How social-media enhanced learning platforms support students in taking responsibility for their own learning

Abstract

Purpose – The paper is based on the chapter “How Social Media Enhanced Learning Platforms Challenge and Motivate Students to Take Charge of Their Own Learning Processes – A Few Examples” from the publication Increasing Student Engagement and Retention using Social Technologies: Facebook, e-Portfolios and other Social Networking Services and on the authors’ research on ICT and social media enhanced learning in the foreign language/intercultural learning high school and university environment. Design/methodology/approach – The paper discusses learning in general and didactic practices in the two sectors and how social media enhanced learning platforms challenge and motivate students in their learning processes. Findings – The paper provides examples from didactic experiments carried out at the Copenhagen Business School and in Danish high schools. The authors focus on the changing role of teachers from the traditional role of (almost) full teacher responsibility for classroom action to a coaching and facilitating role where students assume increasing responsibility for their learning and for classroom activities. The paper also discusses the transfer and application of experiences made on the basis of changing didactic practices and views the positive and less positive experiences. Originality/value – The paper shares work-in-progress experience in regard to the growing body of knowledge about the use of ICT in the twenty-first century classroom.