The social media and education dilemma

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Many conversations happen about the use of social media and its use in classrooms and schools.  Over the last couple of years, I have chatted with teachers both for and against the use of social media in the classroom.  Usually the comments against include things like "Kids are on social media outside of school, they don't need it in their school lives."  And then there is the "kids will get into inappropriate situations if social media is in school" concern.  While these concerns are relevant, we must also consider that it is time to meet students where they are at, rather than expect them to come to us.  I believe one of the biggest mistakes made in the history of education, which continues today, is that teachers expect kids to live in their generation and learn according to their standards, rules, and way of life.  While this is not the case for all teachers, it is for some and can cause frustration in the current generation.  I even heard a high school teacher a few days ago share that he thought it would be best if girls and boys were just separated in classrooms because there would be so much less drama.  This old-school thought has so much wrong with it that I can not go into it here.  But in all seriousness, social media is the place where kids are.  And if we can get to them there, then we should find ways around the issues of safety and appropriateness.  

 I came across this article that shares some benefits of social media in the classroom as well as some ideas for using it.  It does share some downsides as well, but again, we can work through filtering YouTube, let's work on filtering some other gunk too!

Social Meria in Education:13 Ideas for the Classroom

 

Comments

  1. Ellen DooleyNovember 14, 2023 at 5:43 PM

    It is important to meet students where they are and because living with social media is the only mode that most of them have ever known, it seems counterproductive to approach them otherwise. If libraries of all sizes and calibers can do it, so can schools.
    Very good and relevant summary by University of San Diego.

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