EEND 676 Module 5 Discussion
Hello class,
When I first started teaching I feel like not only did very few teachers use social media in the classroom, but it was almost perceived as a bad idea. There were just too many problems associated with using it in school such as student access or online safety and digital citizenship. Now, I feel like it is much more excepted as a means of communication or delivery of some material. In fact, our school is actually pushing teachers to use twitter in the classroom. Our school has us watch a training video on how to use it safely and properly, but overall promotes social media in the classroom when used correctly.
I feel social media can be a positive tool for the classroom. My class uses a Twitter account for communication and announcements. One pro to twitter is that the pictures I post from field trips can be shared to the school account as well so other classes/schools here about what we are up to in class. I could see taking it a step further though for collaboration and online discussions. For me, I often find other apps and programs that do a better job than twitter does for collaboration. I don't think these apps like Google Community are considered social media but they do promote being social with classmates.
For me, the cons outweigh the advantages with most applications for social media. One of the biggest cons is that the social media that the students are into now wouldn't work well for the classroom. None of my students use twitter now, and hardly anyone has a Facebook account. Most students these days spend most of their time on Snapchat or Instagram. Although you could post pics to Instagram, I see little educational value for Snapchat. I just feel there are safer, more educational platforms that do the same thing as the traditional social media apps. For instance, I find myself posting to REMIND rather than twitter because I know all the students got the text message or picture, which is harder to track on twitter.
I am very interested to read how others feel about traditional social media apps in the classroom. I hope maybe there is an application that I am not thinking of possibly. In the end, having to worry about digital citizenship and safety definitely outweighs the advantages for me with traditional social media apps. Especially when there are educational apps and programs available that do the same job, or even better.
Thank you,
Jim Nielsen
When I first started teaching I feel like not only did very few teachers use social media in the classroom, but it was almost perceived as a bad idea. There were just too many problems associated with using it in school such as student access or online safety and digital citizenship. Now, I feel like it is much more excepted as a means of communication or delivery of some material. In fact, our school is actually pushing teachers to use twitter in the classroom. Our school has us watch a training video on how to use it safely and properly, but overall promotes social media in the classroom when used correctly.
I feel social media can be a positive tool for the classroom. My class uses a Twitter account for communication and announcements. One pro to twitter is that the pictures I post from field trips can be shared to the school account as well so other classes/schools here about what we are up to in class. I could see taking it a step further though for collaboration and online discussions. For me, I often find other apps and programs that do a better job than twitter does for collaboration. I don't think these apps like Google Community are considered social media but they do promote being social with classmates.
For me, the cons outweigh the advantages with most applications for social media. One of the biggest cons is that the social media that the students are into now wouldn't work well for the classroom. None of my students use twitter now, and hardly anyone has a Facebook account. Most students these days spend most of their time on Snapchat or Instagram. Although you could post pics to Instagram, I see little educational value for Snapchat. I just feel there are safer, more educational platforms that do the same thing as the traditional social media apps. For instance, I find myself posting to REMIND rather than twitter because I know all the students got the text message or picture, which is harder to track on twitter.
I am very interested to read how others feel about traditional social media apps in the classroom. I hope maybe there is an application that I am not thinking of possibly. In the end, having to worry about digital citizenship and safety definitely outweighs the advantages for me with traditional social media apps. Especially when there are educational apps and programs available that do the same job, or even better.
Thank you,
Jim Nielsen
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