I have used the above slide in a number of presentations to make the point that British Columbia is leading Canada (perhaps even the world) in the professional use of social media in K-12 education. I freely admit I don’t have the statistics to back up the claim — there are simply more teachers, administrators, parents, trustees, and others here, who are logging into their blogs, Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube accounts in the name of professional learning, than any other jurisdiction.
In the past year we have moved from several dozen blogs around K-12 education, to numbers in the hundreds, with representation in every area of the education system. The #bced tag on Twitter is one of the most engaged with conversations about the ever-changing education profession, and there are many other social sites having these conversations as well.
The conversations around the profession itself are very interesting. In social media, ‘role’ becomes less important; there is a flattening of society and it is ‘ideas’ that have increased value. There are also incredible opportunities to reflect, share, and learn without the limitations of geography. I could go on, and there have been many others who have covered the ground about the value of social media for educators, and how Twitter and blogging can be extremely powerful in professional development. This is true for those interested in education in BC, but it is also true of other professionals around the world.
So why has BC moved so quickly and taken such leadership in this area? As mentioned, I have no statistical proof, but a series of ideas as to why BC is the leading jurisdiction using social media to engage in the profession of education.
Some Thoughts:
1) It is not as “new” here as it is in many places: Five years ago, as a principal in the Coquitlam School District, I was seeing for my colleagues, blogs were already becoming routine including: Brian Kuhn (district), David Truss (school administrator) and James McConville (teacher), all engaging in social media. We have a long history of models to look at and are in a much deeper place with this type of learning than other jurisdictions. So, it is no longer a novelty here that it is in some other areas and is a much more mature and developed.
2) Networking is a core element of BC’s education scene: Since 2000, Judy Halbert and Linda Kaser have been working with teachers, administrators and other educators through The Network of Performance Based Schools. This network (which I blogged about here) has been a model for jurisdictions around the world. The culture of face-to-face networking moves naturally to social media networking, and connects the interest around learning ideas. This social media networking is an extension of the face-to-face conversations that Halbert and Kaser have long sponsored.
3) The traditional media “plays” in social media: Most notable is Vancouver Sun Education Reporter, Janet Steffenhagen, who has the popular Report Card blog and is a regular tweeter. She is not the only one. From The Globe and Mail, to CKNW, to most local newspaper reporters covering education, they regularly engage in social media. Often, we now see what will be “news” on a nightly newscast or morning newspaper make news first on Twitter or in a blog. Social media has become fertile ground for education reporters researching their next story; it is seen as a place to break and make news.
4) Organizations and government “play” in social media: I knew Twitter was part of the establishment and no longer on the fringe when I saw the education minister join a debate online one night. Of course, that is not the only example. Almost every organization involved in education is on Twitter including the BCTF, BCPVPA, CUPE, BCSTA and BCPSEA. Not only are these organizations out there in a corporate sense, but many in their leadership have their own accounts. One can look at examples like the recent Facebook campaign by BC principals, or the revamped and expanded BCSTA social media presence on the value being placed on social media.
5) There are some regular and thoughtful voices: There are a number of individuals with a profile well beyond our borders. From Bruce Beairsto who blogs on the Canadian Education Association site, to well-known edu-bloggers including Chris Wejr from Agassiz, David Wees from Vancouver, Cale Birk from Kamloops and many more, there are some regular contributors who are seen as “go to” people for interesting reflections and ideas.
6) We are at a time when we are examining the profession: Even before the BC Education Plan, the last several years have been full of discussions within the system about how a high-performing system should evolve. With some high-level direction from the province, but not a lot of prescription, the time is ripe for sharing ideas and innovations within and across jurisdictions.
7) We have an amazingly dedicated profession: Even in challenging times, it is stunning to see the number of teachers, school administrators and other educators spending time in their evenings and weekends to reflect and share through their blogs, Twitter and other venues. The reason why we have one of the highest performing jurisdictions in the world is because it is accompanied by an equally talented and dedicated group of educators. As social media has grown, so has our educators’ need to harness it for professional growth.
