Blog Post Week 6 - Pros/Cons/Solutions to Social Media in the classroom

In #I4ED this week we took a look at the pros, cons and solutions for using social media in our classrooms. Our Class' findings were as follows:

PROS
~relatable for students - most are using it
~engaging for students
~great method for keeping in contact with parents
~accountability - tool for reminding students of assignments, etc.
~differentiating instruction
~students can show their learning in a variety of ways
~development of 21st century skills
~easy access to resources
~connect with other classrooms
~students learn to be responsible digital citizens

CONS
~could be distracting/students may get off task
~difficult to monitor cyberbullying
~some students may not have access to a device or Wi-Fi
~could be hard to keep up with (large class sizes/using many platforms)
~privacy & data sold to advertisers 

SOLUTIONS
~classroom management
~cyberbullying awareness/have students report immediately to teacher
~use social media in school only
~start off with 1 easy to track platform
~ensure privacy setting are in place/ensure parents are aware of using social media in school

Click here for an article that gives a few pros and cons (and how to beat them) of social media in the classroom. 

Click here for another good article outlining some pros and cons of using social media in classrooms.  

A good video outlining some pros and cons of using social media in school:

An interesting video about 6 & 7 year olds using blogs to showcase their learning in an online portfolio:

I think the pros for using social media in the classroom far outweigh the cons and therefore I fully intend to use it my classrooms. However, I do believe it needs to be used in moderation, there is a time and place for it and I will not use it in every single subject/class.  For me the main uses I intend to use social media for are: communicating with parents and keeping them informed; using it as a tool to differentiate instruction and to provide students various options to show what they know. 

~Miss C.