Sorting through the socials: Augusta University expert explains why students need more literacy and awareness when it comes to social media
In this day and age, people of all ages are often on social media. While most of the platforms can be engaging for the good, there are always bad actors out there passing along misinformation. That’s the type of content younger students need to be aware of, according to an Augusta University faculty expert.Stacie Pettit, PhD, program director of the Master of Education in Instruction in the College of Education and Human Development, suggests there needs to be more media literacy and awareness of social media taught to students.With so many videos and posts claiming to be informative, how is one supposed to discern what is factual and what is not? Pettit feels people need to be more aware of how to tell when something is legit as opposed to something that is inaccurate.“Knowing what legitimate research is and what’s not, especially in this political climate, it can be tough to tell,” said Pettit. “More can be done in them understanding how deep it goes and what you search for, you’re going to get things that are skewing your mind to what you already want to believe. I feel like that component can be deeper.”Pettit realizes younger students know how to use social media, but using it in a responsible way can be just as important. People may post videos claiming one thing, but without fact checking, it may be inaccurate and can be a dangerous tool to mold a younger person’s mind.“If you already have your mind made up about something, you’re going to find things. It’s like the old phrase, ‘If you’re looking for a yellow cab, you’re going to find a yellow cab.’ This may be your context, your culture that you’re coming from, but put yourself in this place, how might they feel? Knowing there isn’t just one way to think about something, it’s not just a black and white answer to all these critical issues is important,” Pettit added.She knows it’s of the utmost importance for students to realize that every talking head they see in a video on social media isn’t always speaking the truth. Fact checking, finding another source to support a view and paying attention to the source in the first place can be key pieces of the puzzle students can use to find out the legitimacy of a post from the start.Amid all the misinformation, there are still plenty of legitimate uses for social media platforms.“There’s definitely educational and helpful things on YouTube. I encourage my kids a lot to go there because I’m trying to teach them to be more independent. She’s often like, ‘I don’t know how to do that’ but I tell her to find a video; this is what you’re going to have to do in college,” she said.If you're a journalist covering education and the impacts social media has on students, then let us help.Stacie Pettit, PhD, is a respected leader in middle level teacher education and meeting the needs of marginalized young adolescents. She's available to speak with media; simply click on her icon now to arrange an interview today.
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What does back to school look like this year? Augusta University expert talks challenges
Students will be back at the bus stop with school starting soon, but what can parents expect as their children return to the classroom after the effects of the pandemic years? Dr. Stacie Pettit, associate professor in the College of Education and Human Development at Augusta University, said not being in the classroom full-time has had an impact.Pettit said it’s documented that reading scores are down and many students were unaccounted for during at-home learning. But students also developed other skills during this period of time. “On one hand, you can’t completely make up for learning loss,” said Pettit. “Teachers just need to assess where students are and both students and teachers do the best you can from this point. On the other hand, students didn’t just stop learning altogether. There are important life and family skills that were gained during quarantine and the months after. I believe we should look at students from 'funds of knowledge' perspective rather than a deficit lens in order to recognize the cultural resources that a student’s household contains.” She added some students did become isolated and will need to relearn social skills, but many found a lively community online through social media during the pandemic. Pettit also pointed out students are resilient, as well as teachers. They didn’t stop teaching, but rather found new skills in instruction to make learning accessible in the new reality. There are some challenges going back to in-person instruction after the last couple of years.“Overcoming fear they’ve picked up through other people and the news,” she added. “”Feeling uncomfortable with their faces exposed after getting used to hiding behind a mask and dealing with germ phobia. Students also have the additional challenge of another recent school shooting in Uvalde, so not only are they getting used to being back in school full-time, but they also have safety concerns.”Pettit added there are still a few groups of students who could struggle being back in the classroom full-time. “Certainly kids who missed kindergarten. Students from foster care. Students in special education who didn’t have the support they needed during at home learning.”If you're a journalist covering education or are looking to line up your back-to-school stories this year, then let us help.Pettit is a respected leader in middle level teacher education and meeting the needs of marginalized young adolescents. She's available to speak with media simply click on her icon now to arrange an interview today.
