Using social media in education

 Hello everyone! I hope this blog finds you well. 

The topic I have chosen for this blog is the use of social media in education.  It might sound a little bit odd, but yes, there are schools that apply the social media for educational purposes. 

For some teachers, it might be a nightmare, but surely, to all students it is a dream come true. 

But what do we really mean by the collocation "social media", which are its benefits and disadvantages and how can we implement it?

What do we mean by "social media"?

Social media refers to websites and applications that are designed to allow people to share content such as videos, photos, opinions quickly, efficiently, and in real-time. Some social medias, as we all know or at least have heard about include: Facebook, Twitter, Whatsapp, Instagram, Youtube, Pinterest, Blogger etc. 

                                                               

Which are the benefits of using social media in the classroom?

   Firstly, we cannot create such exposure to the students, where they can interact with native speakers of a language. As far as we know, very few schools are able to invite a native speaker to participate in the Foreign Language Classes. Fortunately, my High School was one of these schools, where a native American would be part of our learning process. As the technology develops, I think that teachers can provide video sessions with native speakers by using Skype for example. The teacher may contact with a native speaker teacher from abroad who is enthusiastic to participate along with her students. In this case, the students' speaking and listening skills will improve significantly. The most important point to mention, is that they will be prepared to use the foreign language in real situation is the real life. 

  Secondly, by using social media in eduaction, students will be more motivated and interactive at the same time, which leads to a higher number of participation in the class. Students will be part of a global community, raising cultural awareness and respect towards other people. This will make them more open minded. They will feel part of the community and by interacting with each other, their writing skills will improve. Using Blogger or even Facebook for example, not only will improve their writing skills, but will also help the teacher to know the students better and on the other hand, it will help the students to know themselves and their personality.  

  

  Furthermore, by using social media, students will learn new digital skills which will be effective during all of their lives. They will learn how to attach photos, videos, how to edit photos or what the role of orthography is. By using social media, they will learn how to express the core of the information rather than write endless pages on a specific topic or how to create videos themselves. To some, this might seem unimportant, but the truth is, that owning these skills these days is a bonus for everyone. 

                                                   

Drawbacks of using social media in education

As the Yin and Yang, using social media in eduaction isn't a perfect method to teach, as it has its own disadvantages. 

  The very first disadvantage I can think of includes the lack of technology in the schools. Of course that the interaction with the natives using video calls is very interesting, in many schools that remains a beautiful dream, unless the teacher provides the class herself with a laptop, internet and video projector. 

  

  The second and the most serious one, in my opinion disadvantage is online abuse and inability of the teacher to monitor each student. We know that there are many strangers out there in this social reality, whose purposes may be to bully, harass or stalk others. What the teacher can do to overcome it, is to use apps or website when she can supervise the students' acitivities. 

How can we implement social media in the classroom?

 The teacher can use Facebook or Whatsapp to share homework or different assignments for the students. Students can share information or different materials related to the topic in their class' group in the social media and can ask the teacher for any kind of difficulty that may occur while doing the homework or project. 

  On the other hand, teachers can open their own account in Youtube for students to subscribe. She/ he can post different videos or listening materials for students to watch and discuss in class. Also, the teacher can record herself/himself explaining a very difficult material, especially for those students who didn't participate in class. 

 An interesting project would be to demonstrate English culture for example, by using photography. Students can make an album and share it on Instagram, Facebook, or Pinterest by writing only a short description. 

 Blogger can be used for students to share their writing tasks, such as essays, letters, stories. They can comment on each-other's posts more easily than sharing the notebooks in the class. 

  To sum up, teachers always have to find interesting and attractive methods for the students to love the subject. Using technology and social media has its own advantages as well as its disadvantages. I think that with the teacher's determination, using social media in education can work properly and make students acquire the lesson faster and easier. 

  I would also like to share with you this material on how to protect students' privacy on social media.    https://www.commonsense.org/education/articles/protecting-student-privacy-on-social-media-dos-and-donts-for-teachers

     What is your opinion? Do you see yourself using social media  in your future classes? 

Thank you for taking the time to read my blog, I appreciate it! 

Please feel free to share your opinion! 
P.s. Don't forget to stay safe :)