Hello everyone
The development of modern Internet technology has made remote learning an important learning method. However, due to the lack of learners’ social attributes in the network environment, teaching and learning are relatively separated. Teachers and learners communicate through mobile Internet or other communication technologies, and the technology-based learning environment does not provide enough social support for learners. The lack of interaction between teachers and students brings loneliness to learners. This further enlarges the lack of quality, accuracy and depth of remote learning, seriously restricts the improvement of the remote learning effect, and leads to the weak satisfaction and sense of belonging of learners. How to eliminate learners’ anxiety and loneliness has become an important problem to be solved in remote learning.
Greenhow and Lewin (2016) point out that social media is different from traditional media in that it gives users a large space to participate in the creation and dissemination of content and allows users to write, share, discuss, evaluate and communicate online content. Representative social media include social networks (Facebook, WeChat, QQ), video sharing (YouTube) and so on. The emergence of social media has promoted the production and dissemination of information knowledge and given new imagination to the future of education. The openness and connectivity of social media enable teachers and students to break through the time-space limitation of traditional teaching and communicate at any time and anywhere. The inclusiveness of social media enables teachers and students to share richer learning resources. In addition, social media is also interactive and timely, which is conducive to the remote interaction and information feedback between teachers and students. Therefore, the integration of social media and remote learning is imperative.
No one is a natural remote learner. Especially during the recent epidemic, loneliness is inevitable in the process of remote learning. Therefore, it is necessary to enhance the sense of belonging of remote learning learners and make them feel that there are always companions and teachers everywhere, so as to create a good virtual community learning atmosphere and truly integrate into it.
Best,
Sheng Li
Greenhow, C., & Lewin, C. (2016). Social media and education: Reconceptualizing the boundaries of formal and informal learning. Learning, media and technology, 41(1), 6-30.
Hi Sheng Li,
Hope you are doing well. Undoubtedly, social media plays a significant role in making the process of teaching and learning more interactive and purposeful. With the situation of an ongoing pandemic that has resulted in remote teaching across the globe, a sense of belonging is critical to ensure that students remain engaged and enthusiastic learners. Creating a good virtual environment is just as important for remote learning as it is in a physical classroom. This increases the responsibility of educators to build a caring and nurturing environment, promoting engagement and providing support to make the learning accessible for all.
Thanks,
Swanshi
Hi Sheng Li,
Thank you for bringing the social media topic into the discussion. Indeed, people love to feel connected with each other. Maintaining a healthy relationship is crucial to the success in remote learning era. “No one is a remote learner” I just can’t agree more with that. Building a new generation of virtual communities is an impending task.