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Biography
Stacie Pettit, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor in the Department of Teaching and Leading at Augusta University. She serves as the Middle School Program Coordinator and Collegiate Middle Level Association (CMLA) Advisor. Under her leadership, the AU CMLA chapter won the distinction of national host site for 2019-2021. She received the Outstanding Professor of Middle Level Education Award from NAPOMLE at the 2019 AMLE conference. Dr. Pettit received her undergraduate and doctoral degrees from the University of Georgia in Middle School Education and has 18 years of experience teaching middle school (math, language arts, and ESOL) or in higher education (University of Mississippi and AU). Dr. Pettit has taught over 30 different university courses on young adolescent development, active learning, and middle level programs and schools, among others. Her research interests include teaching English Language Learners (ELLs), PDS partnerships, and interdisciplinary initiatives such as Junior Model United Nations. Her literature review on teachers’ beliefs about ELLs in mainstream classrooms published in the International Multilingual Research Journal has been cited 178 times. She is a board member of the MLER sig, as well as an executive board member and AMLE affiliate liaison for the Georgia Association of Middle Level Education.
Areas of Expertise
Social Media Use in Middle Grades Education
Documentary Novels for Middle Grades
Foster Care and Education
Middle Level Education
Mathematics Education
Young Adolescents
Online Education
English Learners
Disney English
Literacy
ESOL
Accomplishments
Outstanding Collegiate Middle Level Association (CMLA) Chapter
National Association of Professors of Middle Level Education, 2019
Outstanding Professor of Middle Level Education
National Association of Professors of Middle Level Association, 2019
Program Coordinator for the COE Nomination for the Augusta University Program Teaching Excellence Award
Augusta University, 2019
Education
University of Georgia,
Doctoral degree
Education
Augusta State University
Master's degree
Mathematics Teacher Education
University of Georgia
Bachelor's degree
Junior High/Intermediate/Middl
University of Georgia
Bachelor's degree
Junior High/Intermediate/Middle School Education and Teaching
Professional Standards Commission
Georgia Teaching Certificate
Show All +
Affiliations
American Education Research Association - Middle Level Education Research SIG
Association for Middle Level Education
Association for Middle Level Education and Georgia Association of Middle Level Education
Association of Teacher Educators - Middle Level Special Interest Group (SIG)
Ohio Looks To Take On Social Media—But The Platforms Are Fighting Back
Forbes online
2024-01-13
A new law in Ohio requiring children to get parental consent to use social media apps has been challenged in the courts, and a hearing will not determine until next month whether the law will be put on hold during the case. Should or should not end.
Ohio's Social Media Parental Notification Act was part of the Buckeye State's $86.1 billion state budget bill that was signed into law by Republican Governor Mike DeWine last July. Dr. Stacy Pettit, associate professor of teacher education at Augusta University, said, “Parents who are already involved and invested in their children's lives have more power to limit their children's social media use. The mechanisms are available when they feel it is necessary.”
“They will continue to do this without any laws,” Pettit added. “Parents who don't see the harm in social media use or who don't care about what their kids do online will still approve of it even with the law and allow their kids to use it. My In consideration, although the intention may be to help mental health crises, unfortunately, this legislation appears to only cause unnecessary red tape and additional costs.”
An argument has been made that students should be taught at least the fundamentals of using social media. It could become a second set of the "3 Rs" of education. Along with "reading, writing and arithmetic," the social media 3Rs could perhaps include "research, responsibility and respect."
The ability to "research" could help ensure that younger users of social media are taught how not to believe everything they see posted, and this could help stop the spread of misinformation. "Responsible" use of social media is also something that helps those users understand that they need to be careful of what they post, while "respect" is what should be shown to other users.
Overcoming fear they’ve picked up through other people and the news. Feeling uncomfortable with their faces exposed after getting used to hiding behind a mask and dealing with germ phobia. Students also have the additional challenge of another recent school shooting in Uvalde, so not only are they getting used to being back in school full-time, but they also have safety concerns.
Certainly kids who missed kindergarten. Students from foster care. Students in special education who didn’t have the support they needed during at home learning.
On one hand, you can’t completely make up for learning loss. Teachers just need to assess where students are and both students and teachers do the best you can from this point. On the other hand, students didn’t just stop learning altogether. There are important life and family skills that were gained during quarantine and the months after.
How to Survive and Thrive Teaching Middle School Virtually
AMLE - Association for Middle Level Education
Melissa Martin, Stacie Pettit
2021
I’ve had the privilege of teaching seventh grade math virtually for four years, and I can tell you that teaching middle school students online takes even a little more finesse than my years in a face-to-face classroom. My students are the tech gurus, but they don’t know how to access your Google classroom. They can record themselves all day on TikTok, but they don’t know how to download a document. They can watch YouTube videos for hours, but they get bored a few minutes into a teacher-created video. So, how do you keep them engaged, learning, and begging for more? [...]
