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Social Media in the Classroom



How often do you find yourself inundated with questions or learners wanting to show you their work or tell you something? How often do they come to you as a task is due with it uncompleted because they didn't understand but forgot to ask questions? What if you could open the door to change that without jamming your inbox with emails from learners? As I have been reflecting on my learning throughout the school year I started to consider how I could use technology in a more innovative way to open up channels of communication that I have yet to observe. One way I thought of was to create a google form where learners could submit questions or ideas no matter where they are. Instead of a learners needing to remember a question or comment they can post it as they think of it and I can address the learner's comment when I can. This means if a question or idea arises while the learner is at home or on holiday they can post them and get a response. It also means if you are busy with a learning group or out of the classroom for some reason the learners are still going to get a response about their comment.

As well as using technology to open communication between the teacher and their learners how can we create an environment where they can do this with their learners? I began to consider my own and my peer's reliance on social media as well as the learners use of and reliance on the social media. I did some research on closed social media platforms that could be used in the classroom and came upon Edmodo. Edmodo is an education based social media platform that allows learners to share their ideas, thoughts, and experiences with peers in a monitored environment where learners are only able to have communication with their classroom peers. How about instead of shying away from social media we embrace it and encourage learners to share with their peers in the new form of show and tell. We can use this tool to teach and support learners within literacy as they learn how to give constructive feedback and share ideas. Society is embracing social media so maybe it's time the education system can too. Much like my discussions around using twitter we can create alternative ways for learners to communicate and teachers can also join the social media posting reminders about deadlines, classroom notices, school notices or reminders. This sort of platform allows learners to safely learn about the aspects of digital citizenship while exploring the future of digital society.

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