The classroom in no longer your typical classroom we all grew up and came to know. With the rapid growth of social media and the likes, the classroom is expanding digitally. Schools are starting to take a different approach to teaching in the classroom. Social media is being introduced into the educational system for educational purposes, but at what cost? Will this be too much of a distraction for our students?

Social media in education is a fairly new idea which is concerning parents and teachers. I have found some pros and cons with this topic, which will give you a bit of an insight to the whole idea.

Pros of using social media in the classroom

1. SOCIAL MEDIA SITES CAN INCREASE STUDENT COLLABORATION

Social media sites provide an avenue for students to easily contact one another regarding school projects, group assignments or for help on homework assignments.

2. USING SOCIAL MEDIA IN THE CLASSROOM CAN ENCOURAGE MORE PARTICIPATION

Students who do not participate regularly in class may feel they can express their thoughts through social media.  Although this should not completely replace in class participation it can help build the students’ confidence and encourage them to find their voice and be able to participate in class.

3. SOCIAL MEDIA SITES CAN BE USEFUL FOR HOMEWORK HELP

When students have questions about a class assignment they can easily post a message asking if anyone can help.  They can also write a specific question to the teacher on a wall that other students can see.  This allows the whole class to have access to the feedback from the teacher.

4. SHARE RESOURCES QUICKLY WHEN USING SOCIAL MEDIA IN THE CLASSROOM

If the teacher needs to direct students to a particular online resource they can easily share the site through social media sites like twitter.  If the teacher wants the class to visit a particular site all they have to do is tweet the website and the entire class can view it with one click.

5. SOCIAL MEDIA HELPS KEEP PARENTS, TEACHERS AND STUDENTS ALL ON THE SAME PAGE

It is very useful for teachers to be able to post on social media sites about class activities, homework assignments and even school events.  This helps the teachers, parents and students all stay on the same page about what is going on at school.  Sites like facebook also allow teachers to easily communicate through private messages to parents and students without having to leave phone messages and wait for a call back.

5 cons of having social media in the classroom

1. SOCIAL MEDIA CAN BE A DISTRACTION IN CLASS

The first concern that comes to mind when using social media in the classroom is how it will be a major distraction to the students during lessons.  Students could easily be sidetracked from an assignment and it could be difficult for teachers to tell who is paying attention or not.

2. IMPROPER USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA IN THE CLASSROOM

Students might take advantage of being able to access social media in the classroom and use it for personal interactions instead of for school related activities.  If students are not closely monitored it will be hard to know how if they are using social media properly during class time.

3. USING SOCIAL MEDIA IN THE CLASSROOM CAN DETRACT FROM HUMAN INTERACTION

If students are encouraged to participate in class discussions through social media websites this could impact their ability to interact in face to face situations.  Students still need to learn how to have conversations with people even in this modern technology based world.

4. CYBER BULLYING ON SOCIAL MEDIA WEBSITES

Some students have experienced cyber bullying through social media websites.  If social media is allowed in schools this could increase cyber bullying where students write hurtful messages targeting other students.

5. POSTING INAPPROPRIATE CONTENT ON SOCIAL MEDIA WEBSITES

One of the reasons social media sites are not allowed in schools is because it is difficult to monitor how students use social media sites.  A student may post inappropriate content such as pornography or foul language which would be both distracting and damaging to students. (Source: https://www.schooliseasy.com )

Here is an additional infograph done by the people at onlineuniversities.com

(Picture added here)

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Parents, teachers, students, Leave your comments below on this topic.

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