According to my experience, from Twitter to Instagram to Snapchat, today’s students are more connected through social media platforms than ever before. Not only that, parents are connected there as well. Yet studies show that teachers have been slow to incorporate social media as an educational technology platform in the classroom. We all apprehend the saying “Knowledge is Talent”, however, few understand the empowering role social media has played. Nowadays, in the world of connecting learning, the impact of social media on the classroom is becoming a driving factor. Teenagers and young adults have mainly embraced these websites as a manner to connect to their peers, percentage facts, reinvent their personalities, and showcase their social lives. Social media is a great tool to connect with parents, especially at the K-12 level, because the parents are on social media. It helps gets the word out and share things like pictures and classroom updates. With social media, they can connect to NASA and explore many scientific organizations and the aquatic world and also can explore many Geographic demographic which would be impossible physically to visit every place. With the use of social platforms in school, the students get motivated and fostered to learn educational videos on YouTube, easy access to e-books, online notes, and learning via video calls are major aspects that contribute to educational development.
This Media Networking Platform in the classroom is beneficial for:
- Promotion (Network platforms to promote special events/programs, and acknowledge student awards).
- Extended Learning (Network to share blog posts or articles, to extend student learning beyond the prescribed reading in the curriculum).
- Creating Connections (To keep connected with parents and to connect students with educators, experts, and other students outside of their physical classroom and school).
- Digital Citizenship (For students to understand the best practices of how to use network responsibly is through experiential learning under the guidance of a knowledgeable teacher).
Teachers also want to protect their students and themselves while they are online. Many social media platforms have built-in safeguards, but the key to the successful use of the forum in the classroom is monitoring. The teachers can also boost the energy of the students in the classroom by inspiring them to interact, to communicate, with alumni students to have a source of inspiration. Also, teachers can use this as teaching aids to explore out-of-the-box thinking skills with great content which could be interesting and more engaging in the classroom.
Smt. Krishna Tiwari
(M.Sc., M.Ed., P.G.D.Ed.M., D.D.H.M., D.FS.M)