Using a social media project as a way to get students to communicate conservation messages to the general public

Abstract

For conservation biologists to be effective, they need to be able to communicate to the general public. In today's world, communicating means tapping into social media platforms. To get our final-year undergraduate students to engage with using social media as a communication tool, we had each of them create a video, blog, or podcast about a conservation issue they were passionate about. We provided guidance throughout the process but used self-regulated learning as our framework to get the students to engage with the learning process. We further expanded on this by having the students peer-mark 20 of their classmates' projects. This achieved three outcomes, 1) they critically assessed content, 2) it exposed them to topics not covered in class, and 3) they could compare their achievements with those of their peers. To measure our success, we conducted an anonymous survey at the end of the course. Student feedback was very positive with creative freedom, peer-marking, and exposure to science communication being frequent responses. Ultimately, the project achieved our educational goals of fostering self-regulated learning and exposing the students to 21 st century skills (e.g. critical thinking, creativity, communication, ICT skills) that they would likely use in their future careers.

Making Meaningful Connections and Learning Workplace-Like Business Writing Through LinkedIn and Blogging

“…Kingsbury (2019) used blogs in the form of student journals to create a connection between course material and current affairs in an international relations course. Shrader and Louw (2021) included blogs, videos, and podcasts in the assessment portfolio of their biology students to make them communicate with the public about conservation. Zou and Hyland (2021) compared the efficacy of blogs and 3-minute presentations in engaging the audience in an academic environment.…”

“…The above discussion on the use of blogs in various academic contexts reveals that most of the research on the use of blogs in academics is done from the perspective of using the blog as an engagement tool. Sometimes, blogs are used to disseminate knowledge (Shrader & Louw, 2021) or engage the audience (Zou & Hyland, 2021), but it has been rarely used to make meaningful connections and build relationships in the professional world. With the use of the LinkedIn platform, the present research tries to make the students use blogging as a tool to build relationships and make meaningful connections in the professional world.…”

Pembelajaran berbasis etnosains pada materi biologi untuk meningkatkan prestasi belajar siswa : kajian literatur

“…Pembelajaran seperti ini dapat menjadikan siswa lebih mandiri dan mampu memperoleh keterampilan abad 21 yang sebelumnya tidak dimiliki. Selain itu, dengan menggunakan platform media sosial siswa juga dapat berkomunikasi secara aktif di luar kelas dengan menyebarkan informasi positif terkait pelaksanaan materi yang diajarkan di kelas kepada masyarakat umum (Shrader & Louw, 2021). Salah satu cara untuk meningkatkan literasi sains siswa adalah dengan mengimplementasikan penggunaan modul laboratorium berbasis inkuiri berdasarkan fenomena lokal yang unik sehingga siswa juga dapat belajar berdasarkan pengalaman atau yang ada di sekitarnya (Ambrosino & Rivera, 2020).…”

Not all Doom and Gloom: Students in the Anthropocene Develop Collaborative Skills Using Social Media and Surveys

“…TikTok videos on environmental issues include a range of short videos on climate change, use of fossil fuels, and pollution (Hautea et al, 2021). Moreover, designing conservation projects utilizing social media allows students to collaborate on creative communication skills alongside fostering self-regulated learning (Shrader & Louw, 2023).…”