Social Media is continuing to become more popular as time goes by. It is no longer just a “fun” way of being on the Internet. It has now grown to a level so high that it gives you the power to learn, communicate, and collaborate with people all around the world. Social media is starting to become much more common in schools and some question if that is right or wrong.
There are many pros and cons to consider when deciding if social media is something you would like to use in your own classroom. Some pros are quicker communication with students, staff, and parents, student and teacher collaboration, easier access additional resources, self reflection, remaining current, discovering other points of views and ways to learn, as well as professional development. Some cons are the time it takes to learn the different sites, staff not being able to clearly communicate with students, area for misinterpretation, private information becoming public, and not being able to control what students see or post.
I support the idea of using social media in schools. Knowing the power and capabilities it has I believe it is necessary to integrate it into a classroom. Children today have grown up on the Internet and because of this it interest them. Why not make school more appealing by using something that works and keeps students engaged? However, I do believe that limits must exist when using social media in a school environment. As we read through many of this weeks articles, parents have a hard time understanding the reasons for teachers connecting with their students on the Internet. I believe that there needs to be a clear boundary as well as level of professionalism from the staff responsible for the media site. We do not have the power to control what our students access online when they are outside of the classroom so it is important that we educate them on the proper way to “be online” if we encourage it.
Overall, I find the social media to be very beneficial. I hope to use social media tools such as Twitter and blogging in my classroom so I can quickly relay information to students and receive immediate feedback. I believe that through social media all students can freely express their thoughts and opinions and learn from what they read in others posts. It is also a great tool to help students dig deeper and gain a new insights on specific topics.
There are many pros and cons to consider when deciding if social media is something you would like to use in your own classroom. Some pros are quicker communication with students, staff, and parents, student and teacher collaboration, easier access additional resources, self reflection, remaining current, discovering other points of views and ways to learn, as well as professional development. Some cons are the time it takes to learn the different sites, staff not being able to clearly communicate with students, area for misinterpretation, private information becoming public, and not being able to control what students see or post.
I support the idea of using social media in schools. Knowing the power and capabilities it has I believe it is necessary to integrate it into a classroom. Children today have grown up on the Internet and because of this it interest them. Why not make school more appealing by using something that works and keeps students engaged? However, I do believe that limits must exist when using social media in a school environment. As we read through many of this weeks articles, parents have a hard time understanding the reasons for teachers connecting with their students on the Internet. I believe that there needs to be a clear boundary as well as level of professionalism from the staff responsible for the media site. We do not have the power to control what our students access online when they are outside of the classroom so it is important that we educate them on the proper way to “be online” if we encourage it.
Overall, I find the social media to be very beneficial. I hope to use social media tools such as Twitter and blogging in my classroom so I can quickly relay information to students and receive immediate feedback. I believe that through social media all students can freely express their thoughts and opinions and learn from what they read in others posts. It is also a great tool to help students dig deeper and gain a new insights on specific topics.
Unlike you, I am not sure that I am a supporter of social media in the classroom. However, I am not entirely sure that I am against it either. I believe that social media is a very grey area when discussing teacher student relationships and collaboration. I feel as though social media is a very informal and unprofessional way of communicating. Why do we need Facebook to communicate when an email can do the same thing? As far as keeping students engaged and revamping projects, I can see social media being useful. I guess i'm just not sure that the pros outweigh the cons and vice versa.
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