Educational resource of new social media: problem statement

Grebennikova Veronika Mikhailovna Dean of the Faculty of Pedagogics, Psychology and Communication Studies at Kuban State University 350000, Russia, Krasnodar Territory, Krasnodar, Leonid Lavrov str., 1/1 vmgrebennikova@mail.ru Other publications by this author

Vinogradova Karolina Nikolaevna ORCID: 0009-0002-9632-2049 Lecturer, Department of Computational Mathematics and Computer Science, Kuban State University 350000, Russia, Krasnodar Territory, Krasnodar, Stavropol str., 149 Karolina.shirogl@mail.ru

Currently, in the conditions of global informatization and digitalization of society, it is impossible to imagine the life of a modern person outside of his communication and network communication in the Internet environment. The intensive development of Internet communications, the expansion of the possibility of their use in various spheres of society's life activity determine the actualization of the problem of researching their resources, including the search for effective ways to realize the educational potential of new social media in the transforming education system of children and youth.

In the most general form, the concept of "new social media" refers to digital means of transmitting the information, the source of which is the Internet. It is believed that the concept of "new media" was introduced in order to distinguish them from traditional mass media (mass media) — television, radio, press, intended only for storing and distributing information ^[1].  Unlike traditional media, new media allow everyone, without exception, to participate in the creation and discussion of an information product ^[6]. New social media, as a rule, include the blogosphere, social networks, forums, video hosting, wikis, tweeters, etc.

Researchers note that new social media, as one of the types of new media, are online technologies of communication and interaction of people through the Internet ^[9,12], a means of communication that ensures equal participation of users and media as a social institution ^[7], an online resource that allows not only to receive information, but also and participate as equals in its discussion ^[10]. The main properties of new social media are communication, interactivity, mobility, versatility and accessibility ^[9].

Many modern researchers consider new social media as a separate and already formed social institution that has a significant impact on the development and formation of personality ^{[1; 4; 9]}.   

In this regard, in the last two decades, much attention has been paid around the world to the use of social media in the educational process.

It should be noted, however, that a decade ago the use of new social media for educational purposes was considered a rare pedagogical initiative of individual teachers. For example, in 2011, Alvin, a student at Oxford University, became widely known for creating his Twitter account and covering the events of the Second World War "in real time", showing all its horrors and human suffering ^[11]. Many teachers used the created Twitter in order to improve the quality of historical education. Other initiatives of practicing teachers in different countries of the world are also known.

In our country, ten years ago, researchers stated the fact that schools ignored the possibility of integrating new social media into the educational process of the school, despite the fact that it was at this time - in 2000-2015 – that there was an increase in scientific interest in the designated problem ^[2]. 

In modern Russian pedagogy, there is a polarization of opinion about the possible positive and negative effects of new social media on the results of education and upbringing of children and adolescents. On the one hand, there are more and more works that postulate the need to bring the education system in line with modern scientific discoveries and technological progress, and in this regard, they talk about the unlimited educational potential of new social media. On the other hand, there is quite a voluminous research material proving the emergence of various problems in connection with the development of information and communication technologies.

Theoretical analysis has shown that, despite numerous and most often partial studies stating the fact of positive changes that have occurred in educational practice due to the teacher's use of social networks ^[5], teacher's blog ^[3], Twitter ^[4], online forums ^[10,13] and other media, many issues remain unresolved as ethical, and scientific and professional content. Ethical problems are connected, first of all, with the already established opinion about the negative impact of the Internet on the development and formation of the personality of schoolchildren and, accordingly, with the idea of improving ways to limit their media consumption and time spent on the Internet, as well as with the unresolved issue of the principles and norms of communication with students in the situation of online interaction. Scientific and professional problems are associated with the lack of scientifically based information about the formation of pedagogical workers' readiness to include new social media in the arsenal of didactic and educational tools already available to each of them.

At the same time, it is necessary to recognize that the changes taking place in society are irreversible, and therefore they cannot but affect the education system, and pedagogy, in turn, must take into account these changes and respond quickly to them. Despite scientific discussions and debates, concrete and unprecedented measures are already being taken at the state level to transform education systems in order to achieve "digital maturity" as a target indicator of the development of the Russian Federation in the period up to 2030 ^[8].

