GCSE students. This would be useful in the classroom and as motivational tool for independent learning and retrieval.
After some discussions, lots of planning and hours of work, with my musician colleague Gill Parker we produced several songs ready to be used in my teaching. At this stage, we felt that the work that we were putting into this resource was too much only to be used in my classroom, so timidly I started considering the idea of sharing the songs in a YouTube channel. I was not sure if I was ready to embrace social media, and like if I was living in the time of Bernarda Alba, I was terrified by (“el qué dirán”) what others would think about it.
I was used to sharing my work at my school; however, sharing your work potentially with the entire world, is not the same as sharing your work with a couple of colleagues. Producing resources is time consuming and in addition to this, sharing them can certainly be intimidating because you do not know what sort of feedback you are going to receive and dealing with any negative feedback can be disheartening.
While researching how to start a YouTube channel, I came across several videos from doctor Ali Abdaal and his views totally changed my perception of social media. In addition to gathering ideas regarding how to use YouTube, I learnt from him that nowadays employers search for you on social media when they receive your job application. Hence, social media can be a great way to let future employers know what you do, before going for an interview.
Doctor Abdaal highlighted the importance of having a blog to share your thoughts and overall, he recommended that you should share your work. The most important thing that I learned from him was perhaps to focus on the journey rather than on the destination and hope that my product would be useful to at least one person.
My uses of social media for educational purposes
From having just a personal Facebook account, I have expanded my uses of social media, currently using the following networks.
This was created last year in February to share educational songs. Today we have published over 75 videos, the channel has over 45,000 views and 249 suscribers. The Christmas Carol “Feliz Navidad” reached over 5,000 views.
It has been rewarding to share resources with colleagues from around the world. I share the songs on different Facebook educational pages, and I have earned a top contributor badge in many groups from the UK and other countries. In addition to this, I have met creative colleagues, such as educator and poet Diego Ojeda, and their work has been an inspiration to generate new ideas to improve my own practice.
I produced worksheets to be used with the songs, but I was not sure about how to share them with colleagues. Some people share resources via Google drive, others have their own website for this purpose. Inspired by Frau Bastow, I decided to open a shop in TES. So far, I have uploaded over 65 free resources, my shop has been visited by over 3,000 people from different countries and over 2,000 have used my free resources.
Having a YouTube channel has been a useful tool to support my A-Level students. I have created and made available 20 episodes analysing Crónica de una muerte anunciada, a novel that I teach. This has been useful to Support A-Level students on their journey approaching literature and will develop their listening skills too. At the same time the podcast has benefitted Spanish speakers from different backgrounds, and it has been visited by several colleagues, especially from Materiales y Recursos de Lenguaje y Literatura. The time spent doing this has been useful.
I have been teaching Crónica de una muerte anunciada for more than 20 years. As a GABO’s countrywoman I have studied his work with discipline and dedication. This motivated me to create a Discussion group to share different ideas and good practice with other colleagues. In this group I have met different fellows who not only share their resources but also their passion for GABO’s work. Networking with them has been a pleasure.
Inspired by several colleagues such as Steve Smith and John Bald, I started an educational blog to discuss different topics as well as to share my reflections regarding teaching and learning. In one year, the blog has over 100,000 views and it has been visited by different colleagues from around the world. Having a blog has also allowed me to come across some interesting articles, for example recently I have been delighted to read some academic articles by Rosana Sobrino Triana, who writes “like the gods.”
Skills that I have developed
To produce the videos that accompany the songs I have learnt how to use the online graphic design and publishing tool called Canva. I also learnt video editing by watching videos on YouTube.
To record the podcast I learnt how to use Vocaster and for audio editing I learnt to use Audacity. I achieved this by watching several videos on YouTube. I found particularly encouraging and useful Katie Steckly's videos and her advice regarding podcasting.
To create the blog, I learnt how to create a webpage. I watched several videoa from Tony Teaches Tech who showed me step by step how to create and customise a free blog in Blogger.
In addition to this, I have developed my subject knowledge to write my blog articles. As English is not my mother tongue, writing the articles has helped me to develop my research and English skills. To be able to upload at least one video on weekly bases, I have developed my planning and time management skills.
As the YouTube channel can be accessed by students, the comments are turned off, however, I do receive private messages from colleagues providing feedback regarding the songs. Making the videos and publishing them is a hobby but I also feel responsible to provide a useful product for my audience.
To conclude, social media has enriched my professional life. Using this has allowed me to network with colleagues from different contexts. In addition to this, using social media for educational purposes has taught me that technology offers many possibilities to engage students and make their learning experience more enjoyable. I love technology and my next adventure will be to explore ChatGPT and AI with Joe Dale. “Technology will never replace great teachers, but technology in the hands of great teachers is transformational.” George Couros