Journal #3: Social Media in Schools

Kessler, Sarah. "The Case For Social Media in Schools." Mashable.com. 29 Sept. 2010.  Retrieved Oct 21, 2014. 

This article discusses several ways that teachers have tried to incorporate social media and blog sites to their classrooms in order to engage the student learner.  As our society advances and social media becomes so prevalent, it only makes sense that the way we teach and reach out to students reflect the changing culture as well.  I found it incredibly interesting that these media tools have shown to help increase student grades, attendance at school, and encouraged student participation.  This intact, could be a great way to encourage students to come to class and have fun with their learning, and to keep them up to date with media developments.  

As an aunt of 5 nieces and nephews already, I can vouch for the fact that these kids spend 80% of their time with their heads buried in their personal electronic devices, playing games, sharing Instagram photos with their friends, reading on-line books.... so why not allow them to use this medium to learn and collaborate with their classmates.   The article points out that in the business world, we are required to work as a team.  Most school homework projects are not team based, so this is a phenomenal way to get kids used to working together in teams and prepare for life in the real world.  

Q1)  How can social media help children advance in school? 

Social media is a fun and interactive, team based approach for students to learn, so long as it is done so in a safe, monitored environment.  With advancing media and technology, most children are already engulfed with social media, so by bringing it into the class room, it allows the students to utilize a familiar resource to help them learn.  It also give access to those students who do not have access to social media a way to keep up with their peers.  It encourages collaboration, team work, and a means for students to express their voice and opinions to their colleagues, a skill usually learned in higher education.  

Q2)  To what extent can social media become a negative aspect of schools?

Using social media devices and programs to track student success and interaction with each other is a great way to develop an idea for their progress in school.  However, using the features of some of the devices, such as gps location, and texting, to hold the student accountable for absenteeism is not realistic and can give the student a false impression for what happens in the real world.   A great point is brought up in the article regarding whether or not things should be monitored on these social media sites, and I agree that they should be.  However, I believe the primary responsibility for this should lie with the children's parents, as well as with the school.  The article made mention about texting all students on their phones, and commenting on their location using GPS devices to track their absences from school. Although I believe its a great resource for learning, I do not agree that children who ditch school should be tracked down and texted, as this does not give any accountability to the child.  In the real world, if you don't show up for work, no one texts you and says "I see you are at the beach today...."  

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