Speaking about the readiness of teachers to use digital products and new media, including social media, in their professional and pedagogical activities, we mean both motivational, reflecting the level of interest of teachers in changing their habitual professional behavior, and theoretical, assuming they have a high level of media literacy, and methodological, revealing the degree of teachers' mastery of teaching and upbringing methods in the digital environment, components.    

In connection with the identified problems, a study was conducted aimed at identifying the peculiarities of the ideas of current teachers and high school students about new social media as a means of teaching and upbringing, the specifics of their perception of the educational opportunities of social media. The study was carried out at the end of 2021 with the help of questionnaires specially designed for high school students and for their teachers, assuming answers to both closed and open questions. A total of 324 high school students (students of grades 10-11 aged 15 to 18 years) and 324 teachers (108 teachers aged 22 to 35 years, 108 – aged 36 to 50 years, and 108 – from 51 years) were interviewed.

As a result of the survey, it was revealed that many teaching staff of educational organizations of general education are not ready to integrate new social media into the educational process of the school. This is evidenced by the results of the survey.

To the question of what technical means are necessary for the organization of the educational process at school, answers were received reflecting the disregard of the Internet by many teachers (Figure 1). Less than half of young teachers (45.37%), 12.96% of teachers aged 36 to 50 years and 10.19% of experienced teachers with more than 30 years of teaching experience consider Internet access necessary for the successful organization of the educational process at school.

Moreover, the answers to the question of what the new social media include indicate the lack of media literacy of the majority of teachers working in a modern comprehensive school (Figure 2).

Figure 1 – Percentage distribution of teachers surveyed in their opinion about the need for different technical means for organizing the educational process at school (%).

A qualitative analysis of teachers' answers suggests that some of them, especially experienced teachers of the older age group, do not even understand the meaning of these words, noting and referring to social media what does not apply to them, and choosing those answer options that they more or less know. Of course, we are not talking about all teachers, but even in the presented general set of research samples there are a considerable number of those school teachers who do not consider it necessary to increase their level of media literacy. Among the answers of working teachers to the question of what is included in the concept of "new social media", such concepts as "e-mail" were noted (3.70% of young teachers from 22 to 35 years old chose this answer option; 5.56% of teachers aged 36 to 50 years and 38.89% of experienced teachers over 50 years old), "electronic magazine", "virtual tour", however, such answer options as "podcasting" (this answer option was chosen by 9.26% of experienced teachers), "video hosting" (9.26%), "twitter" (less than half - 36.11%) were simply ignored by many teachers of the designated group.

Figure 2 — Distribution of teachers by answer options to the question "What, in your opinion, is included in the concept of "new social media"?

The results of the study also suggest that quite a large number of teachers of secondary schools in general have a negative attitude to the introduction of new information and communication technologies into the educational process.

For example, when asked how new digital technologies affect the quality of education in general, many working teachers noted that their introduction into the educational process either does not have a special impact (35.18%) or worsens it (32.41%); less than half of the teachers surveyed chose the answer "improves it". – 32.41%.

As for the new social media, the majority of working teachers noted that they use them in their professional activities in one way or another: for example, the necessary information is promptly transmitted through the social network, communication with students and their parents is established, class photo albums are created and stored, etc.

However, many survey participants have little idea of the educational opportunities of social media and, in particular, social networks. Talking about their educational potential, about what functions of social networks can be used in organizing the learning process, most teachers still came to the conclusion that the negative consequences of such use prevail over the positive ones. It was pointed out that the educational opportunities of social networks, if not put into practice, are easily compensated by using traditional technologies: for example, it is possible to organize a group discussion both in a chat and in a classroom, and live communication "can not be replaced by anything", or you can also view a presentation on a page in a social network, and in the classroom, with the only difference that this presentation "will certainly be viewed" if it was shown in class, and not on a social network. Only a few of the total number of teachers interviewed responded to the proposal to evaluate the advantages of social networks as a means of teaching and upbringing, while only such characteristics of social networks as efficiency and accessibility were indicated, which, according to respondents, are not so important in the educational process and do not affect its quality so much.

