Pedagogies of Difference and Desire in Professional Learning

Book excerpt: Social media form an increasingly important aspect of the lives of professionals in many occupations, both as opportunities to acquire and exchange information and as places to find or create a supportive community. In much of the existing writing on professionals’ use of social media, there is a tendency to adopt either a position of risk avoidance or, alternatively, unbridled enthusiasm. This book adopts a different approach. Recognising that communications on social media are increasingly dominated by the exchange of images, it explores what we can learn from the images shared among professional communities on social media. It traces the professional learning and shaping of professional norms and behaviours that unfolds online, and considers how we use can images shared on social media as pedagogical resources, opening up windows into professional life to which students may not otherwise have access. Throughout, it develops novel theoretical and methodological approaches in an analysis of two case studies of social media exchanges on Twitter. Although it explores exchanges among midwives and teachers specifically, the book will be of interest to anyone involved in professional learning, both in the higher education sector and in continuing professional development contexts. It will also appeal to researchers interested in developing new ways to research digital communications.