How to use social social media as an educational tool
No Longer a Distraction
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Social media is an ingrained part of today’s society. Our students are constantly on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and likely many sites we’re not hip enough to know about, and by reading this blog, you’re interacting with social media at this very moment. If you want to bring the “real world” into the classroom, consider integrating social media into your lessons.
When used carefully, social media can be a useful tool rather than a distraction. A recent Edutopia blog post argues that using social media not only brings current technology to the classroom, but it also helps bridge the digital divide among lower-income students. These students may not have the constant access to social media that their counterparts do. Why should they be left behind as technology continues to march forward?
Education-based sites such as Edmodo, Edublog, and Kidblog provide alternative social media sites for posting status updates and announcements, blogging, and microblogging. But even the commercialized sites can be useful for demonstrating social media to students.