Kenia's Corner

When I took a look at the list of tools for this week, I was happy to see that I had used every single one. On a regular basis, I use WhatsApp, Slack, and GroupMe almost every day to communicate with either family, gym community, or other groups for resources in town. While I have extensively used Miro, it is still a tool I am learning to be more creative in. My designs on it have been basic for the most part, but I have seen some really cool designs from others.  When I think about it all, there are so many tools available for varying usage. There are many online platforms starting to incorporate groups which has been helpful for creating community. Online communities are becoming a norm, and I am interested in seeing the direction it will take over the next decade. 

One of my favorite things about social media is its ability to influence people to try new strategies to engage an audience. In the article "Building Library Community Through Social Media," we see the librarians taking initiative after noting the importance of connecting with the community. In general, libraries are becoming less used due to the increase of available resources online. However, the library in the study has figured out a way to connect with people through Twitter and help find resources.  Using social media is shown to provide academic libraries with a way of increasing engagement. The university library (MSU) has found the formula to effectively build a community using Twitter. They have done so by sharing interesting tweets, offering help, and overall having an active presence online. The social media aspect of the library has increased interaction and grown the library's community. After reading this article, I thought about the libraries that we have o...

 Thoughts on Article:  What do teachers share within socialized knowledge communities: A case of Pinterest.   One of the articles that caught my attention this week was the one about teachers sharing knowledge on the Pinterest platform (article title above). I was a little surprised that teachers are using social media in general to share information, knowledge, and expertise outside of an academic platform. Now, the notion of social media being "unprofessional" is still somewhat common and I understand why some people would argue against using it. However, this article was a good read as it focused on teachers using Pinterest strategically to share knowledge on mathematics.  Besides my surprise that Pinterest was the chosen media, due to its heavy imagery-based content, the topic of math is not one that would be expected on that platform. With math being such a complex topic, depending on its type, there are varying solutions and methods for teaching it appropriatel...