Integrating Social Media in the Classroom for Beneficial Learning

Because technology and the use of social media is becoming more advanced and relevant in the work place, traditional teaching styles in the classroom are no longer sufficient enough for a multifaceted, comprehensive education. Students will greater benefit from the use of traditional education styles paired with instruction using social media so that they can not only comprehend and engage with the material, but also grow with the evolving world around them.

Student Comprehension and Engagement of Material Increases when Teachers Engage with Social Media in the Classroom

            With Facebook finally reaching 1 million users, Twitter following close behind and YouTube having millions of views each day, it is safe to say that social media has become very popular, especially amongst high school and college students. According to an article, located in USA Today, called "Teachers Embrace Social Media in Class" students spend approximately 238 minutes a week on Facebook and 101 minutes a week on Twitter. That’s a total of 339 minutes or 5 hours and 39 minutes spent on just two of many social media sites. Being a teacher, it is important to recognize these trends and if possible, incorporate appropriate technologies into the classroom and the curriculum in order to capture interests and accelerate learning. Incorporating networks such as YouTube, Facebook, Pintrest and Twitter to supplement material can capture interest and excitement, which can lead to better comprehension and engagement. In my schooling experience, I have had many teachers show videos on YouTube as a supplement to the material. Watching YouTube or any online video usually helps clarify information or provides additional real world examples. YouTube tends to help those students who are visual learners better grasp and understand the material. Social media can also be used in order to obtain information faster than it would be obtained in a traditional manner. For example, a student can easily post a survey question on Facebook and receive almost instantaneous feedback from their friends and followers allowing them to collect research in no time at all. Along with collecting information, social media can also be used as a way to distribute information or research quickly. Before the use of social media increased, students would have to use snail mail or e-mail to distribute information which is not nearly as fast as social media such as instant Twitter updates or Facebook statuses.

            Carole Gilbert, a Montgomery County High School teacher, helps me understand how using social media creates better understanding and engagement for her students.

  

Expanding the Use of Social Media in the Classroom can Further Enhance Learning

 Using social media networks such as Facebook and Twitter are preferable for students simply because of the ease of use and familiarity with navigation. Since students are regularly using these sites outside of the classroom for their leisure, it may be easier for teachers to incorporate these popular sites throughout lessons to aid learning. Facebook and Twitter can be used to encourage conversation between peers, or to reach out and understand the opinions of others such as famous celebrities, or authors. This way, the student is not always only interacting with their classmates, but rather learning how to communicate, have conversations and express opinions with others. Creating a class blog as a supplement to learning was another idea from an article featured on How to Learn. This site describes creating a classroom blog as a way to enhance learning with topics that students do not have much experience with, topics that may be harder to grasp, or topics that are not as dense and do not have an abundant of interesting information. “Blogging can supplement any subject matter, but it is perhaps especially easy to integrate into writing and social science classrooms. Blogging about relevant topics and commenting on classmates’ posts can provide a richer experience for students than traditional writing assignments.” Using a blog may be a form of social media that students are not as familiar with and may require additional instruction of use and navigation; however, in the end, the outcomes and rewards will be worth the extra bit of instruction. 

Embracing the Use of Social Media in Education to Help Students Prepare for College

It has become more and more common for college professors to use social media throughout the semester. It is important that students have background knowledge about the ways these sites work and are used as a supplement to course material. Many universities at very minimum use websites, like ELMS, where students can find information about the courses they are enrolled in. This is an important reason why students should be familiar and able to navigate websites such as these. Other professors engage more with social media creating assignments using class blogs, or Twitter so that students can interact with one another along with other professionals. Basic instruction in early education allows students to have already identified these tools allowing them to be able to put them to better use when using them in college courses.

Molly, a Communication major at the University of Maryland, explains why she thinks social media was beneficial to her in her college classes.

listen to ‘Beneficial? ’ on Audioboo

Integrating Social Media in the Classroom for Beneficial Learning

 
The Many Uses of Social Media in the Classroom

     With Facebook finally reaching 1 million users, Twitter following close behind and YouTube having millions of views each day, it is safe to say that social media has become very popular, especially amongst high school and college students. According to an article, located in USA Today, called "Teachers Embrace Social Media in Class" students spend approximately 238 minutes a week on Facebook and 101 minutes a week on Twitter. That’s a total of 339 minutes or 5 hours and 39 minutes spent on two of many social media sites. Being a teacher, it is important to recognize these trends and if possible, incorporate appropriate technologies into the classroom and the curriculum in order to capture interests and accelerate learning. Incorporating networks such as YouTube, Facebook, Pintrest and Twitter to supplement material can capture interest, which can lead to better comprehension and engagement. In my schooling experience, I have had many teachers show videos on YouTube as a supplement to the material. Watching YouTube or any online video usually helps clarify information or provides additional real world examples. YouTube tends to help those students who are visual learners better grasp and understand the material. Social media can also be used in order to obtain information faster then it would be obtained in a traditional manner. For example, a student can easily post a survey question on Facebook and receive almost instantaneous feedback from their friends and followers allowing them to collect research in no time at all. Along with collecting information, social media can also be used as a way to distribute information or research quickly. Before the use of social media increased, students would have to use snail mail or e-mail to distribute information which is not nearly as fast as social media such as instant Twitter updates or Facebook statuses.

Have you ever used social media in the classroom?
listen to ‘Social Media 1’ on Audioboo

Experimenting with Social Media on Student Comprehension and Engagement
Did you think it was beneficial? What did you like?

listen to ‘Social Media 2’ on Audioboo

Expanding the Use of Social Media in the Classroom to Enhance Learning

Developing the “Perfect” Social Network

What are some features that should be included in the "perfect" social network?

