The Pros and Cons of Social Media in Education

Write about your reaction to the idea of social media in education. What are the pros and cons. Consider how you and/or our students could use it as learners. After reading the articles 13 Great Twitter Chats Every Educator Should Check Out by Susan Bearden, Using Twitter to Break Down Classroom Isolation by David R. Wetzel, Teachers, students, social media: Where is the line? by Lori Grisham, and Can Tweeting Help Your Teaching? on the National Education Association website, teachers of all stages, including the inspiring ones like myself, will benefit from the different perspectives presented. One thing is a common denomination in all of the articles, though, and that is that all are interested in student learning and whether or not social media actually helps that. Overall, reactions seem to be mixed, but there are some pretty compelling arguments on the pro side that make me seriously consider including social media in my classroom, assuming that sort of thing is allowed in my district. Before even reading the articles, I was really intrigued about our classroom discussion and how Adina had showed us how to use Twitter in ways that are exceptionally valuable as educators in order to connect with other educators around the world and get new ideas circulating. I am a firm believer that in order to really be living, you must be always learning, and this is especially true for educators because their rolls are to, well, educate, and they can't do that effectively unless they are learning themselves as well. Otherwise, things simply become stagnant. As students, they could use social media in a similar fashion as educators. They can join networks and communicate with each other about educational topics either through Twitter or other social media outlets such as blogging or Facebook. The National Education Association article brought up an excellent point that through social media, students are encouraged to keep learning and keep thinking outside of class or while on their social media outlets. Usually this is something entirely separate from school, but by including it into their "socializing" time, it can be a great way to continue and advance learning for students outside of class. As far as teachers using social media, I mostly only see pros. It advances themselves as teachers and spreads new teaching ideas around. However, I can see that if teachers don't be careful about what they post online, it could become a serious issue both for that teacher's representation among other teachers and among students and their family's. For students, social media can also be used ineffectively and can be an issue if students use it unwisely. There would need to be a clear set down of rules as far as internet usage is concerned. Students would need to be made aware of what impact writing and posting things on the internet can have before allowed to use social media appropriately. Additionally, social media may not be as effective or even possible for younger students because most social media sites require the user to be at least 13 years of age. For older students, I think the pros for social media are numerous. I like the idea that students would be thinking outside of class, as mentioned above. Social media also encourages students to write. As a student of Literature and Writing, as well as a prospective teacher, I think writing skills are extremely important for students to develop in order to become well-rounded, educated individuals. This is especially important because advancing technology is making more and more communication in the written/over the internet form. If a student can't write well or reflect well and produce that in writing, they may have a harder time of things. Basically, I think social media can certainly help with learning inside and outside of the classroom for both students and teachers.