Digital Media and Social Network in the Training of Pre-Service Teachers

The World Of Web 2.0: Social Media, And Social Networks

Social media tools bring about profound changes in educational settings, supporting a social-constructivist paradigm of learning by promoting creative and collaborative engagement of learners with the digital content and tools (Mâţă, 2013). Several scholars have theorized the pedagogical potential of using social media, such as social network sites for learning and emphasized the technology’s potential for supporting collaborative knowledge construction (Dede 2008; Greenhow 2011; Siemens, 2005). Yet, pre-service students performing practicum in schools saw little evidence of teaching with SNSs in their classes; where this was reported, they perceived these efforts as primarily reinforcing traditional pedagogies and assessments (Greenhow & Askari, 2017). The various digital media tools that can be employed in school classes can be sorted into four categories: (1) tools for experiential writing and shared resources (blog, Twitter); (2) tools for sharing media and tagging (Flicker, Instagram and Youtube); (3) social media applications that permit creation of a semantic network (Facebook and LinkedIn). (4) Synchronic and a-synchronic communication tools (electronic mail, Skype and WhatsApp) (Dabbagh & Reo, 2011).