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