Unit 4: Social Media

Unit 4: Social Media Reflective Assessment

     Carla Dawson, a digital marketing professor at University of Cordoba highlights the importance of using social media in classrooms, "We live in a digital ecosystem, and it is vital that education institutions adapt. I find it a requirement nowadays to use social media tools to connect with my students and get them motivated for the task at hand." (Dawson). Social media is a huge part of our lives, we use it to connect with other people and as a great source of entertainment, so implementing that in our educational environment captures our attention and allows us to broaden our horizons using our everyday sources. Using social media to share our projects and work for the last six weeks has allowed us to relay what we have been learning on a larger platform. My unit project, my blood typing lab report, and my To Kill a Mockingbird paragraph analysis have all contributed to my journey in learning to implement technology and social media into my education.

     For our unit projects we were asked to choose something we were passionate about, find a problem withing the topic we chose, and then develop a solution for said problem. I am very passionate about current global issues however, society is extremely ignorant when it comes to what is happening in the world around us, and that ignorance starts with the lack of education students are receiving about these issues in school. I decided to conduct a social experiment where I interviewed multiple students asking them what they know about current global issues, how they feel about the education system, and then develop a solution based on the information I had received. I also created a google form that asked multiple questions regarding my topic and that form was put on the slide deck for my core. Once I interviewed the students I created a blog, a twitter account, and I made three videos then shared them on You Tube. My blog titled, Global Issues highlights what the problem is, and the process of my experiment. I included a contact page that contained the link to the twitter account I had created, and I also put all of the videos I made on the blog. A main objective of this project was to use social media to broadcast our experiment. With the help of the social media applications I was able to reach out and share my project with the world. 

     In science this unit we have been learning about viruses, vaccines, and immunology. Most of our class time was focused on completing our unit project, however we did conduct a blood typing experiment to better understand the body's immune system. For this lab experiment we were in groups of four people, and one person had to get their finger pricked to determine what their blood type was. Once the person's finger was pricked we had to put one drop in Antiserum A, Antiserum B, and the Anti-Rh factor. We determined that the student's blood type was O+ because his  blood agglutinated when introduced to the anti- Rh antiserum. Once we determined the blood type we had to complete the lab report. My Lab Report was completed and posted in the science section of my digital notebook. This lab helped me better understand immunology and how blood typing works. My digital notebook contains everything we have learned in science, and anyone can view it. 

     Throughout this unit we have been reading To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. Everyday we would read at least two chapters and take annotations or do sketchnotes, and then the next day we would get into our social media groups and discuss what we had read. One day we were assigned to complete a paragraph analysis where we chose one literary lense and provided evidence that it was present throughout the novel. I decided to analyze the racism in the novel and how it affected the characters. I received a 3.5 on the rough draft and then I went back and completed any edits that I needed to make to earn a 4. I think that this assignment really demonstrated my writing skills and my understanding of the novel. 

     Overall, this entire unit has proven to be completely influential and beneficial. I have gained many skills from this unit and I am very grateful to have been apart of a class that focused on teaching how to use social media to benefit our education. Social media has allowed me to broadcast all of my work. It gives me a great amount of satisfaction to know that anyone from any part of the world can view the time and dedication I have put into all of my projects.