Week 8- Social Media in Education

Social Media is taking over the 21st Century, and it's evident. Almost everyone is on some form of social media outlet, whether that be Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, etc. When thinking of these platforms, at face value they don't seem to possess many educational qualities. Especially since a large component is interacting with others online, it seems that there isn't much educational value in them. However, they can be integrated into education programs to help adapt to the changing times. In addition, since many kids are already largely familiar with social media, integrating them appropriately, it would be easy for kids to operate them. The 21st century has seen much rise in technology, devices, and social media, and they are worldwide things that everyone uses for a variety of reasons every single day. Why not fit them into school? The kids would find it more entertaining because it's a platform they enjoy and are used to, it could help with classroom connections amongst students, and it would overall be more modern. I've read from a few articles that some teachers have started up some classroom Twitter accounts to share classroom stories on. They post about what's going on in the classroom so other faulty and parents can stay in the loop. Many other classes use some sort of Blog website where kids can create blog posts that can be read and shared by others of the class. Some schools even have their own Instagram page where users can follow along with campus events. Sometimes setting up group chats with classmates on Messages or even Snapchat can be effective means of communication for group projects. Since the kids are already using those services, they'd be more likely to interact with each other for school means on those platforms. A lot of employers look at LinkedIn profiles of applicants. Or as we use in my Power-Up class, on websites generated by Wix or through conferences on Handshake. Even those are considered social media and are being used for school and beyond purposes.

With the integration of social media in the classroom comes much more to consider. Integrating social media, in my opinion, would not be as beneficial in some grades as it would be in others. For preschool, I do not see much benefit from having the kids use some sort of "social media" for learning. At that age I think they are too young. Even for elementary school it would be hard. I think that having the kids create blogs on a kid-friendly site would be a good idea, but you can't really tell them all to make an Instagram. For middle and high school aged kids I think this would work the best. Many of those students already have Instagram, TikTok, and maybe even Facebook, so as for them to be able to follow along with their school on social media would be beneficial. Or even having all the students have a "book talk" or something along those lines on a social media platform would be a pretty neat integration for those upper grade levels as well. For any social media integration, however, you have to be careful. Review Privacy rules and facts and make sure the kids as well as the teacher are using the platforms wisely and are not putting themselves in danger. Advocate for strong passwords so they don't get hacked and arouse panic. Make sure they are using the platform for school purposes only when in school and that they are using it responsibly. Social media can be a beautiful thing, but if abused could go very wrong, so it's important to be mindful when using it for anything.

Another thing worth mentioning is the benefit that social media integration in school can have on parents. Even for parents of elementary aged children, if the school has a Facebook or something, the parents can get updates and follow along from their device. Having some sort of messaging system (like Class Dojo, which I suppose the messaging feature would kind of be considered social media), parents can communicate with the teacher for matters about their child. Even Zoom can be considered social media, and teachers can set up video conferences with parents (or even with students). This makes distant communication much easier (or if the person is sick and cannot meet in person). 

Overall, social media is not always a bad thing, if used appropriately. Many benefits can come out of using some form of social media or online communication in the classroom. Kids already use it all the time, so why not use it in school too to enhance learning? Kids would probably enjoy it better having it be on platforms they already enjoy, or even just being able to communicate with classroom friends. With the constant changing and improvements of technology it was bound to make its way into the education system, and it has, and social media has done just the same.