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Social Media in the Classroom

Social media is extremely present in today's society. It can be useful for students to use for academic purposes. "Social media sites such as Facebook and MySpace offer multiple daily opportunities for connecting with friends, classmates, and people with shared interests." (O'Keeffe, Pearson 800) Students have become very familiar with using these sites. Students in high school can use these sites for productivity. "Middle and high school students are using social media to connect with one another on homework and group projects." (O'Keeffe, Pearson 801)

IText Classroom Salons are becoming a prominent type of social media in the classroom. "Salons were personalized communities where members could tailor the agenda of the group to their personal learning requirements." (Kaufer et al.303) This can prove to be incredibly useful in the classroom as teachers can tailor it to their needs.

Blogging is another useful tool for the classroom. "Blogs offer students the chance to keep multimedia records, incorporating video and sound files, as well as images into their written record." (Kist 10) These useful ICT skills can then carry on into the workforce. Accountability and responsibility can also be taught through the upkeep of a blog.

Collaborative learning can be done through the use of social media and social technological tools. With students who are English language learners, it can pose a challenge to them to effectively collaborate among their peers. Due to the fact that effective communication may be challenging among group members due to the language barrier, collaboration can provide an opportunity for students to step out of the box to try to communicate. It also provides learning opportunities for other languages and cultures.

Bowden, W. R. (2015). Collaboration, Pedagogy, and Media: Short-Term Summer Programs Emphasize Project Based and Social Emotional Learning. Journal of Media Literacy Education, 7(1), 72–76.

Kist, William. “Class, Get Ready to Tweet: Social Media in the Classroom.” Our Children: The National PTA Magazine 38.3 (2013): 10–11. Print.

Kaufer, David et al. “Bringing Social Media to the Writing Classroom: Classroom Salon.” Journal of Business and Technical Communication 25.3 (2011): 299–321. jbt.sagepub.com. Web.

O’Keeffe, Gwenn Schurgin, Kathleen Clarke-Pearson, and Council on Communications and Media. “The Impact of Social Media on Children, Adolescents, and Families.” Pediatrics 127.4 (2011): 800–804. pediatrics.aappublications.org. Web.