Social Media in Schools

I have seen a few ways in which social media has had a positive impact on teaching and coaching. I have seen Twitter and Instagram used in a school setting to promote games and sporting events, articles from the school newspapers, and songs from the school a Capella group. In these cases, social media accounts are created specifically for school use, for the purpose of communication, school spirit, and access to information. In these cases, the accounts have been created by teachers with user names linked to the school or the account has been created by a school organization, like student council for example.

I think when teachers are thinking about implementing the use of a social platform, they need to first think of the goal they are trying to achieve. I believe this is a very important first step in choosing which type of social platform to use. For example, if the goal is to increase student engagement and collaboration, a blogging platform may be a better choice than Facebook. In order for social platforms to be used in an educational way, teachers need to be sure the program is enhancing student learning. In his article, Too Much Technology and Not Enough Learning, Johnson (2014) points out that information and messages posted on social platforms such as Twitter and Facebook require a considerable amount of time to filter through, read, and interpret. Johnson (2014) says that even using social platforms for learning can be time-consuming and ineffective.

It is my schools’ policy not to friend students on social media. As a wellness teacher, I spend a few lessons throughout the year teaching about digital literacy without having any idea evidence of what my students post, tweet, like, or tag. I do my best to create acceptable use guidelines with them based on examples of profiles I find on the internet. However, I wonder if I truly want to achieve my outcome of teaching students to create a digital tattoo they are proud of; maybe it would be a good idea if teachers were allowed to follow students in some capacity? This could be a real way to coach students on proper use of social platforms in a way that helps build their digital tattoo the way we teach them too. In this case students can explore digital literacy in an environment where real learning can take place.

My overall opinion is that social media can have a positive impact when used in a school setting. I think social platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter create a sense of school spirit and community. I think allowing students to follow these accounts give teachers the opportunity to guide students in being good digital citizens. For this reason, I believe schools should encourage the use of social media and model the appropriate use of it by creating school sponsored accounts.

References

Johnson, B. (2014). Too Much Technology and Not Enough Learning? Retrieved November 28, 2016, from https://www.edutopia.org/blog/too-much-tech-not-enough-learning-ben-johnson