Internet Learning Volume 5, Number 1, Fall 2016/Winter 2017 | Page 42

Internet Learning Volume 5 Number 1 - Fall 2016/Winter 2017
3 Questions for an Online Learning Leader
Featuring Tanya Joosten, Ph.D.
Director, Digital Learning Research and Development, Academic Affairs
and Co-Director, National Research Center for Distance Education and
Technological Advancements, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Dr. Tanya Joosten is the director of eLearning Research and Development
at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM) where she leads strategic
eLearning efforts at the campus, state, and national levels. She develops
innovative programming for the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee campus
and leads a team of researchers to advance the field of eLearning. She
is also the co-director of the National Research Center for Distance Education
and Technological Advancements, supported by the U.S Department of
Education. Tanya has been recognized by the Sloan Consortium, now Online
Learning Consortium (OLC), and has been featured in the Chronicle of
Higher Education and Ed Tech Magazine, to name a few.
1 What are your recommendations
for educators across contexts (i.e. virtual,
face-to-face, and hybrid classrooms)
for using social media for
communication, instruction, and other
related activities?
I
have several recommendations
from professional development to
instructional practices. In my book,
Social Media for Educators, I immediately
discuss the benefits of social media
for building a professional network
and professional development. Social
media allows you access to people
and dialog on key issues - in particular,
innovative ideas, pedagogies, and
technologies, that you may not have
access to in your department, on your
campuses, or even at your disciplinary
conferences. Twitter not only helped
me build my professional network, it
led to meaningful collaborations with
colleagues across the globe and a social
support system that I did not have locally.
Many of my closest colleagues, I
met on Twitter. Importantly, every educator
should immerse themselves in a
technology, understand the characteristics
of the technology, and identify how
the technology aligns with their pedagogical
need.
An educator needs to determine
how the technology, social media
in this instance, is going to help
overcome a challenge, problem, or
barrier in the classroom. Social media
has the capacity to increase studentcontent,
student-student, and student-
41