Educational Value of Social Media

     Social media is very popular. Barak Obama used it as a campaigning strategy. Businesses use social media in order to connect with clients, and even as a way to conduct collaborative research. The thing is, it is out there and students are using it, so why not use it in the educational setting?

     In order to answer that question we need to look at the facts. “A study at the Purdue University established that use of Twitter in the classroom helped students overcome the shyness barrier, by allowing them to answer questions without having to raise hands to identify themselves in a big lecture hall. Increased participation, in turn, has been linked to better academic performance overall” (Social media in education, 2012). Facebook can be used as classroom tool, too. Students can work collaboratively posting responses to lessons and reflecting on what they have learned and by doing this lessons become ingrained because repetition allows a student to store that information in their long-term memory (Wankel, 2009). Skype allows students to interact with others globally. For instance, students at FMHS recently skyped with Tess Gerritsen, a well-known author. Social media allows students to connect to each other and to others outside the walls of their schools. Using social media in school helps to provide students with a basis of how to use it properly.

     Students in my English classes use an educational social media site called Edmodo. Two innovative teachers created this site. Students are able to post comments, pending my approval of them. Everything they post I see. I am able to post assignments to students with links and details for completion. Students are able to ask me questions in real time away from school if they run into a problem completing an assignment. Smart phones have a downloadable app for student’s phones. They can receive notifications as soon as I post an assignment. Students can also download notes I upload to the site. Parents, you can even get a parent code for the site that will allow you to keep track of what your child is doing in the class. You can view their assignments as well as what they have turned in or not turned in. It is a wonderful site that I encourage you to check out. Please feel free to come to me with any questions or assistance needed in using the site. I have found the classes I use this site with have been more successful in turning in their assignments and passing my classes, so I hope you will like this site as much as I do.

     Students you are to create an account if you do not already have one. Please go to the following site: http://www.edmodo.com/ and create an account or log in. Join your Modern Fantasy class using the following code: du1id7.

Social media in education. (2012, Digital Learning, Retrieved from http://ezproxy.snhu.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/1018538253?accountid=3783

Wankel, C. (2009). Management education using social media. Organization Management Journal, 6(4), 251-262. doi:10.1057/omj.2009.34