Social Media in the Classroom
A recent article in USA Today discusses a study about the use of social media among community college students. The study suggests that online social networking tools such as Facebook and Twitter can help students become more engaged in their schooling. Many community college students already use these sites for personal socialization, so they may have untapped potential for reaching out to these students for academic purposes. As a community college instructor, I am constantly looking for new ways to engage students in learning, so I have been thinking about ways that I might use these tools in my own courses.
There are some definite advantages and disadvantages to using social media to reach students. On the pro side, these are media that most students are familiar with and may be better able to navigate than school sites such as Blackboard or Desire2Learn. In addition, these are sites that students with smart phones can easily access when they are away from their computers. It also gives students a forum to connect with each other as well as the instructor. In my communication courses it is important to my students’ success that they interact with each other. Social media could help them establish relationships both in and outside the classroom.
On the con side, there are some obvious disadvantages to using social media to connect with students. First, not all students are tech savvy and might not be comfortable or familiar with sites like Twitter and Facebook. Also, because most people use these sites for casual social relationships, it might be difficult to establish a clear boundary between professional and personal relationships. Many students would probably not want their personal Facebook pages visible to their instructors, instructors would have to create a professional account separate from their personal accounts. Also, both students and instructors would have to remember to check these accounts every day to keep up-to-date.
Though I have not yet tried using Facebook or Twitter in my own classes, I am absolutely considering them for future semesters. Communication is fundamental to everything we do in life, and we should always explore new options for engaging with others. This is especially important in academia where effective communication among students and teachers is key to students success.
If there are any instructors out there who have tried using Facebook or Twitter to connect with students, I would be interested to hear how you are using it and how successful it has been.
This entry was posted on Monday, June 14th, 2010 at 12:59 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
