Social Media in the Classroom

In the light of using social media as an educational advantage, I think it is quite creative and also in a way a little threatening to attendance of students in classroom. Okay, so let’s use Sunlearn as an example. In the case of a lecturer posting all the work that they have done in class such as slides and notes, as well as assignments that need to be handed in; students tend to feel that there is no need to attend these classes. I do not want to sound negative and say that technology (through digital pedagogy) is going to take over the teaching aspect and at the end of the day students would not require a teacher, but rather emphasize the manner in which it is used.

Looking at how I would try to make use of social media in my classroom, I would take into account the main aspect of not giving/ too much information on the topics that have been discussed in class, for example, Life Orientation and the topic teenage pregnancy. I would post the basic and essential parts of the lesson on social media, however, I would not make a post regarding an assignment or task that needs to be handed in. For that part of the lesson they would have to come to class in order to gain better understanding of what is required by the task.

I do agree with both blogs that social media can be seen as an advantageous tool when it comes to education in order to ease the way in which information is distributed rather than viewing it as a platform of distraction. But then again, how does one monitor what every student has to say on social media such as Facebook/twitter? If it is seen as tool that applies to the masses in the form of distributing information, then I think it is quite useful. However, there are students who sometimes post things on these social networking sites that can become controversial and end up causing havoc rather than focusing on what a specific lesson was about and drift of the topic.

Basically, the message that I am trying to get across, is that … I am not against social media in the classroom, neither am I a fanatic. I am merely pointing out aspects that need to be taken into account when using social media in the classroom. The control thereof becomes questionable. To what extent are you willing to allow social media to be used in your classroom? ….