Social Media in Education

Like pretty much every application of technology, I believe that the use of social media can have positive and negative results. In fact, I would go so far as to say that social media is actually a perfect symbol for the larger picture of tech use as a whole. On the one hand, sites like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram have given us the capability to be more connected in more ways than ever before. But, on the other hand, these sites can be misused and lead to more problems than they solve. I believe it is up to teachers to have a strong understanding of the various social media sites and to have an idea of how (or if) they can be used effectively in the classroom.

As cynical as I am about social media use, I do believe that it can contribute to my own professional development as an educator. Using apps like Twitter and Facebook can help keep me up to date on the latest and greatest uses of tech in the classroom. Perhaps more importantly, social media can help to create a personal network to stay in touch with more contacts than I could possibly hope to otherwise. This can help to enlarge my ‘bubble of influence’ and create easy access to new ideas or opportunities than I would be influenced by otherwise.

As far as I can tell, the students at both my junior high and high school placements have used social media for one thing and one thing only, SOCIALIZING! Snapchat and Instagram are king while Facebook has apparently descended into old people territory. Of course, this is pretty much what is to be expected. After all, these sites were designed with these demographics in mind and the more professional uses of social media seem to be perks and add on’s rather than intentionally designed from the beginning.

If social media were to be used in the classroom, I think it would have to play a small and heavily scaffolded role. I have seen apps like ‘remind’ used really well by teachers but I am not sure if that fits the description of social media. Facebook can help students stay in touch for things like homework and group assignments. I have also seen activities in history classes which involve translating history into Facebook posts and hash tags. These are mediums which the students are all very familiar with and can serve to make content more accessible. Overall, I am open to the ideas of how to better incorporate social media into the classroom, I simply have not seen many examples that excite me.

#Sightseeing