The Use of Social Media Technologies as Novel Ways to Teach and to Promote Learning

The ubiquitous use of new information technologies, computer software and multimedia interfaces, particularly driven by the Internet technologies of the 21st century, has created opportunities for novel ways of teaching which promote learning. In the 21st century classroom or lecture theatre, teachers can no longer teach effectively through the application of the traditional individualistic or competitive learning models (Johnson & Johnson, 1978). Rather, what is needed is collaboration among students as well as between students and teachers. Internet driven collaboration is advantageous because it transcends spatial barriers and it creates opportunities for people to work in virtual workplaces (Jackson, 2002), and for students to learn together in peer learning networks (PLNs), which provide peer support and feedback in virtual classrooms (Howell, 2012) and thus enhance teaching and learning in novel ways. This paper is drawn from a study which investigated how selected social media technologies, namely Google+.Discussion Circles, (GDCs) can be used to support teaching, learning and assessment for 2nd year, Bachelor of Education students, training to be teachers at a University in Australia. Data were collected from 145 students 60 of whom were enrolled in one face-to-face unit and the other 85 students were enrolled in the online, non-face-to-face mode in the same unit. The research found that the majority of participants felt mutually supported in the PLNs driven by GDCs and developed strong feelings of social connectedness as they completed their learning activities and assessment tasks. They valued their learning experiences and felt that this novel way of learning was more user-friendly than the lecture method, or the more conventional Learning Management System called Moodle, in promoting their learning.