The
recent developments in the popularity of using social media for educational
purposes should not come as a shock. It
is a natural direction that I believe we as educators should take. I would not necessarily encourage the use of
social networking in elementary because of the dangers of allowing students to
create online profiles at a young age, as well as some of the exposure that may
not be positive. I do believe students at the middle school, high school, college
level, and beyond will benefit from using social media for educational
purposes. Students are social beings and
have a need for interaction. They enjoy visiting
various sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and numerous others. Teachers can and should utilize these great
tools that the students are familiar with and use on a daily basis. Some teachers create a page on Facebook for
the students to carry on discussions about class material, work on projects,
and various other things. It is easy for
the students to check the page since they already get on the site a great deal,
and information can be shared with the class quickly and easily. The article I read was gearing the use of
Facebook to higher education, and was talking about how it is a great way to
encourage meaningful discussions outside of the large lecture style classroom. In some of the other technology classes I
have taken the students will use Twitter to post links to helpful articles as
well as using it as a back channel during live meeting times. These are just a few examples of ways that
social media can be used for educational purposes, but I am sure there are
numerous other ways.
Resource
Perry, D. M. (2013). Go where the students are: Facebook. The
Chronicle of Higher Education, Retrieved from
http://chronicle.com/article/Go-Where-the-Students-Are-/138801/
I really had not thought about the potential dangers of having elementary students create profiles. While there are safer resources than Facebook for that age, I think that is something to be very mindful of. I also think that gearing Facebook to discussion makes more sense for higher education versus middle and high school. There are still many dangers for those students in comparison because you are dealing with minors versus adults.
ReplyDeleteWhen we talk about using social network technologies in the classroom, I agree, we need to exclude elementary students entirely. Even though we try to instill in them good habits and educate them on the dangers, at that age they still have that childlike faith talked about in the Bible. Yes, we need to discuss safety and help them create good habits but not allow them access to social networks too early. There will be plenty of time for them to socialize online when they are allowed to have extended time on the computer.
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