How to use social media to engage your students in the classroom
Considering the time spent by both adults and teens on social media, teachers should consider leveraging social media to their advantage in the classroom. It would appear, utilizing social media to engage students in the classroom might be an effective tool to include in your toolkit for today’s educational system.
Studies conducted by the Pew Research Center in 2015 found the following statistics concerning the utilization of social media by American students between the age of 13 years and 17 years:
• At least 93% of the students use social media, only 22% of which use only a single social media platform; 71% use multiple social media platforms
• 92% visit social media every day, with 24% saying that they use the internet almost consistently.
The statistics make it apparent: teens spend a lot of time on social media. Regardless of the conventional perspective of social media as a distraction, teachers can use the statistics above to their advantage through creating a curriculum that includes social media to enhance student engagement – while teaching them the fundamental media learning skills for the current world.
Sure, it is also crucial to take the necessary precautions when implementing a social media literacy program — for instance, making sure that the courses are created following the policies of the social media platforms and the school.
Literacy Benefits of Utilizing Social Media for Engaging Students
Researchers from the Harvard Graduate School of Education stated that the ability of students to form and participate in study groups is one factor that has enhanced students to succeed most, especially at the college level. Students who held group discussion sessions at least once per week learned more, were more prepared for classes, and were more engaged in their studies than their counterparts who studied alone
Several students can have similar questions that are related to a particular concept discussed in the classroom or assignment. Considering the different styles of learning, personality traits and schedules, social media can offer an exemplary platform through which students can mutually benefit from the knowledge of the group by combining any of the following aspects:
• Potential to get the answers or getting hints on how to get the answers that they are searching for
• Ability to build upon and contribute to the discussion at hand
• Opportunity to get new ideas to augment their critical thinking and knowledge on a specific topic
- all using a manner, time and platform that works for the students.
Since most students already have social media accounts, facilitating the possibility of holding group study sessions is easy. That has an added benefit of attracting the more socially-conscious students while offering a platform where the shy students might be more comfortable to express their views.
Final Verdict
Teachers who integrate social media in their teaching arsenal are enjoyable to listen to, and their projects are challenging and fun. Students tend to understand what they discuss on social media more than what they learn from books and classroom materials. Social media allows students to engage with learning materials in a new way and consider new angles of paying attention to the information that others bring to the table. So, when used effectively, social media can help in engaging students in the classroom.
