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Desafios para a superação das desigualdades sociaisDEVELOPMENT OF SOCIAL MEDIA LITERACY FOR GLOBAL CITIZENSHIPEDUCATION IN TEACHER EDUCATION PROGRAMSAdeela Arshad-Ayaz, Ph.DConcordia University, Montreal CANADAadeela.ayaz@education.concordia.caABSTRACT: In this paper I explore the possibilities social media literacy offers in educating forGlobal Citizenship especially in teachers’ education programs. It is widely believed that the use ofsocial media motivates the student teachers in exploring and understanding complex interrelated issuesin global citizenship and to make connections between the dynamics of these issues. My contention isthat the educational value of information available on a number of social/digital media comes not fromthe digital media alone but by combining social/digital media with critical pedagogy to engagestudents in meaningful and purposeful practices related to global citizenship. In other words, aneffective critical pedagogy must mediate between the students’ and the social media texts. I useevidence from a graduate course on Global Citizenship that I teach at the Department of Education atConcordia University to argue that the use of social media for understanding the issues andconnections between them was most effective when the student were grounded in the conceptual andtheoretical understanding of the issues. Theory helped them make connections and motivated them touse social media in a much-informed way.1 INTRODUCTIONDebates on role of social media in relation to civic participation and engagement haveincreased since recent world events. Events as diverse as the Arab Spring, 2008 US Presidentialelections, the Occupy movement, and the student protests in Quebec have one thing in common: therole played by information and communications technologies (ICTs) and social media such as Twitterand Facebook in mobilizing citizens in the context of civic engagement and active citizenship. In thecivic realm, social networking sites (SNS) such as TakingITGlobal.org and YouthNoise.org offersocial network services for users worldwide who are interested in learning about and taking action intheir communities to address pressing issues such as poverty, global warming, AIDS, and humanrights (Raynes-Goldie & Walker, 2008). Major organizations such as Amnesty International have usedsocial networking sites such as Facebook to coordinate protests in major cities around the world(Stirland, 2007).‘Digital natives’ (Prensky, 2001) involved in social movements used the new social andpolitical spaces to identify pressing issues, engage with their fellow citizens, participate in politicalprocesses, and articulate demands for social, political and distributive justice. These events alsoignited the debate in educational contexts between those who argue that the use of the social media isprimarily for entertainment, and thus results in a decline of interest in social issues (Shah, Cho,Eveland & Kwak, 2005; Kraut, et al., 2002, Hindman, 2009), and their detractors who argue thatsocial media actively enhance civic engagement, and political participation and result in activeparticipatory citizenship (Bennett, 2008; Gil de Zuniga, et al. 2012).Evidence from politics and social movements has led educators to consider SNS aseducational tools that can be used to educate students in becoming more engaged in civic and politicalissues. Scholars working on SNS in the educational context generally agree that educators, andstudents need to know more about how to use SNS in order to use its full educational potential. Theimportant question that arises is how do teacher educators use social media for educational purposeand how can the potential of social media and networking be harnessed for educational purpose. Mycontention is that the educational value of information available on a number of social/digital mediacomes not from the digital media alone but by combining social/digital media with critical pedagogyto engage students in meaningful and purposeful practices related to global citizenship. In other words,an effective critical pedagogy must mediate between the students’ and the social media texts. I use32