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Social Media in Education
The very nature of social media is ubiquitous, so it is not difficult to see how it can be used a tool for ubiquitous learning. There are no time or space restrictions on Social Media sites such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. They are live 24 hours a day and available wherever there is an internet connection. Most, if not all, of our students are already there. The results of a 2013 study done by Thttps://www.topuniversities.com/publications/students-online-usage-global-trends-report-2013op Universities shows that 75% of students said they were on Twitter “all the time”. And, many of the activities they are engaged in are the kinds of things we think of as “educational”. They share information, answer each other’s questions and build communities, but they do it regardless of shared time or space.
There are lots of ways that we can take advantage of social media as a tool for ubiquitous learning in our more formal learning environments.
For example, we can use Twitter to push information and updates to our students or their parents. We can use Live (YouTube) to bring guest speakers or students from other schools into the classroom. We can build a Facebook page for our class and use it like a Learning Management System where students can access readings, podcasts and discussions outside of school hours.
There are many more examples of how social media can be used in ubiquitous education. Here are a few resources:
- 22 Examples of Social Media in the Classroom by teachthought.com [Infographic]
- 5 Ultimate Tricks Of Using Social Media As Learning Tools by eLearning Industry [Article]
That is an excellent point, Jim. I think a significant part of using any kind of information in the classroom is to teach information literacy at the same time. This is especially true when we use Social Media. In fact, I think that Social Media can be used to teach information literacy skills. We talk about being in the era of fake news and alternate facts, but I think we have always had those things - they are just more (dare I say) ubiquitous now.
Other issues that can arise are around protecting children's privacy, ensuring respectful use of Social Media sites and potential classroom management issues. I will always remember assuming that my university level students could be trusted to be respectful in a live twitter chat. While most were great, there were enough students being disrespectful in their posts that I had to rethink my strategy!
Thank you for your questions and for reading my post!
Thanks for the infographic Anwen. Do you see any issues with Social Media and learning? Do you think all students can discern fact from fiction online? It is a very powerful tool.