Creating the prefect social network would involve keeping a lot of things in mind. It is important to acknowledge what has worked well with other social networks in the past, along with what hasn’t worked as well. If I were to develop the “perfect” social network it would include a variety of things. First I would include a video option. This way, if you are trying to re-connect or have a conversation with some of your friends who go to different colleges or are studying abroad, then you can make the conversation more personalized with video to video interactions. This allows the receiver of the video to clearly receive the message without having to try and interpret what the text really meant by being able to see your body language and hear the tone of your voice. If the social network is purely video-based, there will be a clear and more personalized way of communication. Basically your profile will consist of all videos. Second, I would include a chat option. This shows when the user is online allowing you to be directly contacted or directly contact someone in case there is an urgent matter that needs to be handled. There will also be a video option to the chat which can allow for face to face live chat if the user desires. Third, I would include a picture up-loader. This is a nice feature that can keep your “followers” or “friends” in the loop about what is going on in a less personal matter. Finally, I would somehow make for this social network to be private from future employers/companies. I think that it is extremely important to separate work and fun. Users should be able to post photos of them and the activities they partake in away from the workplace or future workplace without it being held against them or penalized when it comes time for employment.

What works well and what doesn’t work so well on existing social networks like Facebook?

I believe that the design of Facebook is great which is what contributed to keeping it popular for almost ten years. The creators continually changed and updated some of its features which kept people interested and using the site. Just like all websites, Facebook had some flaws along with its perks. Features that I think allow Facebook to run so smoothly are things such as the like button, birthday reminders, event invites, and the timeline feature. The like button allows users to easily agree with a status, an advertisement, or a picture. This is a simple way to show your opinion without having to use text. The birthday feature is by far the most helpful feature Facebook offers. I would have missed countless birthdays if it wasn’t for the reminder on the top right hand of the page. Creating events on Facebook is an easy (and lazy) way to invite people to events without having to buy invitations and mail them out. It also allows the guests to ask questions and get almost immediate feedback from the creator. Lastly, Timeline is a great feature which allows the user to look back on events in their lives in chronological order.  It’s nice to already have these events in the order in which they happened and be able to look back and remember them with pictures and posts. Some of the flaws that I think Facebook has is how it is connected to other social networks such as instagram and twitter and how public it is allowing future employers to see your webpage even if it is made private. I feel that Facebook should only be for Facebook. Connecting other social medias makes the platform too busy often times more confusing. I also think that Facebook should create a better privacy policy. Although this is near impossible, it would be nice to have a place where I do not have to censor what is posted and who is going to see it. 

 

Would the new "perfect" social network be designed like Facebook?

I do not think that the flaws [or perks] are what contributed to Facebook becoming less popular. The fact of the matter is people get bored and need a change of scenery when it comes to the internet and social networks. I do not think that Facebook did anything wrong with the layout or new changes, people just wanted a bigger change and a whole new layout. If my “perfect” social network was actually created I think it may be similar to Facebook but not the same. I would aim for more personal communication and better privacy amongst users. To me, these are the most appealing features that would interest me in any new or upcoming social media site.

Sunday Night Football Game Draws the Attention of Viewers

What is the Difference between Rating and Share?

Ratings and Shares are scores that help television broadcasting companies and companies who may want to advertise on a certain network determine how popular certain television programs are in comparison to other television shows. Specifically, the rating of a show describes how many of the total of all possible TV households are actually tuned to a program in the average minute. These ratings are expressed as a percentage. Additionally, the share of a show describes of those actually using television, what percent of those households are tuned into a specific program, station, or network at a specific time.

Which Is More Popular: Football or Series Premiers?

According to a website entitled “TV by the Numbers,” FOX broadcasting channel, which aired the live broadcasting of the Giants v. Eagles game, had the highest amount of viewers, ratings, and shares at 8:30 pm EST on Sunday September 30, 2012. Sunday Night Football (SNF) had a rating of 8.1, share of 19, and 20.56 million viewers. This does not come as a surprise because football is an “All American” sport. Usually around 8:30, children are still awake, winding down and getting ready for school the next day. Football is a “safe” program for the family to watch or have on in the background because parents do not have to worry about foul language, or inappropriate content while viewing this program. Let’s not forget that this was a broadcast of a NFC east division football game which is a huge rivalry and houses a huge fan-base in the area that we live in. 

            The series premiere of Revenge was also broadcasting around this time, 9:00pm, on ABC family on Sunday September 30th. This show did not nearly have the same amount of viewers, or shares or ratings. Revenge had a rating of 3.2, share of 7, and 9.50 million viewers. This show did premiere a little later than the football game which may be part of the reason why the viewers were lower.  Also, the maturity of the content of the show could have also contributed to the reason why there were fewer viewers because parents did not want their children seeing this content. Revenge often includes lots of violence, blood, foul language and some inappropriate sexual scenes/content.

Are People Actually Watching these Shows or are They Just Tuned In?

According to PEW, half (52%) of adult cell phone owners use their phones while watching television. The use of their cell phones ranges from looking up things they saw during a commercial, voting into television shows such as ‘The Voice’ or other reality shows, or just browsing social media networks as a diversion or distraction. Personally, during commercials or television breaks I will check my email or a social network just to pass time until the next part of the show comes on. Especially now with the rise of technology, smart phones make it a lot easier to do virtually anything in the palm of your hand anytime and anywhere.