Viewpoints Article May 2014: Using Twitter and Social Media to Connect Social Studies Educators Across the Globe

Using Twitter and Social Media to Connect Social Studies Educators Across the Globe
May 2014
CIEDR Column for Viewpoints

One of our most important missions in the School of Education at Indiana University is to improve and foster excellent instruction in our increasingly global and diverse society. In connection to this mission, I am so pleased to begin my term as the regular contributing editor for the CIEDR column for Viewpoints. A former social studies teacher and now a social studies teacher educator, I am thrilled to introduce myself and connect with those of you who also care deeply about providing excellent social studies instruction to our Indiana students. I have just completed my second year as an Assistant Professor at IU after graduating from the University of Minnesota. My areas of interest are in social studies education at both the elementary and secondary levels, multicultural education, gender issues, and controversy in the classroom. I couldn’t be happier to be connected to IU, ICSS, and the excellent educators I have met through both. As I become rooted here as a Hoosier, I hope to use this column to introduce you to some of these folks through guest columns in a variety of specialty areas including teaching religion through children’s literature, incorporating controversial issues, and teaching about and for global citizenship.

As the theme of this issue is “the new face of social studies,” it seems apropos to introduce the new face – and name change - of our center here.  As Dr. Patricia Kubow explained in the last newsletter, IU and ICSS have a long history of being connected through a center at IU focusing on social studies and international education. This semester the center underwent a name change, and what was formerly titled the Center for Social Studies and International Education (CSSIE) is now the Center for International Education, Development, and Research (CIEDR). Our connection to social studies and ICSS, though no longer in the name, is still strong and is an important area for many of our faculty and graduate students.

Also in thinking about “the new face of social studies,” I immediately think of the prevalence of technology in our schools, instruction, and the lives of our students. As an incredible force in globalizing the world, technology has the potential to bring diverse peoples together in untold ways to collaborate, converse, and create new ways of thinking and being. In the world of social studies education, technology, and specifically social media, has facilitated robust teacher communities. I can’t help but think that as we engage on Tuesday nights through the #sschat hashtag on Twitter, we are creating and participating in the development of the new and future face of collegiality and community building in social studies. I was truly unaware of the fantastic community of social studies educators at all levels present on Twitter until a friend of mine, @dankrutka, who is much better versed in that realm mentioned that I should give it a try. Little did I know, with the quick creation of an online version of myself and a tutorial in tweeting, I found a world of people talking about the issues important to social studies teachers now. Conversations about the essence of social studies, international primary sources, creative warm-up activities, new books, and teaching about nearly every topic populate the space and provide opportunities to find enrichment and engagement with our colleagues across the world. You can join the live tweeting on Tuesday nights, host a live tweeting event, or just participate as you find the time. I found it to be a refreshing and nourishing way to reconnect, and I invite you to join me, @engebretsonk, there.

Kathryn E. Engebretson, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Department of Curriculum and Instruction
CIEDR Associate Faculty
Indiana University, Bloomington