This is far from an exhaustive list. But, I am often asked by other jurisdictions why those who are involved in the BC education system have taken to social media at such a greater rate than anywhere else? I believe it is our ability to see around the corner to where we need to go next that is part of our success story, and that is what we have done by engaging in social media.
Thanks for articulating seven insights into why BC has taken to social media like a fish to water. In addition to peering around corners, perhaps it is a legacy of our pioneering nature to adapt and get on with it, carving out new trails around obstacles rather than waiting for someone else to pave the highway!
Thanks Virginia. I think this is very true – it is hard to explain, but I think there is an unspoken permission in our province to push on the boundaries and consider next practices. I am not sure if this has to do with the blend of local and centralized involvement in education, or other reasons – but absolutely there is great pride in being pioneers in education in BC.
This is a very good “Executive Summary” of the unwritten report on social networking for educators in our province. Nicely, done, Chris.
This broad use of networking has been a long time coming – as you note by highlighting some of the early adopters – and I hope to see it expanding more and more as the late adopters encourage their contacts, more people attend edcamps and give twitter a try, more teaching staff recognize the value in class websites to communicate with parents and more principals discover the value of a web presence to share their work.
It is pretty amazing to see how far we have come in five years, and how these conversations have really moved from the edges to the mainstream. I know with my own kids – for two of the three of them in school – their teachers have established a blog to connect with families. The PAC at their school also has a blog. More and more educators using digital tools to humanize their work and the relationships.
I attend my first Edcamp (http://subproximus.ca/edcamp43/) yesterday. These events are amazing collaborations. I tweeted out “#edcamp is the hallway conversation on steroids” to represent my experience. Edcamp43 was organized through the use of social media. About 100 educators, parents, and students showed up. Some from as far as Whistler and Penticton. Social media was the main means of getting the word out. It was also the main record of the conversation through twitter and a shared google doc.
It was also the first time that I’ve ever been to an event (education or business) where every name badge had the person’s twitter id printed! What a brilliant idea from one of our teachers to do that. I wonder how many name tags would have twitter ids imprinted on them for BC educational events around the province. I think that should be the norm from now on for any learning event! It sure helps put a twitter id to a name and face when you meet in person!
Thanks for documenting and sharing this BC story Chris. I got all nostalgic when I read the piece in your post about our beginnings five or so years ago. It seems like an eternity in Internet years though hey! 🙂
Brian
Love the idea of twitter IDs on name badges – we should tell Bruce about this for the upcoming event you and I are part of. I suppose I should not have linked to your current blog, but the ones we built in mysites 5 or 6 years ago. It is so dramatic how much things have changed in the last five years, I wonder what that means for five years from now?
[…] the movement. Well, based on the number of Edcamps in BC this year (I think I count 6) and this post by Chris Kennedy today, we are well on […]
This ping-back linking to a post by Darcy Mullin is well worth the read – a great reflection on Edcamps – http://darcymullin.wordpress.com/2012/01/15/reflections-from-camp/
Perhaps it’s in our edu-genes. Back in the late 80s, there were active education conversations happening on first generation e-communications services here in BC. Both SFU and UBC ran educational discussions using MTS (Michigan Terminal System), followed shortly by initiatives such as SITP (Southern Interior Telecommunications Project) and others since then. We seem to be pre-conditioned to find ways to connect, and we finally have a range of options that are nearly ubiquitously available. As you point out, though, we are also expanding the conversation in ways that were not easy to do before.
[…] Bloggers to write a blog post about using Social Media(SM) in Ontario classrooms as a response to a blog post written by Chris Kennedy re: BC taking the lead in using SM in […]
Tim, you remind me so well of the project I had for my master’s program back in the the early 80s… maybe even 1979. My topic was Telecommunications and the Online Educator. The Sunshine BBS was one of the very first bulletin boards for educators and we had a relatively active network. We shared communication with BBS pioneers in school districts in the US. Fun days.
SO – we are really at least 30 years into this conversation. I like the notion of the pioneering spirit of BC educators as being part of this story – thanks Tim and Bob for sharing this.
