Students are exposed to a series of hazards if adequate precautions are not taken to avoid cases such as:

 

The instantaneity of communication in Social Networks can generate in the student a need for immediate response, and this is something that should be avoided. A similar example could be the whatsapp, that when we receive a message we do not have to necessarily answer at that moment.

 

It is important that students are trained in using Social Networks as a tool for further training.

 

Any abusive use can harm our normal life, rest and consequently will also negatively influence our academic performance.

 

This part of conciliation to the students is the most difficult part because nowadays it is a question of normalizing situations that are not, with the aim of “ironing out” the subject and it seems normal to always be connected to the Internet.

 

Social media should not reduce the communication and interaction that students have in class, although logically if the student makes excessive use and spends too many hours, this will logically affect the human relationships you have with other people in your environment.

We must always avoid it by making rational and rationed use of Social Networks.

 

Ask yourself something, how many hours do you spend connected to social networks?

 

Up to date anyone can receive hundreds of notifications in social networks because most likely you will have installed the different apps on your Smartphone, and this makes you fall into the error of always staying connected to them.

 

The addiction to Social Networks is a problem that we should know to detect in our students, and perhaps it can help you for example to tell them to anonymously complete a survey, marking one of these options that refer to the number of daily hours dedicated to it:

If we analyze the jurisprudence of the different countries of our environment we see that they do not agree and there are great differences in the legal aspects depending on the country that we are.

 

Today we see many cases in which a social network refuses to deliver the data of one of its users, even if the request of a judge comes.

 

In other aspects, and little by little we must also say it, progress is made in some legal aspects that seek to avoid certain behaviors in networks such as insults or all kinds of harassment, and we see sentences that recognize the damage caused to a person through of this medium.

 

We have to be careful with what we publish in Social Networks because what we have will be in a public domain, and therefore other people who have access to that information could use it for criminal purposes.

https://www.lorecentral.org/2017/11/advantages-disadvantages-social-networks-education.html

 

On social media, students exchange lot of information. So, why not use this platform to encourage collaborative learning. In fact, several institutions globally are encouraging students to forge international partnerships using social media for taking up some project assignments.

By doing this, they get engaged with each other and learn how to manage projects and coordinate with teams sitting globally along with cross cultural sensitivities. Similarly, the use of social media has made it easier and faster to interact with peers or teachers about class-related topics.

Use of social media also familiarizes students with a new work culture of managing work through online engagements which is very important in today’s business environment. It teaches them how to develop a strong online presence by improving their communication skills.

Students are continuously hooked on to the internet through their smart phones and hence rapidly transmit information to their connections. Apart from just sharing views and opinions they also exchange lot of valuable information. This information is a lot more than just interesting videos or snapshots and cover useful stuff related to their studies. They exchange helpful information for classes and examinations.

For educational institutions, social media is a great marketing tool to reach out to the prospective students. This new media has led education professionals to build a strong marketing strategy to increase brand awareness.

Colleges all over the world are extensively carrying out social media strategies to tap students. They are connecting with experts on topics via social media.

Through blogging and SlideShare, teachers are soon establishing themselves as experts in particular fields and subjects. Students gain useful content by following these experts online. This empowers institutions and establishes its brand equity in the academic world.

Academic Institutions are communicating with students via YouTube and Facebook. These channels can be used to communicate campus news, make announcements and provide students with useful information. This builds engagement between the College and students which helps in building trust by addressing many student related issues through community interactions.

As part of their marketing strategy, Institutions can share supportive and useful posts that can connect their audience in a positive way. You can initiate hashtags on social media to engage students in online discussions that are helpful. Video is a prominent tool in social media trends and is very effective in communicating your messages. You can use it to share useful and interesting stories that can inspire students and help them prepare for the challenges ahead.

Social media offers collaborative opportunities to foster research initiatives. It is one of the best platforms to extract secondary data. You can conduct survey pools to gather sampling and find out opinions of general people and other experts on a particular subject.

Social media can help academic researchers compile and produce useful content by working on collaborative assignments and projects.

