The Power of Social Media in the Classroom

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Exposing students to the power of social media in the classroom is an important part of preparing them to be active and positive digital citizens in a 21st century world. In the last two years, my own students have rapidly been drawn to Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, and many other social networking platforms. They upload, share, and connect with others often without any regard to how their digital footprints may reflect them as individuals. Having continuous conversations with students about the choices that they make can lead to positive results. Students don't realize how powerful social media platforms can be in terms of networking, researching, and engaging in academic conversations. It makes me laugh every time I hear them whisper about my colleague Heather's or my Twitter feed. First of all kids, I can hear you. Second of all, yes, social media can be an amazing way to give and exchanged knowledge.

This past semester, I have tried to incorporate a variety of small learning activities that either use social media platforms or mimic the act of sharing on social media to expose students to what is possible when they choose to use social media platforms for educational and professional purposes. As I continue to expand how I use the Chromebooks more next semester, I only hope to utilize these tools more. Students need to be exposed to strong models of digital citizenship, and these activities can open up a dialogue about what that means. Also, many of the skills that they use with technology align with new Common Core State Standards.

TodaysMeet

TodaysMeet functions a lot like Twitter or a live chat. It is a backchannel that allows a group of people to connect for a selected period of time. Teachers can na...

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... as well as my speech class. I also use the #CGMedia with my Media class to encourage them to post projects or even to encourage them to check additional resources that I post. During the Gender Unit for both my Media and Speech classes (which are very research focused, I've used these hashtags to share out resources that they might find helpful. I have not overused Twitter directly with students, but I do encourage them to browse because it is a platform with so many amazing resources available, in addition to celebrity gossip and social postings. As our world continues to evolve it is definitely a platform that they should be utilizing.

Here are few other resources that mimic social media interaction and can be very useful for the classroom:

Fakebook

Twister (Like Twitter)

Fake Tweet Builder

Edmodoand Schoology can also provide strong LMS systems, too!

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