[…] (@shannoninottawa) shared a blog post from Chris Kennedy @chrkennedy entitled “Education and Social Media” which talked about the use of Social Media in British Columbia. Shannon is a big […]
[…] this week I read Chris Kennedy’s blog post “Education and Social Media in British Columbia“. Chris takes stock of where edublogging is at in BC and includes the provocative claim […]
I vote for losing the opening graphic.
My connection to BC education goes back a long way and crosses many experiences. In truth I have always enjoyed working with BC educators. Well before technology was part of the discussion, I had the good fortune to take a Kindergarten Educator course in Port Langley facilitated by Virginia Houghton. A decade later I work closely with David Williams (a lost friend), then the BC Provincial Consultant leading a curriculum revision in Secondary Science. As the digital agenda began to float from obscurity to consciousness, i worked with Tim Winkelsman, Barry Carbol and Sam Lim (another wonderful BC educator and visionary who is no longer with us). When I decided to join the blogging community, your blog, David Truss’s and Chris Weir’s blogs strongly influenced my shift from lurking, to following, to participating. Fond recollections of great experiences.
So why am I struggling with the opening graphic?
Likely because I have had similar and equally rewarding experiences in every province (BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec and Newfoundland) that I have had an opportunity to work with on a significant project.
The graphic points to the political boundaries that define our federal provincial reality and promotes a ranking. Creating a ranking seems regressive for me. When I walked into a principals’ office in Prince George or Winnipeg, visited a board consultant in Lethbridge of Dorval, walked in a school hallway in Moose Jaw or Huntsville, talked to a Ministry representative in St. John’s or Toronto, or most interesting to me, observed a classroom in St. Albert or Nanaimo, the structures were provincial. The players in the drama – educators and students – were universal and Canadian. The similarities were so overwhelming I frequently thought that I could run into my own children in any of those schools, hallways and classrooms (or perhaps even in the principal’s office) virtually anywhere I traveled and visited.
I think it is fair to say that BC contributes in wonderful ways to the challenges of improving the use of social media in education in Canada as does every other artificial/political geographic region in Canada. Hence the graphic and the sentiment don’t serve me well.
I agree that we don’t want to rank – nobody needs the power ranking of how well jurisdictions have embraced social media for professional learning, but even with the thoughtful responses from my Ontario friends, I am not convinced the climate and engagement is similar – there is something going on in BC – as a provincial jurisdiction different than any other place. And no doubt there are pockets (there are always pockets), in places around the world – but is any place using the tools as fully as we see in BC. We often use the tipping point notion in education – I think it is real when it comes to the value of social media for professional learning in BC and that is not a shot at any other place – so why? Why are almost all the Superintendent / Director bloggers in Canada in BC? Why does the Education Minister choose Twitter to engage the community in BC on educational change? Why does education news in BC hit the blog or Twitter before the newspaper or tv? I am not sure if my musings are correct – but there must be something.
What I love about the reaction to the post is that is has encouraged others to talk a look at where they are at – we are a country that organizes education by province – and we largely agree that digital engagement is crucial for professional learning going forward – so what are we doing here than can inform others, and of course, what are others doing that can inform us?
And of course, we do have a little brother complex sometimes in BC – so can’t you just let us be first at something and be happy for us 🙂
Thanks for comment and the engagement in this conversation – it is fun!
Having been active in this space for more than four years now, my Canadian perspective recalls that it was the prairie provinces that were first off the mark in leveraging social media to any great degree. I remember through 2008-9 being envious that I could follow conference events from Winnipeg, Regina, and Saskatoon while educational conferences from Toronto and Vancouver were invisible to me. Maybe they did it first out of a need to connect with colleagues from more widely scattered locations?
Regardless, it’s nice to know that more and more educators from sea to sea are finding ways to connect, to share their learning, and to expand their horizons.
Thanks Rodd – great to have you in my network.
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[…] School District and I have followed his blog for many years. I remember reading his post on Education and Social Media in British Columbia back in 2012 and it inspired me to start thinking about the role technology could play in my own […]