Digital Citizenship

Social Media in the Classroom??

Using social media in the classroom would most certainly have its benefits.  Before responding to our question this week, I emailed a few of our school corporations teachers who use technology everyday in their classrooms to get their opinions.  From those I contacted, use of social media in the classroom would be welcomed as long as it could be easily supervised.

Use of social media in the classroom would be a great tool to teach students responsibility and self control.  How many of us get on the computer but very quickly find ourselves surfing through Facebook, looking at pictures, and playing games?  What happened to the original reason we logged on to the computer to begin with?  If we, as adults, fail to show self control and only do on the computer as we originally planned, how could we expect our students to do the same?  

Both Twitter and Facebook would allow our students to interact with people from around the world, especially Twitter.  Our students could follow experts in their fields and stay up to date with some of the latest research and discoveries and then have the ability to correspond with those individuals.  We have an obligation to teach our students how to use these digital tools in a way that is safe, responsible, and educational.  

One of our technology specialists responded with the following: "So many teachers say they are too busy teaching the standards to work social media into their curriculum.  Maybe it is time to look at the "standards" and start looking to the future. Do they really need to know who the 25th president was when they can look it up using the device in their pocket when they are posting their inappropriate party pictures for the world to see?  Which of these will influence their career more?"  She makes a very valid point.  Why aren't we as educators teaching our students how to use their digital tools in a productive way?  Our students have no ability to differentiate between writing on Facebook or in a text messages and writing a formal paper for their teachers at school.  I am all of the time grading papers where students write "cuz" instead of because or just put the letter "u" instead of typing you.  The computer even has spell check, yet they ignore it and think that it is okay.  I can't say that I don't occasionally send the letter "u" instead of spelling out the word or sometimes use "wanna" instead of want to when I send a text message, but I know when I am writing a paper or an email that I can't do that.

Students today do not look into the future.  Every decision they make is based on how it will benefit them right now.  How many freshman say they don't care about their grades but when they become seniors they regret not trying harder?  What they do today will influence everything about their being when they graduate and go into the work place.  Let's teach our students to be professional and follow the rules in any situation that they find themselves in, in person or online.  If it means that I need to incorporate the use of Twitter or Facebook into my classroom, then I'm all for it!