Friday, June 24, 2011
Should My School Use Social Media?
Social media is a hot thing of the present and future. Students know how to use it and love to use it , so why not let them use it at school? This could be a great thing IF it is implemented correctly and is monitored. I read an article written by Shailey Minocha, titled "An empirically-grounded study on the effective use of social software in education". The article was the explanation of the study and results that were found researching the implementation of using social networks in the classroom. The results proved to be encouraging. The students liked using the social networks for group projects and learning technology efficient skills that they could apply outside the classroom. The use of these networks did prove to be more time consuming for the teacher. The teacher had to stay current with the technology, change lessons to incorporate the use of the social media, and be able to monitor the students use of the technology. Putting in more time could be a problem for teachers, but by using social media and staying current with trends, will give the teachers skills they can use outside the classroom as well. If using social media in the classroom enhances the students' learning experience, it should be used and supported by school systems, parents, and teachers.
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I am absolutely all for social media. Using social media is a great way for the students and teachers to stay current with the events. I have been in a classroom where there were limited to no computers and/or no televisions. I can honestly say that students began to bring their own computers to class to complete in class lessons without a hassle of using the classrooms computer with old software installed on it.
ReplyDeleteI do think that the use of social media is good for school, but I do not believe it should take the place of anything. I believe students need to learn to use and appreciate all types of learning tools. We need not get too dependent on any one thing. What if all of a sudden, these things were lost to us because of a natural disaster or war? Could we survive without them? Although I use my computer to write almost everything, I love to use paper and pencil to write letters. Do we rely too much on the spell check on our computers that we sometimes forget how to spell even simple words? Is media so centered in our lives that we fail to communicate with the people surrounding us? We need not to lose our ability to create with our hands and mind and to just talk face to face. Many of our young people do not even talk over the phone anymore, but text, text, text! I love the sound of a voice over the phone. Everything should be done in moderation.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you, that social media should be incorporated into the classroom. There is so much out there in cyberspace that students need to be able to access responsibly. Teachers do need to keep up with technology and find ways to use it in the classroom
ReplyDeleteI think that using socail media in school is great if it is used for the right things. It is also a way for the school to contact parents if need be. Most parents do have facebok pages as well as twiter pages. By the school creating its own page on these two websites will get the parents and community informed about what is going on at that particualr school.
ReplyDeleteSocial media is very important in the future of our children.Learning how to interact with your peers in a postive way.
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