Supporting Students to self-direct Intentional Learning Projects with Social Media

In order to be able to cope with many authentic challenges in increasingly networked and technologically mediated life we need to construct opportunities for participants in higher educational settings to practice the advancement of self-directing intentional learning projects. In addition to teaching general strategies for carrying out these projects more emphasis should be put on acquiring some expertise regarding the selection and combination of a diverse set of technological means for own purposes. The various practices that are emerging around social media seem to be a promising field of experimentation in this regard. The knowledge and skills needed to select, use and connect different social media in a meaningful way form an important part of the dispositions in self-directing intentional learning projects. This paper argues for a course design in which participants are not simply engaged in developing knowledge, skills and orientations in regard to curricular subject matter and the use of technology but actively involved in self-directing intentional learning projects with the support of social media. The theoretical framework of this research is inspired by conceptual ideas developed within iCamp (http://www.icamp.eu) project. We will illustrate our line of argumentation with some empirical data collected from a pilot course taught at Tallinn University, Estonia.