Background/Context: Educators are increasingly using social media in different ways, but they often do so without considering the ways in which social media corporations profit from their uses or the hidden mechanisms social media platforms use to steer connectivity among users. Moreover, very few studies have hitherto addressed critical challenges that social media services pose to users in general and to teachers/learners specifically. Purpose/Objective: In this exploratory paper, we seek to identify a number of key issues concerning corporate social media design and implementation, and the technoethical concerns to which educators should attend. Research setting: This project emerged from collaborations at the 2018 #Cloud2Class conference at Michigan State University. Our team of researchers agreed to examine scholarly and popular literature to better understand the ways in which social media corporations influence online experiences and how educators might address such issues in their settings. Research Design, Data: We offer an overview and framing of the topic of the relationship between social media corporations and educational institutions. We adopt a critical perspective grounded in social and media studies to provide a theoretical prospect on social media platforms design and implementation. Collection, and Analysis: We collaboratively and independently worked to frame and identify key issues related to social media corporations and educational institutions, and we identified possible measures educators might use to address these issues. Findings: We identified four primary areas of concern: user agreements and data; harassment, cyberbullying, etc.; algorithms of oppression, distraction, echo, and extremism; and, design for distraction, easy user choice, or access for non-users. We explain and frame each issue and then offer possible ways educators might respond. Conclusions/Recommendations: We argue that educators, educational institutions, and scholars should address corporate aspects of social media design as they teach with and about these platforms. We provide advice and tips to counterbalance the issues identified that educators and students can use in their teaching and learning practices.
Teaching "Against" Social Media: Confronting Problems of Profit in the Curriculum
Manca;
2019
Abstract
Background/Context: Educators are increasingly using social media in different ways, but they often do so without considering the ways in which social media corporations profit from their uses or the hidden mechanisms social media platforms use to steer connectivity among users. Moreover, very few studies have hitherto addressed critical challenges that social media services pose to users in general and to teachers/learners specifically. Purpose/Objective: In this exploratory paper, we seek to identify a number of key issues concerning corporate social media design and implementation, and the technoethical concerns to which educators should attend. Research setting: This project emerged from collaborations at the 2018 #Cloud2Class conference at Michigan State University. Our team of researchers agreed to examine scholarly and popular literature to better understand the ways in which social media corporations influence online experiences and how educators might address such issues in their settings. Research Design, Data: We offer an overview and framing of the topic of the relationship between social media corporations and educational institutions. We adopt a critical perspective grounded in social and media studies to provide a theoretical prospect on social media platforms design and implementation. Collection, and Analysis: We collaboratively and independently worked to frame and identify key issues related to social media corporations and educational institutions, and we identified possible measures educators might use to address these issues. Findings: We identified four primary areas of concern: user agreements and data; harassment, cyberbullying, etc.; algorithms of oppression, distraction, echo, and extremism; and, design for distraction, easy user choice, or access for non-users. We explain and frame each issue and then offer possible ways educators might respond. Conclusions/Recommendations: We argue that educators, educational institutions, and scholars should address corporate aspects of social media design as they teach with and about these platforms. We provide advice and tips to counterbalance the issues identified that educators and students can use in their teaching and learning practices.File | Dimensione | Formato | |
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