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Despite the leaps in technology in learning contexts, and the rapid use of connected technology and social media infiltrating the educational arena, we have found that on one hand, social media has been integrated into some schools ad hoc with early adopters carte blanche exploring its vast potential. Don’t get me wrong, those early adopters have helped clearly shape a path for the do’s and dont’s specific to social media in international education. After all, play, testing, and trial and error makes for great action research.
On the other hand, research evidences that some schools have placed great restrictions on students by negating connected networking spaces such as apps and websites; video/photo sharing websites; blogs, both corporate and personal; micro-blogs (e.g., Twitter); forums; discussion boards and groups; Wikis; podcasts; video and web conferences; and e-mail and instant messaging, so much so that the ways in which educators, students and the broader learning community can utilize technology to enrich learning opportunities is severely reduced. “Connectivity and openness are lost in the present educational context when access to social opportunities are limited.” |
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