Social Media in the Classroom

Image of Social Media Icons
by Flickr

According to Hicks (2013), "Social networks are becoming the way most people experience life online" (p. 137). Social media allows the user to connect with friends from across the world, keep up with global news, and share one's life with other users. Due to the constant use of social media platforms, most users can identify the various traps that it presents. As adults, we are more likely to notice scams, be mindful of what we post, identify false accounts, and understand that not everyone on social media has friendly intentions. However, what about students that are not as knowledgeable about social media? Sure, most social media sites require the user to be 13 or older, but younger users have found ways to get around this age requirement. Therefore, they are more likely to fall for the traps social media presents. Additionally, just by viewing social media, students are being exposed to content that may not be ideal. The content may contain misconceptions, promote only one side of the argument, or being completely false. The legitimacy of content is something to consider since students may be unknowingly soaking up the content and storing it for later use. So the question is, how exactly can we, as educators, use social media in a way that not only benefits students' learning academically but also informs students of the dangerous side of social media?

Video by Jessica Bizzle Verrett

As with learning about anything, the first step is exposure. As educators, the best way to teach students about social media and all of its traps is through exposure and later on hands-on experiences. Thus, we want to show students examples of productive uses of social media and the negative uses of social media. An excellent way to determine whether any social media content is beneficial is by utilizing Turner and Hicks' acronym "MAPS" (Turner & Hicks, 2017, p. 13-14). MAPS stands for mode, media, audience, purpose, and situation. Below are screenshots of a Facebook post, comments included, that I have analyzed utilizing the acronym MAPS.

Snapshots of Facebook post
Collage created using Canva

To start with, the media used to produce this post was Facebook, whereas the overall mode of the post was informative. The post was published in a Facebook group created for 1st-grade teachers around the world, making the members of this group the audience. This group is utilized by its members to share information on the different aspects of teaching. The reason behind the creation of this group creates the situation for this post, to receive helpful information. The owner of this post is inquiring about the best way to teach reading groups utilizing digital resources. Thus the post's purpose was to receive guidance on how to teach reading groups online, while the comments' purpose was to offer that guidance.  When looking at the comments, one can see how, with each new reply, the information given is helpful and builds off the previous comments. If the user was replying to a particular response or asking an additional question, the user tagged the person they were referring too. This kept the information flowing up until the last comment was given.

Looking back over this post and how it lines up with Turner and Hicks's acronym MAPS, as an educator, I would utilize this post as a mentor text for creating inquiry posts on a social media site. However, having students view a successful social media post is only half of the lesson. After students come to understand what a successful post looks like, they must be allowed to create one themselves. Therefore, as educators, we must look for opportunities to utilize social media in the classroom. With older grades, this may come through having students create a blog, post questions on Twitter, or publish a webpage of their own with desired content. But what about the younger grades? As a 1st grade teacher, I would not want my students to utilize unsafe social media in my classroom. However, if one were to utilize an educational form of social media, such as Edmodo, then one is still exposing students to social media in a safer environment. Thus, allowing younger students to practice creating social media post, without the risk of them being exposed to harmful content.

Despite one's feeling for the use of social media, we are living in the digital age. Social media is growing more popular every day. Therefore, as educators, we must start to integrate it into the classroom as well. According to Chloe West (2019), "integrating the use of these into the classroom is more natural than before, given how acclimated many students are to them" (West, 2019, pp. 3). There are many other ways to utilize social media in the classroom if one can be creative. So the question is, would you use social media with your class?

Resources

Hicks, T. (2013). Crafting digital writing: Composing texts across media and genres. Portsmouth, 
      NH: Heinemann.

Turner, K., & Hicks, T. (2017) Argument in the real world: Teaching adolescents to 

      read and write digital texts. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Verrett, J. B. (2017, August 30). Social media in the classroom [video]. Youtube. Retrieved
      from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76rWPnzrBl8
West, C. (2019, November 6). 12 Ways to use social media for education [Blog post]. Retrieved 

      from https://sproutsocial.com/insights/social-media-for-education