(Akiit.com) The newest and one of the most engaging social media apps is supercharging professional development. Teachers are not sitting in mass in classrooms or conferences rooms they are comfortably at home, on the road with their families, alone enjoying a coffee/tea and snacks or other relaxing activities while engaged in Clubhouse in rooms like Educ8 World.
Clubhouse has opened new opportunities to learn, connect and collaborate on an audio platform that educators have access to high caliber people globally to connect and learn from. Educators now have a global reach in professional development and learning that is being transformed because of the diverse access to resources. This learning is free and from educational peers globally.
The face or the sound of professional development is changing with the use of audio platforms where educators and administrators can speak real time with educational peers/professionals literally anywhere in the world. The village has expanded to an audio app and truly global. Listening to the audio app that educators are collaborating with and using that knowledge to help students grow around the world by teachers listening in and participating.
My wife, Aida who is an Arts educator and STEAM advocate and I, teaching STEAM learning in public education are speaking with professionals that we can network with to grow our knowledge. We have access to resources to speak to youth, teens and young adults to inspire new careers in Space and the growing commercialization of the Space industry. There are growing opportunties here in cities like Jacksonville with Jax Aviation Authority and its connection to commercializing Space.
There is an authentic and unique relationship to this opportunity that has never existed. Other online digital spaces; Flipgrid, Facebook Live, Twitter Chats, and private chats on different platforms have tried to accomplish this level of engagement but have not come close. Aida and I because of our direct involvement in several rooms about STEAM Education, The Arts in Education, the Culture of Diverse Languages and their value and importance. Learning on Clubhouse we have spoken at several online conferences that ranged from 500 to several thousand globally. These opportunties helps to broaden our ability to collaborate online with organizations that support STEM and STEAM learning along with social engagements and social activism.
Our participation in the WordCamp web development community and Educ8 World enables us to share to a broader audience the relationship between STEAM and Web Development, The Arts and Language. Nothing to date has provided the same level of open authentic communication and collaboration with others as being active and engaged on Clubhouse.
Clubhouse offers new opportunities to truly share, listen, speak, discuss, share the voices of a professional educator and to be heard beyond just their local areas. The opportunity to make transformative connections and develop real relationships with people that are respected, that is very exhilarating professionally and everyday teachers that are successful.
Globally Clubhouse has grown from 600,000 in December 2020 to 10 million in February 2021 and continues to grow in influence. When my wife Aida introduced it to me in 2020 I was skeptical, but after attending several rooms I was completely hooked. I was able to speak to professional educators from around the world in the areas that I am passionate about in helping youth, teens and young adults to grow in their skills, talents and abilities outside of the classroom.
Empowering students with information from professionals is one of the best ways to change the future of our young people because teachers have access to real people doing real work in business, technology, science, research and development. Educators can connect with people that have a vested interest in making sure all students are successful and even understand the struggles of urban youth, students that are struggling with learning challenges and even dealing with social issues. Cross cultural education is positive to student growth and social challenges that teachers are dealing with personally and professionally.
“Clubhouse allows educators to connect with fellow educators and
share best practices and to discuss the bigger ideas around education to allow them to reflect on their practice to improve student outcomes and also challenge their own views on education. It also allows them to hear voices that they may not have access to normally.” Doctor Michael Harvey, @doctor_harves
Professional literature like Global Trends in Professional Learning and Development have stated the changes in professional development, that the trends were changing and adapting with the increased use of mobile technologies. ‘Open, design led and immersive’ where ideas and resources are exchanged in unregulated online environments. Clubhouse is doing this on a national and international and multilingual scale and the results are transforming education in the classroom.
Educational experts that are respected like David Price, “Open: How We’ll Work, Live and Learn In The Future,” have stated that the changes of information and the barriers to teacher learning are falling away. “Because information flows faster and more freely than ever, and because we are better connected than ever, the barriers to learning are being dismantled. We share what we learn instantly and, generally, without restrictions. How we learn, and whom we learn from, has been transformed. Our reliance upon anointed experts and authority figures has diminished, while our capacity to learn from each other has spiraled.”
Teaching over 30 years in pubic and higher education, the access to educational peers and resources helps to keep my knowledge and skill-sets fresh and relevant. This means that I can share real-time information with my students that is relevant and empowering, not shared from a book that may be years behind educational models that do not address the needs of my diverse student audiences. Enjoying applying the learning on this unique professional development platform that directly connects me to educational peers. Aida Correa-Jackson a professor with Lenoir-Rhyne University teaching in the field of inclusivity, her passion to share how inclusion and diversity can benefit organizations and corporations if applied correctly and technology is used strategically.
Staff Writer; William D. Jackson
Find out more about this talented writer over at; OCS For Education.