Since leaving the classroom I have had the opportunity to read more widely then I have done at any point over the last 10 years. The work I am doing now takes me down paths including design thinking, business, social media and of course education. It is the variety of new domains of information and perspectives that I have found so engaging.
Not only have I been able to work with and immerse myself in ideas from outside of education but I have begun to see ways learning can benefit from them.
I have seen Twitter grow and grow into a huge global tool for educators. However those of us using it are still, for the most part, in the minority. However difficult it is to admit it, teachers using any digital tool to connect with fellow teachers are still in the minority. The prospect of a new social tool, such as Google+, was hugely exciting to see. It was great to start in a fresh space with the customary intuitive interface we have come to expect from Google products. So all rosy? Well not quite.
My main concern is a key difference between Twitter and Google+. When Twitter users connect with each other they basically ask themselves is this person interesting or in my line of work? Yes = follow. We all have our different methods but I suspect that covers most people. When I look at those people who have followed me on Twitter recently I can see very quickly (on a single page which I can just scroll up and down) what they do from their profile and just click follow if a) they interest me or b) they are in education. That’s it.
Importantly with Twitter there are no ways to target your messages to groups within those who follow you, it is an “all in” sort of method. My updates go to designers, teachers, classes, professors, executives, artists, whoever makes up your network. Do I think this adds value to the replies and perspectives you gain? Absolutely.
With Google+ Circles are we creating silos of information? By saying to users, “do you only want to share with those that find it 100% relevant?”, are we in fact encouraging a narrowing of perspectives? What about those that might find it 60% relevant? Or whose current project makes it highly relevant to them, but perhaps not at other times. Of course we have the choice to make things public in Google+ and the choice to have different circles, but Twitter’s default broadcast state is always set to public. An open style of sharing is not a choice.
Perhaps targeted sharing, in the style of a Google+ post, will just give me what I always get. The isolation of ideas, fuzzy-warm acceptance but nothing to challenge them. Alternate expertise has no way of peaking in or seeping into the reaction.
Of course this idea of cross-fertilising ideas from different domains has a strong history with, for example, Innovation Time Off or 20% time from Google or bootlegging product development at 3M that led to the early concept of the Post-It note.
I think I will probably not use the Circles feature of Google+ because I think that I will be limiting the reactions I get and actively avoiding the opportunity to connect with other professionals who could add a valuable perspective beyond education. I still prefer a model that is more open by default and puts the responsibility of information filtering on the consumer, not the producer of the information.
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Pic Back of Beyond by violscraper
I have only just recently been messing with google+ and am interested to read this article and peoples reactions. I wonder whether it might not encourage more teachers into social networking. As Tom ponts out, we are still very much in the minority and I think there is still a large amount of ‘fear’ about posting publicly that stops people doing it. Circles may provide an easier introduction. I am also interested in this as a communication tool for my classes. I like the thought of a circle for students in a given class and perhaps their parents as well as a way of encouraging more general communication
I have only been messing
Agree!
Do you think that as the technology has changed and made it even easier to create bitesize spaces, our appetite for blogs, and crafting a more in depth space online, has waned?
Yes. By becoming a blogger you probably have a lot more invested that a twerp. You also start from a loosely joint pov rather than being in one particular space. A few years ago starting a blog felt very out there. it seemed easier to stray onto all sorts of places outside the edublogger circuit. Amazing rate of change from there to here.
Simple solution to this problem: post your messages to all circles or make them public. The choice is yours and that is the beauty of Google+
If I want to share something with a specific group eg. a message for my colleages I will still use mail where I have my groups already configured. I’m not against the concept of circles in G+, at all, I believe it has its proper use for some circumstances and content, but you have a point that with your kind of information circles deprive some users content they might find useful as well.
Yes your use as a noticeboard to others would clearly benefit from the fine tuning of contacts that Circle offers – Hangout is very useful as informal meetings. Like you say it will interesting to see how it all develops.
Thanks for your comment Kimberly, it will be interesting to see how things work out with Google+ during the elections. I recently finished reading “Yes We Did” By Rahaf Harfoush which looked at the social media use during the Obama campaign. Worth a look.
http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=lqVFW1NZAIgC&lpg=PR1&dq=Yes%20we%20did&pg=PR1#v=onepage&q&f=false
No doubt add-ons will allow us to link all of this together, indeed one feature that seemed promising from Google Wave was the ability to take an item and embed it elsewhere. I started writing a blog first out of all the social technologies and it’s lack of follower/member management and default open/public approach taught me a great deal. Do you think teachers using Twitter as their first forays into social media see it differently?
The prospect of organising people into lots of groups is not an idea that will work for me.
I think the value in the Circles is in the way we consume information, very easy to flick between the stream from different groups. If when we contribute or produce information it only goes into the most relevant pot the erosion of serendipity is an obvious consequence. It will depend on how people end up using it, even with all the grouping functionality do you think the majority of users will just ignore the targeted sharing and post publicly?
