Social Media in class

Already I hear the gasps of horror from some educators and parents, but do we really understand it? I will admit I was at first hesitant, seeing as generally I use social media for a purely social purpose, sharing what I have been doing and staying in touch with family and friends. It wasn't till recently that I began using social media (admittedly just Facebook at this point) for something more. I began to use it to forge connections with other professionals and it was at this point I began to see how this tool could be used in the class, and a way to connect with parents. One of my biggest concerns has always been around maintaining a safe community for our students, to which I realised educating them around cyber safety was vital.

What is social media? Social media is considered all forms of social communication, more often online. It is quick, instant and crosses oceans and cultures in a single bound. When it first began it was generally used as a tool to stay in contact with friends and family, share updates, play games.As technology has evolved photos, videos, private messaging has changed the face of social media along with it the purpose of why we use it. Today it is still used for socialising, sharing pictures and videos with friends and families. Now professionals are creating communities of learning, sharing ideas and stories and providing moral support, for others its advice as they embark on personal professional learning, gathering information and guidance globally. People are using it to promote themselves, their companies, to sell and buy it is a living online community/society. This is the world our students are already citizens of, so what does this mean for us?

In Using Social Media in the Classroom, Kathy Cassidy refers to the fact that our students are living in a digital world, they are growing up with it. If it’s how they have been learning surely has educators we should seize this tool? For some educators this is exactly what they have done but for many they are hesitant. Partly because of safety and partly because they themselves do not know how to use it. This is a crisis facing many educators, technology they do not know is featuring more and more in the classroom. In the New Zealand Curriculum as part of the vision it states, “who will seize the opportunities offered by new knowledge and technologies to secure a sustainable social, cultural, economic, and environmental future for our country” (2007) So we need to learn how to use these new technologies and social networks.

I believe the video by Netsafe highlighted some important points;

1.     What is the purpose of using social media?

2.     How will it benefit your students?

3.     How are you going to use it?

4.     Processes must be put in place to keep everyone safe.

So before we rush in we need to know why and how we are going to use it. We need to make sure we understand how to use it and most importantly we need to educate our students, insure they are safe and informed digital citizens. But I think it’s more than that, we need to make sure their parents are also safe informed digital citizens. So the world and our classrooms are changing.

Personally I need to look more into it, research and talk to peers before I take this step,

References

MOE (2007) The New Zealand Curriculum Published for the Ministry of Education by Learning Media Limited, Wellington, New Zealand

New Zealand Teachers Council.(2012). Establishing safeguards.[video file]. Retrieved from https://vimeo.com/49216520

Tvoparents. (2013, May 21). Using Social Media in the Classroom.[video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=riZStaz8Rno