Nowadays, educators are increasingly using social media platforms to teach not only their classroom students but a number of students all the across the globe. Here are some key points on how you can use different social media platforms in the classroom effectively.
Let’s look at the benefits and the dos and don’ts for the usage of social media in the classroom.
Benefits
- Preparing students for social media world.
- Developing vital social media skills required in 21 century.
- Easy way to connect and keep parents informed.
- Creates opportunity to give individual student feedback
- Give shy students a voice.
- Sharing and gathering of huge resources.
Social media platform gives shy students a voice. Usually shy students sit at the back in the classroom; they do not participate much in the classroom discussions verbally. Such students are more included towards written communication. So if you will use social media then they willingly participate in the discussion. Hence you have a voice from every student.
Dos and Don’t
- Create classroom account do not create a personal account.
- Provide feedback to the students but do not follow them.
- Do provide them resources but do not make social media only platform get resources.
- Teach them digital citizenship
- Create a class contract but do not leave classroom social media unmonitored.
Grow with PLN
PLN stands for Personal Learning Network. It helps in:
- Connecting with like-minded teachers.
- Asking/Answering and questions
- Finding resources beyond Google.
How to Grow PLN?
Follow others and be followed; Easiest way to grow your PLN.
- Share your resources
- Share other people’s resources
- Join Education chats.
- Participate in online discussions
Share Resources
A school creating an account on social media and sharing resources is much more powerful and popular. Using the school account, teachers can easily share their resources to students; inform students about the new event, holidays and activities. Teachers can also share interesting videos that is mix with music and learning.
Find Ideal for Pinterest
Pinterest is a pin board where teachers and students can share resources in the form of pins or images and ideas respectively. In case, you do not want to use pininterest, you can use educlipper– it is an educational pinterest. Educlipper is all about education. Here you can create account as educator or as student.
Classroom Discussion Via Twitter
Couple of ways you can use twitter in the classroom for discussion:
- Post a question to the classroom
- Create a unique hashtag (#)
- Students can discuss while reading and watching videos.
- Display and review live feed
- Historicaltweets.com can be used to spark discussion or research about a person or a topic.
Even if you do not want to use Twitter in your classroom or it is blocked then there are other alternatives as well; Todaysmeet.com is one of them.
Twitter as an Exist Slip
- Create unique hashtag
- Students can answer on their own time
- Promote complete sentences
- Give students a voice who do not raise their hand
- Respond to students and provide feedback
Try Instagram
- Students can comment longer
- Include photos of cartoons of opposing /similar views
Instagram as Vocab Activity
- Give students words to define
- Use video feature in Instagram
- Create a unique hashtag
- Create for partner or small group
Instagram Scavenger Hunt
- Create a unique hashtag
- Post/Provide List
- Students take photo/video of exhibits
- Comment about photo/video
- Re-cap in class next day
Facebook is the most popular source of media. How to use Facebook for your classroom?
- Create “secret” groups to post resources
- Create assignments like events
- Become part of students’ Facebook calendar
- Create a Facebook page/profile for a historical person or character in a story; it helps students to research person, collect facts and images.
- You can even download templates from exchange.smarttech.com (Smart Exchange)
Edmodo
Edmodo is a social media platform specifically designed for teachers and students. What Edmodo offers?
- Free classroom social media
- Post notes/resources
- Create assignments
- Administer quizzes and polls
- Connect with other teachers
- No student email required
I hope you have learnt a lot about various social media platforms and their usage. Now let us know which social media platforms do you use the most and why. Response awaited in the comment box; do share.
Know more about the use of social media in the classroom here.
You may also like to refer this guide.
