Effective Social Media Practices
How To Keep Students On Track
Why is social media important to learners?
In today's classrooms, it can be difficult for a teacher or professor to be able to think of new and creative ways to keep their students interested in the work at hand. On college campuses, distance learning is prevalent among many students, and it can be hard to assign group projects when your students all live so far away from each other. Social media can assist in the process of assignments and announcements. Here are 5 things to keep in mind when using social media for classroom and learning environments.
Be a Digital Citizen
Skype- Great for Distance Lectures!
Skype is a useful tool for things such as guest speakers, online classes, and other distance education needs. Kathy Cook, Education Professor at the University of Phoenix says: “Teachers can reach out to authors and experts in their fields and see if one of those individuals is willing to videoconference with the class”.
Twitter- Announcements Made Easy
Twitter restricts character usage, making this tool a bit difficult to use within the classroom setting. However, a professor using Twitter would be able to send out announcements to their students, like classroom changes, due dates and important cancellations. Because Twitter is so popular among students, there is a better chance that students will check the information frequently.
Facebook- Group Work Made Easy
When dealing with students in different areas of town, or online classes, Facebook is a good way to keep your students connected. Creating a Class Facebook Group would allow for moderators to post important announcements, allow students to file share, and provides a built in group chat program.
Challenges Facing Educators in Social Media Learning
One major problem of Social Learning through Social Media is that there is no one way to do it. Unlike other forms of learning that have long since been established, social media is new and is still developing new ways to help students and teachers alike. There have been very few studies done on the long term effectiveness of social learning through social media, and we have yet to see what the results will be.
Rebecca Riley- Student at the University Of Houston Main Campus
Mirza, S. (2014, February 21). How Teachers Can Use Social Media in the Classroom. . Retrieved July 13, 2014, from http://www.phoenix.edu/forward/perspectives/2014/02/how-teachers-can-use-social-media-in-the-classroom.html
Zhang, X. (Director). (2012). Be A Digital Citizen. Retrieved July 13, 2014 from http://youtu.be/FdEXijFXfD8
Email: rrriley@uh.edu
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