Using Social Media In The Classroom

        I think social media is a good tool to an extent.  As a college student I have seen the pros and cons of Facebook everyday.  Yes, it is a fun and exciting website for students my age and for older people to stay in touch with family and friends, but is it anything more than that?  Facebook can be used for educational tools if done so in the right way.  I believe social media can destroy students but can also teach them as well.  If used in a classroom enviorment social media and Facebook usage has to be carefully and strictly monitored by the teacher.  The internet can be easily abused, and can have harmful affects on students.  The amount of information you can find on the internet during school related activities can hurt a teachers assignment.  When using social media it is imperative that students understand what they are doing and what they are researching.  I feel this is why students need to be involved in social media.  They as well need to know the risks it can involved, the harmful predators out there, and all of the crazy things they can see and find online.  If a student is more educated about social media, Facebook, and the internet than they won’t be so foolish to fall into bad ways on the internet.  If a teacher uses Facebook and social media in the right way than this should never be a problem.  Students are learners just like teachers are and they need to understand how the internet works especially in an instructional way in the classroom.  Many pro’s come along with Facebook.  You can interact with everybody, you can post whatever you want, and you can gain followers to see what you are posting.  This can be a con at the same time.  You can harm somebody's feelings, post false information, and post illegal things as well.  According to EducationWorld Risk #2 is cyber bullying and #3 is online predators.  These are two reasons for most suicides in teens.  Just recently their have been news reports about young children committing suicide because of bullying through online websites such as Formspring and Facebook.  Things that others say online can be the most painful and harmful statements.  These are two huge pro’s of using social media in the classroom.  Another pro and risk would be #4 invasion of privacy.  Anything you post on the internet is now there forever.  You can never delete it, get it back, or make it go away.   Facebook for educators is a pro for social media.  You can create Facebook pages that help educate your students through a positive light.  Only comments about certain subjects, pictures that go along with the topic, and discussion forums for a specific assignment.  Most teachers are moving toward this type of social media and it has been positive.  Some ways educators can use Facebook are encouraging students to follow Facebook’s guidelines which is a pro because this will help students stay focused when they create their own private Facebook not involved in school assignments.  Promote good citizenship in the digital world, this is a key factor in social media.  If a student knows his or her boundaries on the web, they will hopefully keep it peaceful and at an appropriate level.  Many educators have Facebooks.  These are filled with professional quotes, pictures, and even advice.  This is a great example of social media to use for educators, teachers, students, and learners around the world.  

An idea to use Facebook for could be for a science project.  Say you have to write down everything you eat, the amount of calories, and the amount you ate of that food.  If you had your own Facebook this would be an easy way to keep tract instead of writing everything down.  Every student loves using the internet and the computer, so why not keep track on there.  Students love making new status’s on their Facebook’s so this could be a perfect assignment for a science project.  Every time a student eats or drinks something they will make a new status with the information needed for this assignment.  They will create a Facebook just for this activity and keep it going for one week.  After that week the students can than all alternate with each other and browse through each others.  The teacher can than just collect the links and grade the assignment.  This is a cool way to do a project and to also communicate with other students and their findings.  

Another example could be for an english class.  If you are reading a book you can have one Facebook for each class.  You could post discussions about each chapter, specific terms, questions, and more.  Each student will have to post their findings and their answers on this Facebook page.  This way each student can view other student’s posts and they can communicate with one another.  They can submit assignments and make it a more fun way than just submitting something to the teacher.  Students love social media, so why not incorporate it into the classroom.