5. Future research and practical implications
We have observed champion teachers who used SNSs to implement new pedagogies. We based our observations on SNS conversations among students, on some of their products and on semi-structured interviews of the teachers. This approach is incomplete. For example, we did not include reports by the students who experienced SNSs-based pedagogies. Students’ testimonies about their experiences of learning with SNSs, especially about their communal experiences, is a natural research direction that should provide a more complete picture of the pedagogical changes that SNS trigger among championteachers. As already noticed, the choice of the five champion-teachers relied on Asterhan and Rosenberg’s study in which ‘regular’ interviewed teachers mentioned these champion-teachers as disrupting traditional pedagogies. These ‘regular teachers’ did not adopt their pedagogies, but knew about their practices, since the champion-teachers were proactive and shared their ‘stories’ widely. We anticipate that sharing these examples will support other teachers in using SNSs to enhance their pedagogy, both by providing them with pedagogical models that they might adapt for their own discipline and by showing the ways in which they can advance ideals of democracy, collaboration, creativity and respectful criticism.