The attitude of teachers to communicating with students through social networks is quite contradictory. Their opinion regarding the positive or negative impact of such communication on interaction in the teacher–student system was divided: more than a third of teachers (31.17%) believe that communication in social networks with students can lead to a fall in their authority or, on the contrary, to the so-called "false authority" when, in an effort to "be good" for all students, the teacher begins to talk to them in a friendly way, calling it "talking in the same language" with schoolchildren. Almost the same number of teachers (31.48%), on the contrary, strive to get closer to their students through communication on social networks: for example, to discuss a film, music, news together. The third group of teachers (31.79%) indicated their neutral position on this issue and the desire to use social networks only for official correspondence and strictly for transmitting the necessary information as part of their work.  

Thus, it was concluded that modern pedagogical workers of secondary schools do not see the need to use new technologies for educational purposes, that their ideas about the possibilities, in particular, of social networks are characterized by insufficient accuracy and clarity, which, in our opinion, is due to the lack of elaboration in the pedagogical science itself of the issue of an educational resource. social networks, about the ways of its implementation in the practical activity of a teacher.  

Of interest are the answers of modern teachers of different ages to the question of how they feel about the idea of including educational blogs in the educational process of the school (Figure 3).

Figure 3 — Distribution of teachers by answer options to the question: "How do you feel about the idea of including educational blogs in the educational process of the school?"

Only 20.37% of young teachers aged 22 to 35 years are positive about this idea; 8.33% of teachers aged 36 to 50 years and the same number of teachers over 50 years old. Attention should be paid to the fact that about half of young teachers (45.37%) do not have a clear position on this issue.

It is known that the idea of pedagogical blogging began to be developed in the early 2000s. Currently, many blogger teachers are already known, who are quite popular both among students and their parents, and among their fellow teachers. Of the 324 teachers surveyed, more than half (52.62%) noted that in their professional and pedagogical activities they had to familiarize themselves with one or another educational blog: 45.12% of them - in order to obtain information about the content of such blogs; 54.88% - to create their blog.    

At the same time, as the results of a survey of teachers working in modern schools show, not every one of them has a positive attitude to the idea of using educational blogs in practice. More than a third of them, both over the age of 50 (35.19%) and at a younger age (30.56%), do not share the opinion about the positive impact of educational blogs on the quality of education. Many teachers consider this idea untenable and unnecessary, loading, firstly, already "loaded teachers", and secondly, erasing the boundaries of communication in the teacher-student system, which can lead to an even greater decrease in the prestige of the teacher and respect for him. More than a third of the teachers surveyed generally believe that pedagogy and blogging are incompatible.

At the same time, the survey of high school students, on the contrary, showed their interest and readiness for new, digital forms of learning, including new social media. In particular, the majority of students in high school show quite a lot of interest in communicating with teachers in social networks. When asked whether they had to communicate with teachers via social networks, the absolute majority (77.47%) answered positively. Of these, 85.66% indicated that they were very interested in learning the teacher's opinion about this or that event, to get advice from him on how to act in this or that situation.

However, when asked whether it is easier for them to communicate with teachers on social networks than in the real world, many high school students (42.63%) also gave a positive answer. It is also alarming that many high school students consider communication with a teacher in social networks only as a communication tool, as an opportunity to get to know him better, get additional information about his personal life, achievements, failures, but not a means of learning.

ConclusionThus, the results of the survey suggest that the majority of both high school students and young teachers have a positive attitude to the integration of new social media into the educational process of the school.

However, there are many questions related to the lack of scientific research of educational opportunities of the developing institute of social media, questions about how to use them in the educational environment, what rules and regulations should be followed, what is the content of the new educational resource, what are its risks and threats, what is the algorithm of its actualization and how to combine it with traditional technologies education and upbringing. The search for answers to these questions will allow us to develop methods and technologies for realizing the educational potential of new social media in a holistic pedagogical process. In the absence of uniform requirements for the use of innovative information and communication technologies of education and upbringing, as well as an integrated system that determines the algorithm for implementing the potential educational opportunities of social media in the activities of a teacher, there are serious barriers preventing the development of the general education system in accordance with the new requirements and challenges of the time.