Sometimes, it is difficult to address queries of students during classroom sessions. This makes it further difficult for students to clear their doubts. However, professors can take advantage of social media technology to extend teaching hours beyond classroom. They can set up Facebook Live sessions or Twitter discussions to cover uncleared doubts of their students. As a matter of fact, professors can allocate dedicated time slots for online discussions to answer any question or to work with a student. Through Facebook sessions, Faculty can connect with large audiences at one go which otherwise is not possible in one class.

Professors may like to continue engagement with their students even when they are travelling and not taking sessions. They can even stream lectures to avoid any cancellation of classes while travelling. If the professor is unavailable during the actual class time, he can use Youtube to record a lecture beforehand.

Setting up a personal blog or website gives professors a lot of freedom to build intellectual credibility. They can upload their academic work and other important lectures and videos that will allow students to take relevant inputs as reference material for their studies.

Social media offers great learning opportunities through social networking. Students can be encouraged to build networks to support professional help in career.

Similarly, Professors can also connect with the students and help them identify suitable job openings and find relevant connections for their future profession.

Students learn plenty of new things every single day. However, they rarely get precise instructions on how to use social media platforms. Thus, they rely on their intuition and the examples they see from other users, which don’t always lead them in the right direction. It’s time to set an example. Explain how social media can help them learn and establish a great online reputation. Be a great example for them and introduce them to the concept of responsible digital citizenship. This Pinterest Board can get you started, it's called: Social media etiquette and netiquette lesson plan resources

Create a private group and invite all students to join. Be careful before you take this step; you have to make sure that every single student in your class has access to a smartphone, tablet, or computer. There are underprivileged families that may not buy phones for their children. You should also talk to the parents since some of them might not approve their children to have Facebook profiles. If you have the green light, you can form the group and start posting discussion topics. If there is a particularly interesting discussion in the class and you want to continue it while it’s still hot, you can take it to Facebook.

Blogging is a really fun activity for students of all ages. Explain what a blog is and ask them to pick a niche they are passionate about. It doesn’t have to be related to the curriculum. Then, tell them how to conduct research and develop plagiarism-free blog posts. You can discuss those blogs once a month in the classroom, and all students can post comments on each other’s posts.

You can easily use social media platforms to present speeches by guest speakers in the classroom. Skype video conferences are cool, but you can also connect through YouTube and Facebook. Thanks to technology, your students will have access to new resources for learning and inspiration.  MysterySkype is the great option and it is easy to find other classes to connect with all over the globe using you PLN.

Twitter is an extremely fun network for students. If all students in your class have phones with Internet access, you can organize an active Twitter discussion during class. Think of a hashtag related to the discussion and ask them to conduct an online research and post a tweet with an interesting fact in 15 minutes.

Use YouTube to publish your own educational videos or podcasts. If you don’t have enough time to maintain the channel, you can search YouTube for relevant content and play it during class. Then, you can all talk about it.

Pinterest is a great website that students and teachers can use for collecting educational resources. You can ask them to create separate boards for related topics, and ask them to follow each other’s collections. Then, you can choose the best resources and present them in class. For example, you can ask your students to pick the most inspiring traveling destinations, find different facts, and create Pinterest boards that they will present as projects for geography class.

This is how you’ll enforce the bond between the students in your class: you connect with other classrooms and you inspire a healthy competitive spirit. Have you seen the Physics of the Future project? It’s a great example of online collaboration. The students research different topics and share their findings with the community via Google Hangouts, podcasts, and other methods communication. Then, they engage in a collaborative learning process. The Global Classroom Project is another example you can learn from.

You can create an official profile of the class and post updates that all students and parents can see. You can promote the achievements of your students, and post frequent updates on daily experiences.

10. Start a Flickr photography project

Flickr is a great place where your students can find images for their projects but have you considered making contributions to it? Organize a field trip and ask them to take photos with their phones. Assign random hashtags (#happiness, #architecture, #sunset, #nature, or anything else you can think of), which will motivate them to take certain types of photos. Then, you can choose the best ones and post them from your Flickr profile. This project will make your students aware that they can make meaningful contributions to the world of Internet.

https://www.teacherswithapps.com/10-great-ways-to-use-social-media-in-classroom/