User:3827crmb/sandbox

Benefits of Social Media in the Classroom
Social media platforms are built upon an architecture of participation that can support cultures of collaboration, draw on collective intelligence, and encourage users to give and take according to their abilities and needs. Collaboration is something that teachers already try and incorporate into the classroom so it would make sense for teachers to use one of the world's largest collaborating tool social media. Social media can allow students to access a variety of knowledgeable peers, parents, community members, children's literature authors, academics, and other people who might not be available. Instead of the teacher being the only source of knowledge in the classroom, students can log onto social media and post their questions there or they can research information from a reliable social media source. By incorporating social media in the classroom it will lead to further discussions in the classroom about what it means to be a smart researcher and how to find reliable information. Social media is also a different way that teachers can conduct class discussions which can be more appealing to those students who don't feel comfortable talking in a classroom setting. New media inspire new practices which alter understandings of literacy. The rise of a variety of new media contributed to the development of alternative practices for expression and communication. By allowing students to have access to social media you are also allowing them to have access whatever topic that they are interested at anytime not just what the library or the textbook supplies them.

Criticisms of Social Media in the Classroom
In a study done in Sweden students had access to their own laptop at their desk and they were allowed to access social media sites. 74% of the students said that they were distracted by the access to social media websites such as Facebook, also 73% of students felt that social media had 'some' or 'high' of a negative affect towards teaching and learning. By allowing the students to use social media and technology in the classroom it also increases the risk for misbehaviour such as cyber bullying. By using social media students may have more confidence to ask questions and to voice their opinion in online classroom discussions, but they also will have more confidence in communicating with their peers which may lead to more bullying in the classroom.