Social Media and Social Networking: Pros and Cons

What’s all the BUZZ about Social Media in the Classroom?

This week I explored Pinterest, SymbalooEDU, and the PROS and CONS of using social media and social networking sites in education.

Pinterest is definitely an old friend of mine - this week gave me an excuse to make a new board and “pin”. If you haven’t ever been on Pinterest, my advice would be to proceed with caution. Not because it is bad, but because it can be addicting (which is an understatement). There are SO many fantastic educational tools that can be found on Pinterest. Simply search for anything you want (ex: classroom organization, science foldables, annotating books, group work, etc.) Create a board and all you have to do is search and pin away. Like I said, proceed with caution. Using Pinterest may cause obsessive “pinning.”

SymbalooEDU was a new tool that I was introduced to this week. Essentially it allows you to create Webmixes that compile a variety of different media and websites into one place. This tool would be fantastic to use for an Internet scavenger hunt or a research project. You add icons on the Webmixes and you insert links to the different resources you want your students to access. I created a Webmix that would help my students learn about the Nervous System - check it out! http://edu.symbaloo.com/shared/AAAAA3OmJYUAA41_WCZAow==

Lasty, my Connected Educator class explored the pros and cons of using social media in the classroom. To enlighten you on how social media can be used in the classroom, check out these videos.

Social media gets a lot of negative coverage in the news. We hear often of teachers inappropriately contacting students and students using social media for cyberbullying. Viewers see this and panic when they hear that social media is used in schools. Their minds are drawn back to what they heard on the news, yet the poor choices of some do not represent the majority of educators who properly use this technology! Like always - education is the key to acceptance and understanding. People need to be educated on how teachers are using technology appropriately and positively to enhance the learning of their students. In my opinion, social media/networking offers a wide variety of benefits: making learning relevant and exciting, providing students more access to resources, collaborating for learning, and so much more. Teachers and students also need to be educated on social media. Teachers especially need to make sure they know how to use the sites and monitor student work and conversations. Students need to know social media and Internet etiquette. With all of these in place - learning will have no limits!

Hopefully this gave you some food for thought! Don't be so quick to judge social media. It has the potential to boost learning exponentially. 

Mrs. Adkins