The use of Social Networking Sites in the Classroom: A Review of Microsoft Teams

Social networking sites are a way to stay connected with the world and are starting to be “seen as means through which to deeply transform teaching and learning practices as more social, open and collaboration oriented” (Manca & Ranieri, 2016, p 217).  However, some educators (including myself) can hold concerns with their usage in the classroom due to potential issues such as cyber safety, cyber bullying, privacy concerns, and the potential for students to get off-track if they are online whilst learning. 

When used correctly, the use of social networking systems in education can be an excellent way to support a social constructivist pedagogical approach, and although it needs to be used with caution, and the platform chosen carefully, I believe if incorporated thoughtfully by educators, the advantages and benefits of its use will outweigh any negative aspects. 

As outlined in detail by Bower (2017), there are many advantages of the use of social networking in the classroom, including enabling communication, facilitating collaboration, accessibility, promotion of student-centred learning and peer-learning, encouragement of student engagement and contribution, and social support amongst students. 

Although Facebook is arguably one of the most well-known and widely used social networking sites, compared to other social networking sites available, such as Microsoft Teams, I believe the affordances of Facebook are very limited for educational purposes.  For the purposes of this review, Edmodo was another site considered seeing as this site had been designed specifically for educational purposes, however disappointingly it appears that this site will be closed as of 22^nd September 2022

Unfortunately, Edmodo will be shut down as of 22nd September, 2022.

Microsoft teams, according to research conducted by Callaghan (2021), is the 2^nd most commonly used technology platform amongst the schools interviewed, with Google Classrooms being the most common (Callaghan, 2021, p. 364) and having spent some time learning about Microsoft Teams, it is easy to see why it is so popular.  With Microsoft Teams, teachers are able to create a classroom (similar to google classrooms) and invite students to join their class.  Teachers can then add general announcements, create quizzes or assignments, share links, and hold video conferences with students. 

Home Page for “Mrs Hirst’s Science Class” in Microsoft Teams. This is where announcements can be made, and you can navigate to other pages on the site.

Also included are templates for reflections on students’ behaviour, a record of grades, and tracking progress of students – all of these functions will be very useful for teachers needing to provide evidence of meeting the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers (Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership, 2017), particularly Standard 3 (“Plan for & implement effective teaching and learning”) and standard 5 (“Assess, provide feedback and report on student learning”).   

One of the pages where teachers are able to reflect on their students behaviour for the lesson, or the week.

For a beginner-level user of technology such as myself, I found teams very user friendly and am honestly looking forward to being able to utilise this in my own classrooms.  Like all technology though, it can be time consuming when using the site for the first time, and this may be off-putting for time-poor teachers.  However, in the long-run, if teachers were mad aware of the functions of teams, I believe it will ultimately be time-saving and can be a great way to engage students and to keep track of their learning progress.  Perhaps educators would be more likely to utilise technology such as Microsoft Teams if there was adequate professional development for its use.

References:                                                    

Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (2017) Australian Professional Standards for Teachers: All Career Stages  Retrieved from Teacher Standards (aitsl.edu.au)

Bower, M (2017) Design of Technology Enhanced Learning: Integrating Research and Practice.  Emerald Publishing Limited.

Callaghan. N (2021) Understanding the role of technological platforms in schools.  Educational Media International 58 (4), pp 355-373.  Retrieved from: http://doi.org/10.1080/09523987.2021.1992864

Manca, S; Ranieri, M (2016).  Facebook and the others.  Potentials and obstacles of Social Media for teaching in higher education.  Computers and Education 95 pp 216 – 230.