New Media Tools & Instruction

"The social media landscape changes incredibly fast, so you have to be open minded and nimble to keep up with it"

- Alexis Ohanian

New media refers to web-related technologies that facilitate communication with different devices. There has been a growing interest in new media tools which plays an integral role in business, media, education, and mass communication (Yujie et al., 2022). Many educational institutions have expressed interest in training employees to integrate new media tools to enhance learner participation. Studies have proven that new media tools help to increase learner motivation and engagement and provide opportunities for authentic learning experiences.

The training targeted secondary and primary school educators in Hong Kong. The venue was a prominent secondary school in the Tin Shui Wai District, hosting sixty educators (including colleagues) from different ethnicities and educational fields. The professional development workshop was held on November 14, 2022, under the theme 'New Media Web 2.0 and Social Media Tools' - How to Integrate Web 2.0 & Social Media Tools into Lessons & Assessments.

The initiative was taken to utilize skills obtained from pursuing studies at The American College of Education (ACE) to assist educators in enhancing digital technology skills to design lessons that promoted authentic and engaging learning experiences. Learners within the institution displayed significant interest in technological tools and utilized iPads, computers, mobile phones, and other devices daily and for extended periods. It made sense to create lessons utilizing familiar tools to garner interest, encourage participation and assist learners in developing 21st-century skills.

As educators, continuous development must be pursued to design authentic learner-centered instruction and conduct research to be abreast of modern instructional tools to ensure learning is centered around meaningful experiences and promotes educational development. Implementing the workshop provided certified professional development hours for participants and highlighted many resources suitable for application across all disciplines and educational levels. Digital immigrants and natives within the district all received opportunities to improve technology skills with examples and illustrations on effectively integrating web 2.0 and social media tools into lessons.

Conducting this workshop fulfilled requirements from ACE to utilize skills obtained from training to make an original contribution to promote practical instructional training to individuals interested in personal and professional development. The PowerPoint Presentation for the workshop, along with the agenda and evaluation form, can be viewed using the following links. Items underlined in the presentation provide links to examples of selected resources. A preview of the presentation is attached below.

Presentation Sample:

Links:

1. Agenda

2. PowerPoint Presentation

3. Evaluation Form

References

Bruguera, C., Guitert, M., & Romeu, T. (2019). Social Media and Professional Development: A systematic review. Research in Learning Technology, 27. https://doi.org/10.25304/rlt.v27.2286

Yujie, Z., Al Imran Yasin, M., Alsagoff, S. A., & Hoon, A. L. (2022). The mediating role of new media engagement in this Digital age. Frontiers in Public Health, 10. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2022.879530