Lessons Learned: Aligning Voices from the inside with Nine Essentials of Professional Development Schools
School-University Partnerships
Rychly, Laura; Pettit, Stacie K.; Buning, Megan M.
2020
This exploratory case study documents the experiences shared by teacher candidates and cooperating teachers in two contrasting Professional Development School (PDS) sites over four semesters. At the ends of semesters during which courses were moved from the traditional university site delivery to public middle schools as part of an emerging PDS, focus group interviews were conducted with teacher candidates and then with classroom teachers to document their experiences. Their voices were solicited because much that went on between them and outside of what could be directly observed by those making decisions is important for identifying what would strengthen a PDS model. [...]
Best Practices in Middle Level Quaranteaching: Strategies, Tips and Resources Amidst COVID-19
Becoming Journal - Georgia Middle School Association
Christi Pace, Stacie K. Pettit, Kim S. Barker
2020
School closings resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic have forced teachers across the world to scramble to shift their face-to-face classes online. This rapid transition to what we call “quaranteaching” has left teachers little time to prepare for virtual teaching and learning. Acknowledging this challenge, in this article we share steps, strategies, tips, and resources to support and empower middle grades educators to successfully continue the online instruction (more accurately called “crisis teaching) they have begun. [...]
Quaranteaching in the Time of Covid-19: Exemplar From a Middle Grades Virtual Classroom
Becoming Journal - Georgia Middle School Association
Amanda Woods, Stacie K. Pettit, Christi Pace
2021
The COVID-19 pandemic dropped educators across the world straight into remote learning with little time to prepare. As some have inevitably struggled, other middle grades educators have overcome beginning hurdles to not only survive, but thrive amidst this new challenge. One teacher in particular, despite being in her first year, has found innovative ways to connect and motivate her middle grades students in a virtual environment. This article extends the steps, tips, and resources article (Author 3, Author 2, & Barker, K. S. also in this issue?) to provide a personal example of the successes (and yet still challenges) that exist when “quaranteaching” is done well. [...]
Recent mass school closings due to the COVID-19 pandemic have educators everywhere seeking ways to provide meaningful distance learning. In response, some educators are developing instruction around a hybrid model of the flipped classroom. Similar to the traditional model, students in a hybrid model prepare outside class assignments using online tools and technologies in preparation for their upcoming face-to-face class meeting.
Online Teaching Module: Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP) Key Assessment Example
Becoming Journal - Georgia Middle School Association
Stacie K. Pettit, Susan Edwards
2018
The Augusta University Online Teaching Module is a key assessment administered once during one specified course in each educator preparation program. Augusta University teacher candidates are required to show proficiency in ISTE standards and CAEP standard 1.5. The online teaching model measures candidates’ ability to apply technology standards in order to design, implement, and assess learning experiences to engage students and improve learning. In order to pass the Online Teaching Module, candidates must score 3 out of 4 possible points on at least five of the six indicators. [...]
What Kind of Possibilities Do We Have? Educators’ Complex Images of Latino Immigrant Students and Families
Journal of Contemporary Research in Education
H. James McLaughlin, Stacie K. Pettit
2013
The Latino population in the United States is on the rise, but historically, Latino graduation rates have been low. Many educators lack sufficient intercultural preparation, and therefore, teachers may tend to blame student failure on cultural and familial deficiencies. In this study, we elicited educators’ perceptions of Latino students and the students’ families through 10 focus group interviews at 6 target schools (4 elementary schools, 1 middle school, and 1 high school). Findings include contradictory views of students’ and families’ attitudes towards education, and consistently negative views of students’ and families’ educational backgrounds. Latino families were seen as close, caring, and hardworking, but with the wrong priorities and in a state of crisis. [...]
Foster students are being left behind—educational leaders can change that
University Business
Stacey Pettit
2023-10-11
From the K12 to the postsecondary level, foster children face many challenges and risks that harm their academic success. Roughly half of foster children graduate from high school nationally, and less than five percent graduate from a four-year college. Foster students are also three times more likely to drop out of high school than other low-income children in general.
With roughly 400,000 children in foster care in the U.S. today, too many children are being left behind. Educational leaders, administrators and decision-makers must become directly involved to protect their journey. But to do that, they must first understand what challenges these students face and then take specific steps to address them.
