SOCIAL MEDIA EDUCATION

How Social
Media is
Reshaping
Today’s
Education
System
by Lori Wade
There’s no denying that, ever since social
networks and social media made way into
our lives, everything is different. Beginning
with the way we socialize, interact, plan for
parties or even how often we go out. We
won’t go into a debate regarding the ethical
aspects of the way Social Media is
influencing our lives. Instead, this article
proposes to focus on the numerous ways in
which social media is changing the way the
education system works. So, stay tuned to
find out what effects does social
networking have on the way our children are
educated both at school and outside of it.
Empowering Effects
Starting from elementary school up until
university graduation, social media has the
role to empower parents, students and
teachers to use new ways of sharing
information and build a community.
Statistics show that 96% of the students
that have internet access are using at least
one social network. What’s even more
extraordinary is that, even though some of
the students use the social networks for
entertaining and other purposes, there are a
lot of them that actually use it to promote a
lot of positive and useful activities. From
finding a summer internship, promoting a
success story about how to win the
student-loan battle or collaborate on
international projects, everything is made
possible.
Implementation in Schools?
When it comes to social media, schools
tend to adopt different positions. It’s a
general consensus that they’re useful when
it comes to sharing information or
organizing the school tasks. And at the
same time, the social networking is blamed
for the lack of attention in students during
classes.
But an increasing trend of adopting social
media in school is starting to show. And
since students already devote a lot of time
for social media and connecting with others
outside school hours, why not do it during
school as well?
It’s a matter of practicability, really,
because it makes perfect sense to use the
online universe to communicate with your
students since they’re already there most of
the time. There’s no need for another case
study about the usage of social media in
schools. You simply need to walk through
the hallways of any school or colleague to
see kids of all ages totally immersed in
their smartphones. Browsing their news
feed, sharing photos on Instagram of
sending Snapchat messages has become a
part of their daily routine.
How Can Teachers Penetrate the Online
World?
Moodle and Blackboard are just two
examples of learning management system
that involves online learning for more than
10 years now. Slowly but steady, such
systems will lead to the actual
implementation of social media within
classrooms. And the best tool available for
teachers is social media itself. Only by
being open-minded and using the
technology themselves will they be able to
really reach out to students.
“ The best teachers I’ve ever had have used
technology to enhance the learning process,
including Facebook pages and events for
upcoming projects” – Katie Benmar,
Freshman
As the above statement emphasizes,
students also react very positively when a
teacher is willing to use their methods and
adapt them as part of the educational
process. And it makes perfect sense since
a homework has a certain strictness about
it, but an online chat discussing a certain
book gives students the ability to open up
and share their opinions.
Daring Teachers
Of course, the examples of teachers already
implementing social media in classes are
far numerous that we can know of, however,
there are a few that did such a great job
that their students almost made them viral.
For example, a biology teacher from Bergen
County proposed a challenge to his
students. They had to debate over the
subject of meiosis on Twitter by using a
specific hashtag. This is a great opportunity
for students to have fun and learn at the
same time. As you need to know your
meiosis in order to compress it into 140
characters.
“ We live in a digital ecosystem, and it is
vital that educational institutions adapt ”
Carla Dawson – Digital Marketing Professor
at the Catholic University of Cordoba
Professor Dawson really has a valid point
there as history showed us all that, no
matter how strong the resistance,
technological progress and new trends will
eventually become a standard. Of course,
this applies to developed countries that
already have a well-structured traditional
educational system. It’s a totally different
situation when it comes to developing
countries that are still struggling to find
their way.
A Stronger Community Through Social
Media
The benefits of social media in the
education process doesn’t have to stop at
the teacher-student relationship. There are a
lot of other benefits that can be extracted
from the use of social networking at higher
levels as well. For example, principals or
administrators can find a new way to
integrate social media. Like sharing school
news via social networks, holding online
meeting with the parents or even starting
fundraising for different projects.
And social media can quickly become the
only channel of communication since we’re
living fast-paced lives, parents are usually
busy with work and cannot attend school
meetings. But this doesn’t mean they
shouldn’t be in touch with events or be able
to check on their kids every once in awhile.
Just like in every other field,
communication is vital and if it can be
done easily with the help of social media,
why not go for it?
It may not be criteria just yet, but soon
enough questions like ‘Does this school
have a Facebook page?’ could become just
as important as the things that parents are
asking right now. Like, how well equipped
the library is or what are the optional
classes their child can be part of.
Conclusions
The bottom line is that social media is a
big part of our day to day life and there’s
no point of keeping it away from the
education process. School, college and
university staff should be encouraged to
make use of technology for student and
parent communication. This could easily
turn into an argumentative essay topic for
college. But the benefits are obvious,
starting with healthier parent-teacher
relationships and all the way to permanently
changing the way our children will learn.
Lori Wade is
a content
writer who is
interested in
a wide range
of spheres
from
education and
online
marketing to entrepreneurship. She is also
an aspiring tutor striving to bring education
to another level like we all do. If you are
interested in writing, you can find her on
Twitter or Google+ or find her on other
social media. Read and take over Lori’s
useful insights!