I’m with you on serendipity but I don’t think you restrict your flow on G+ by setting up circles. However, if all you do is view your circles you might erode serendipity. I open G+ and watch the public stream by. Then I toggle into specific circles that I’ve set up for third level students (feels like edmodo) or events (so I’m able to get a flavour for what some people are sharing before I meet up over coffee). I’ll be surprised if G+ doesn’t significantly reduce the time I spend in Facebook. I’ve discovered dozens of artists and illustrators inside Google Plus that I’ve never encountered on any other social network and that alone makes me think you don’t have to be technical to enjoy the connected communities that G+ enables.
I have a feeling that there is far greater diversity of background, learning styles, personalities, gendet, racial/ethnic, etc than might be initially apparent even within each Google+ circle. And people in those circles are still getting cross-polinated from their association in other circles. Given that perspective, I doubt that circles alone default to isolated silos. Creativity and diversity will still find it’s way across circles. We are all in multiple circles, just like in real daily life.
Well said – and I absolutely agree!! I view the circle feature more to help me organize my flow of information than to restrict my broadcasting!
As far as I know, Google have never differentiated between Edu and Business accounts as far as including individual tools; only for capacity etc. The main difference for admins/users comes from whether you’re on the fast track for new updates, which the apps admin can control.
Another great article – cheers Tom!
Although it’s early days, I see Google+ primarily as (potentially, for me at least) a better version of Facebook; for sharing with family and friends. I share your horror of having to manage lots of circles though.
I’m a recent convert to Twitter and now find it an incredible tool for sharing work-related stuff. I like the idea of having different networks for home and work too.
It’s interesting how much Google+ looks like Edmodo – we’ve been using this as out LMS for KS2 for the last 8 months and I really rate it. Edmodo has groups rather than circles, but the concept and design is eerily similar!
Anyway – won’t take any more of your time. I imagine you need to go and manage your circles!
I suppose we have the choice in terms of who we share with but if sharing via Circles becomes habitual and a standard approach to sharing we will indeed just strengthen the silo walls. Teachers need these broken down. Google+ could be a step forward in terms of social infrastructure but one back for establishing an open and sharing ethos amongst educators.
Quite a paradox that the feature that everyone is talking about might also be its most limiting. With the exception of targeted posts for arranging hangout sessions, I intend to post everything publicly as well. I fear that when Google+ is integrated into school/enterprise google apps networks we’ll find ourselves with the same digital silos that we have always had in email. That is, the math department will have their circle, the science dept, theirs, etc. And people, like me, who post everything so it is accessible to everyone in the domain, will get ridiculed by those who don’t value openness (I’ve received a little heat for over-utilizing our entire-staff email distribution lists in the past). Instead of breaking down the traditional barriers and silos, google+ might actually facilitate them.
So long as Google roll out the Education Apps version well I can only think that it is the missing piece for a school’s Ed Apps installation. Not only could it disrupt Glow but every single other half-baked VLE currently being struggled with. That can only be a good thing.
I think this an interesting conversation, but to move away a little, what struck me about G+ was how much it might lend itself to being a much more contemporary and easy to use ‘VLE’ . Might this be, in Scotland anyway, the disruptive technology to Glow? Think circles ( Glow groups) and hangouts as mini glow meets? Collaborative working and sharing via google docs, in fact, the whole suite of google apps…. And should this perhaps inform the Glow futures debate here?
Much food for thought anyway.
And that is exactly what it should be used for, in my opinion we should be filtering the stream not the other way around. I like the idea of using them for reading streams but that still requires a lot of time to define every contact into the correct “box”. A search or filter tool would be better.
For some Fran it will be useful – in terms of a personal learning network I think it is the wrong way to go about sharing what happens in our classrooms and our experiences of schools.
Thanks for explaining your strategy and approach to sharing Linda, I think we will see value in the different contact organisation in different ways. In many ways it depends on what you expect to gain from the network space, I tend to approach these from a completely professional point of view and so there is no need to worry about overlaps.
I’m out of the classroom too – in fact I’m out of work entirely, having retired almost twelve months ago. What the Circles tool has done is enable me to tune in to what early adopters are doing by picking up the familiar names from my worklife, whilst keeping them separate from the rest of my on-line life. (I’ve yet to find too many retired women interested in developmens in web technology!)
Currently my circles read – IT, Textiles, Family and “All”. It isn’t often that the different spheres of my new life collide but I’ve no intention of letting Google decide who receives what so I too intend to keep my options open albeit in a slightly different way.
I think Tom has done a valuable thing in making this visible. Too often we discuss within our own niches, which are often less eclectic than James’. As with any new technology I think it is wise to consciously work to become aware of the ways in which it’s structure encourages you to work in certain ways, question whether these are valuable or inhibiting, and mitigate for or against this in our use of them.
My personal opinion is that Google + possibly does encourage compartmentalising discussion, but that if we are aware of this we can mitigate against it, whilst benefitting from some of the uses Theo describes.
