EDUC 630 - Social Media and Education

Through my own experience and by observing other teachers, I have witnessed various uses of social media in relation to education.  I have witnessed seventh grade language arts and science teachers use Remind as a way to engage students outside of class with extra credit questions and projects. I have seen sixth grade language arts and social studies teachers use Edmodo to communicate with both students and parents by reminding them of assignments and inviting them to school events.  Social media is being utilized more and more by teachers to expand the reach of the classroom by providing a near 24/7 connection to resources and communication by and between teachers, students and parents.

In my personal experience I have used Twitter to reach out to other educators and graduate students to request information, find resources and provide relevant topics of conversation.  Twitter is truly a great avenue for educators to reach outside their personal networks (the teachers they work with every day) to find new and innovative resources and ideas they can use to enrich the learning environment for their students.

Concerns regarding social media might include privacy concerns, students not staying on task, and inappropriate posts.  There are several applications that can minimize the impact of these issues.  Apps such as Twiducate and Edmodo allow the teacher to create an online community that the students access with a code.  That way no interlopers can slip through the perimeter like on Facebook when one student likes a random post and all of a sudden there are new people in the loop and advertising of all sorts popping up.

Many churches, large and small, have taken to social media to both communicate by and between congregations and recruit newcomers to the fold.  Churches use social media for communication between various groups within the church such as bible study groups, Sunday school groups, choirs, youth groups, singles ministries and married couple’s ministries.  They further use social media to start and keep prayer chains going providing much needed comfort to parishioners.  Finally, churches use social media to reach out to various groups in the community to provide much needed ministries.  For instance they invite children to Sunday school, advertise vacation bible schools and other church activities in an effort to reach the community for Christ.