Social Media and the Media Center
From my reading and research, I think the media center
is a very good place to incorporate social media into education. In my
classroom, I personally have an issue with students getting on Twitter to
socialize with their friends. I have yet to see one of my students using
Twitter for a truly educational purpose. However, Twitter is allowed at our
school to pass on scholarship information from our guidance department. Since
Twitter is allowed at my school, I can see its value in certain situations like
the guidance office or the media center. However, I have found no value for it
in my business courses at this time. Facebook and MySpace are not allowed at my
school and have been blocked for the most part. However, students do find a way
to get around this block sometimes. Youtube is also allowed at my school and
the only thing I have seen my students use it for are videos of fights and
other meaningless videos. I have not used Youtube for my business classes at
this point either.
From the media center stand point however, I can see
Twitter and Facebook being valuable to get students together and collaborating
and communicating about books and media center events. This gives lovers of the
library a forum to use to discuss books and find out about ones they have not
read. They can find out about upcoming events in the media center too and give
input about these things. This allows for the use of social media in a positive
way at the educational level and does not prevent them from getting their work
done in class, which is the problem I have had with social media in my
classroom. With the right conversations and postings from the media specialist,
students can respond and feel like they have a say in upcoming events and about
what books are the best in any given genre.
With social media there are issues to consider like
bullying and safety. These are topics that could be covered in the media center
to help students better understand how social media works and how it can be
used in negative ways. This could possibly help some student’s better deal with
a bad situation if they are aware that it happens and there are available
resources to help them out in a bad situation.
With social media playing such an important role in
society, I think the media center could be an excellent place to use it for the
benefit of the library and those that love books!
You're right, there are many obstacles to overcome with the way that social media is used by students. It will be a challenge for schools of the future to allow social media while monitoring for bullying or inappropriate content. I think it would be pretty useful to, as a classroom teacher, have a twitter account that would allow me to tweet due date reminders or other class information to my students outside of their class time. I think that a good educational alternative to Facebook or Myspace would be Edmodo, which a teacher has more control over. All in all, I think it's worth it to find a way to incorporate social media into schools, as long as we do so with caution and try to think of possible problems in advance.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing!
I agree that the media center is a good place to help educate students on the proper use of social media. As media specialists, we have the tools to help teachers and administrators implement training on how to use these sites, but unfortunately, what is not on our side is time. The teachers at my school are under immense pressure right now, and I would be afraid to offer any training that is not directly in line with the CCGPSs. However, we can provide informal training as students use our media centers, and we can make sure that we have resources available for both teachers and students on the proper use of social media in the classroom. As I have stated in other posts, my school is using My Big Campus, which is very much like Facebook. (From a distance, it looks EXACTLY like it.) It has strict requirements on it, so it is safe to use. With resources like this, students can have the best of both worlds.
ReplyDeleteI agree that Facebook and Twitter have great potential in the media center. As you pointed out, they can be a great way to deliver news and to allow users to discuss books they have recently read or are currently reading. I teach at an elementary school where the students do not meet the age requirement for having a Facebook account, although many do have them. Our school does have a Facebook page where information and news related to the school is frequently posted for parents. A Facebook page for a media center could have a similar purpose. I think we often get caught up in figuring out how we can use social networking with students, but it is important to also think about how it can be used to reach parents and other adult community members as well!
ReplyDeleteIt is sad to see how misuse of the internet and social networking sites can really effect schools and classroom environments. There are so many things that parents and adults can do to teach students about the appropriate use on these social networking sites until the discussions aren't heard anymore. Students are having a difficult time with understanding the purpose of these social networking sites and therefore misusing it. Is there ever going to be a solution? It will be interesting to see how the future will continue to evolve and change when it comes to social networking sites and school districts.
ReplyDelete