By: Hannah Austin
I remember listening to a huge lecture in seventh grade about the dangers of MySpace and how to be cautious when using the internet to communicate. MySpace had a bad reputation for causing bullying and child-abducting incidents back in the day, so it’s hard to believe that this fairly new concept of “social networking,” from which MySpace originated, can actually be used for educational purposes. Despite these original hesitations, however, ways to use media in the classroom and outside the classroom to enhance the educational experience are being studied.
In high school, I took an AP Human Geography class where the teacher created an online forum so that we could all discuss and study for the final exam. This open forum was helpful because it listed people’s answers word for word so that each student could read the various responses and provide feedback. The teacher would also post potential essay questions for the exam, and we would collaboratively answer with these online forums. The same thing could be accomplished very easily in both college and high school classrooms with the use of a Twitter or Facebook page. A teacher, or an initiative-taking student, could create Twitter or Facebook pages to study for exams or help classes in better preparing for papers. Just imagine how much more efficient studying for humanities would be if students collaborated and recorded their answers on a “Humanities Final” Facebook page! Instead of listening to one another blab on and on about a certain topic, students could read posts and choose the posts that are most helpful to their studies. Students can study on their own and with others at the same time with a live Twitter or Facebook page. Actually, I might do this exact thing for my humanities final in a couple of weeks!
Another way in which social media can be used in the academic world is in creating online, virtual classrooms with the use of video. Teachers could post videos of themselves lecturing on YouTube, and students could listen and learn from these videos on their own time. Using the video posts for social networking is especially helpful when the classes normally involve a large lecture and it becomes normally difficult for students to pay attention with all of the distractions.
I’ve experienced the conveniences of video learning in my humanities class this semester. Instead of attending lecture, for I have another class scheduled in the same time slot, I simply watch the videos on angel, and I’m free to stop the video and take notes if needed. Phil Treagus in “How can Social Media be used in Education?” describes the benefits of video classrooms versus traditional ones when he says, “People love video, young people love video- this can’t be argued as YouTube is the world’s third most visited website. Videos should be being used more in school and if these videos were posted to a class YouTube account, then the students could re-watch the videos at home whilst doing their homework!” Moreover, quality teachers can be shared simultaneously with many schools with the power of video. Videos can be posted where students at schools across the globe can hear valuable information.
Social media can also be used in history-related courses to create pages for characters. Phil Treagus says that “Classes that are covering historical figures can use social media to really get into the life of that person,” and regarding his sister’s teaching habits, he describes her actions saying “She will have all her students create a Facebook account on a piece of paper for that person.” Having to create a page for a person that includes a relationship status, a birthday, an interest page, and a list of potential statuses takes a lot of research and study. Therefore, having to create a Facebook page for a historical figure is actually quite a challenging project.
These are only a few of the possibilities the social media is creating for educational enhancement. I’m sure in the future, as technology develops, there will be infinite ways in which social networking will be benefiting the learning process.
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