I wonder how many of us seek out such wide influences in online or offline networks as Tom describes, maybe + is making something visible that we should be putting more effort into.
Tom also raises an interesting point when saying he has had more time to read widely and consider these influences since leaving the classroom. Classroom teachers are sorely in need of time and support to undertake this kind of reflection.
Thank you for articulating what has been bothering me about G+. I really don’t use Facebook except for occasional posts to family, and I work in junior high, so I sure don’t want to return to that cliquey way of communicating – which is G+ circles.
Your thoughts echo something I tweeted to some non-teacher friends last week, just after we’d all signed up here and were trying to work the circles out.I said “I could post something about teaching to just my teacher peeps [via G+ circles], thus not boring others, but downside is limiting interaction – no reason why you shouldn’t have something to say about teaching” (apols – 140 characters does limit grammar somewhat!)I have been inspired or taken ideas from a range of people to inform my teaching, not just those in education. I don’t protect my tweets, and at the moment, I find myself posting on G+ either publicly or to extended circles, as in general I’m happy to receive feedback from anyone who’s interested (spambots aside!). But I use the circles to help me read through other peoples’ posts. Because the posts are longer than 140 characters on G+, it’s not as easy to keep up with them all on a netbook or iPhone screen, whereas circles helps me follow posts more easily.I suppose what I’m saying is I use the circles not to restrict my ‘broadcasting’ but to help me manage and organise the information put there by others.
Hi Tom,
You are hitting one of the nails sticking up from G+ with accuracy. The whole Plus feels as if google are trying to lock folk into plus for everything. Serendipity, my favourite word, is really important to me. I’ve always preferred the loosely joined community of blogs tied together by RSS to facebook, a link, comment or trackback ties blogs together into every changing circles. Once I post this comment, I’ll post to delicious and the ifttt will tweet it, I’d like that sort of tie in with plus, perhaps it is coming, early days so far.
I am using circles right now – to help me not miss something I tend to flip through them quickly to make sure I haven’t missed a good education post – because a bunch of pictures were posted of the Twit Brick House.
I can also see using them come the 2012 election in the US. I want my education ideas/lesson plans/thoughts separated from politics. I’ve already moved 2 educators to a poltical circle and took them out of education circle. One because he was spewing bither nonsense about President Obama. The other because she was cursing out Governor Perry and his prayer breakfast. I will be active in the 2012 election. (opposit ends of the spectrum)
It is probably going to be one of the nastiest, hate filled elections we have had in our history. I don’t want to flood my education PLC with information about the election. My assumption is if they are Americans they will be involved. I know my Canadian and English relatives are NOT interested. They have asked the American part of the family to take it off Facebook in the past. I’m going to make the assumption that you and the rest of my PLC not from the US are going to have similar feelings.
Another reason I’ll be using circles is I teach in a public school. If during I have a bunch of partisan communication coming in via Google+ it can be considered using school equipment for advocating a political position. That is illegal. Still I want to have access to my PLC – I will use circles for that the same as I use folders in Google Reader. So I can have my education and tech circles open and my political circle closed during the day.
Like Sue I have been using a Circle for an International project with colleagues from Universities in UK, US and Sweden. Here Hangouts have proved ideal for informal video facilitated planning. I have a feeing you may be right about the generic circles such as teachers or educators. I see them as as much as a ‘tag’ I can use to ‘find’ people, but tend to mainly to post ‘extended circles’ except for project stuff.
Still early days and I suspect my thinking and use will evolve.
Hi Tom, a well considered argument and one that sits well with my current experiences of using Google+.
My approach with circles is evolving but I rarely move away from the “stream”. When I do, I turn to my Niche circle which is not education centric but made up from a mixture of individuals; encompassing a diverse range of backgrounds/professions. They were selected based on what I know of them and that their thoughts and ideas always fire me up and engage the deep thinking that can move you forward.
As such, when it comes to posting I have yet to post anything solely within the circles I have created. I have kept all of my posts public a la Twitter. I can see that circles could potentially provide an outlet for tightly nit discussion but these cirlces can be generated on a ‘need’ basis.
Ultimately, as you suggest, sharing within a wider pool of expertise leads to unexpected and potentially richer outcomes. Therefore, I plan to keep my posts public – available to those people who choose to add me to their circles or come across my profile while surfing the World Wide Web.
Your example is an excellent use of Circles – I just worry that if we have “teacher” or “education” circles and we share with them by default it is unlikely to lead to the discovery of interesting resources or those great tangential ideas that create something unique in the classroom.
I’m completely with you on this one as love the serendipity of Twitter which plays an important part in my personal learning network. It never ceases to surprise me the rich flow of information I happen upon! I would though say that Circles in Google+ has a place for me. It has already played a very useful role for me as a small group of us used hangout to plan a conference proposal. Circles can be made temporarily to meet the needs of the moment.