Creative Commons Image: MKHmarketing. (2013). Social Media Class. Retrieved 15th August 2015 from https://www.flickr.com/photos/mkhmarketing/8540717756
As I walked through the woods the sun shone on my face, and I smiled. I could see familiar re-search sources that were not foreign to me…social media. Since I had become very well acquainted with blogging sites as of late I decided this would be my first place to start.
Screenshot: Kath Murdoch’s blog ‘Just Wondering’ in Wordpress
| Social Media Site | Type | Person(s) of interest | Comment |
| WordPress | Blog | Kath Murdoch | This was a direct search. I have been following Kath Murdoch’s blog for some time now. It contains numerous posts relating to inquiry learning that were very relevant to my search. |
| Edublogs | Blog | Barbara Braxton | Again this was another direct search. Being a member of OZTL I was already acquainted with Braxton’s blog. She provides insightful posts relating to teacher-librarianship discussing educational pedagogy, such as inquiry learning |
Both of the above blogs are excellent for anyone interested in education to follow as a form of professional reading. I regularly visit both blogs, as they are relevant to my field of work.
As I followed the path further along I realised there were other forms of social media that offer professional learning for teachers. Twitter, Pinterest and Google Communities were the three social media sites where I next directed my re-search.
| Social Media Site | Type | Person(s) of interest | Comment |
| Tweets | Numerous. Search involved:
#Inquiry based learning #Australian Curriculum #Inquiry #History |
This search involved using a number of hash tags to find relevant information. I did find some great little articles that were of interest but nothing particularly relevant to my inquiry questions | |
| Curation and Collection tool | Numerous. Search involved:
– Inquiry-based learning – Inquiry – Inquiry in history |
Similar to my Twitter re-search, I found several sources of interest for extension reading that will be useful in the future. | |
| Google Communities | Group communities on specific topics | Numerous groups relating to inquiry learning | Several community groups caught my attention. These groups will provide a fantastic support network for my inquiry learning journey. |
The above three social media sites offered general information and useful resources on inquiry learning. Twitter was particularly interesting because many educators use it as a tool to share their work. I would definitely recommend social media as a tool for professional reading. There is a mass of useful information in cyberspace just waiting to be found! In light of this, the most valuable resources that I gained from this social media re-search were the blogs of Kath Murdoch and Barbara Braxton. I have to admit, I had never thought of directing my students to social media as a re-search tool before. This search certainly enlightened me! I will now encourage my students to find useful and relevant social media sources to assist in their inquiry projects.
| Pros | Cons |
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Well, my re-search aspect of my journey has come to a close and I will begin to enter the next phase. I will be reflecting upon my re-search findings and discover where my path has taken me thus far.
Learning through Inquiry 