3 Reasons to Stop Fearing Social Media in the Classroom

Maybe it’s because I’m a media student (until a rec

ent curriculum change my major was in fact titled Contemporary Media and Journalism), but incorporating social media in the classroom strikes me as a no-brainer. In fact, “social media” almost feels like a high-falutin’ term when I say it out loud, like when someone in casual conversation refers to forks and knives as cutlery.

That’s because sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram are just as commonplace in my daily life as those other tools–and I think “tools” is just as accurate a term for them as anything else. These sites enable instant communication unlike ever before, and in so many variations. Barring social media from the classroom is not only shortsighted, but it blatantly disregards the current generation’s ability to use these tools for more than idle status sharing and picture-liking. In fact, I’d go so far as to suggest that failing to acknowledge the more sophisticated possible uses of social media puts students at a direct disadvantage. My pro-social media argument can be summed up in three points:

Incorporating Social Media Puts Education Within an Everyday Context

While I tend to agree that Facebook debates rarely benefit anyone, moving class discussions to the digital sphere can potentially generate a more comfortable discourse. This can level the playing field between more boisterously opinionated students and those who tend to be more timid. These online discussions could be held on a Facebook group for the class, or even through a class hashtag that students can track. The online class I'm currently taking has incorporated a class hashtag, and it’s made me feel more comfortable interacting with a few select students when questions about assignments or comments on readings arise.

“But students won’t always be able to communicate through a screen. They need to know how to speak up!” That’s a very valid point. Perhaps, then, online conversations can be moved to the physical classroom for a brief recap of the discussion before moving on to the next topic of study. Here, a teacher may be able to prompt more timid students with some sort of encouragement—something like, “Seth, you made an interesting point when you said X. Tell us how you thought of that.”

While it is true that students won’t always be able to hide behind a screen when they communicate, it’s also true that the average person is rarely asked to speak on a topic they are just beginning to grasp in a lecture hall of twenty to 200 people. The traditional educational environment is fairly unusual outside of its own context, whereas the Internet and social media are now a regularly integrated part of most people’s daily lives. By moving some educational discussions to a digital space in which students may be more likely to engage, an additional level of interest is added to the educational experience. By validating a space in which students feel comfortable speaking their mind, students may then bring that same comfort into the physical classroom.

Social Media Prowess is Now a Marketable Skill

With 72% of all Internet users on some sort of social media, marketers have a new and evolving way of connecting with potential audiences. Last year, a prediction by the U.S. Department of Labor forecasted a 12% increase in public relations jobs within the next decade because of the ever-increasing number of social media users. That’s just one example of a way social media is changing the work force.

Another more general change is that employers are now looking to social media when vetting applicants. As this blogger notes, social media is perhaps the only rising medium that can get someone both hired and fired. At the very least, educators ought to be teaching their students what not to do on social media for the sake of their future career.

Fearing distraction is no longer a valid argument.

…And in all honesty, it never really was. I graduated high school in 2011, when smart phones were just beginning to be in common use among my peers, and Internet was only available on the school’s hardwired desktop computers. After-school detention was threatened for cell phone use during class. Then, I remember a classmate being scolded for hiding novels under his desk and reading during a lesson.

“If it’s not one thing, it’s another,” may seem like a copout argument, but the unfortunate truth is that there will always be students who are going to make use of any distraction they find more interesting than the current lesson. Their attitude stems from something much deeper than simple access to social media. Banning smart phones, laptops, and social media from classrooms is often a misguided attempt to keep students focused on the power-point lecture at hand.

Social media can be used to supplement in class discussion, encourage participation from students, and even prepare them for specialized careers. The barring of social media from the classroom because of a fear of distraction is a disservice to the modern student.

Then again, I’m merely speaking from a student’s perspective. I’m no expert and my opinion is subject to change on this matter as technology itself changes.

So what do you think? Should social media play a role in the classroom? Post a comment or tweet me @JackieHendrySD...so long as your professor doesn't mind.

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