Social Media Use

Social Media In Teaching

What are the challenges that you think using social media in teaching would bring to practice?
In what ways could teachers address the challenges and harness the potential benefits of social media in teaching?

I use very little social media in teaching. The main reason is because I do not use it significantly outside of school either. My main use of social media is to keep track of my sports commitments and to catch up with the events and activities of friends and family. I personally post very little on social media and only comment occasionally.

According to a 2015 article in the New Zealand Herald, Facebook use in New Zealand is on the rise. Students under 25 are the greatest users, followed closely by mums.

Source: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11436997

We can take several things from this graphic:
  1. More than 4 out of 5 students are using Facebook on a daily basis.
  2. Most users are using Facebook to connect with other people.
  3. Most users utilise entertainment components of Facebook.
If social media is being used by students to connect with others and for entertainment, is it right for us as teachers to invade this space and use the media for education? There are advantages to doing so.

Firstly, we can teach students how to use social media responsibly and in a way that protects themselves and others from harm. There are many examples of conversations on social media sites where the participants have taken something the wrong way and ended up in an online argument. No one is immune to this type of behaviour. Education gives students the skills to deal with online comments before they turn ugly.

Secondly, when connected to young people's online social networks, we can be a voice of reason and sensibility.

Challenges

Social media has several challenges that we as teachers need to be aware of and consider prior to using the resource in teaching. Most of us have an online profile already. A search for a name will bring up several entries 

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