Social Media, Me, My Classroom and the Future Tamara Burrows-Dixon

 A class on Social Media! 

After slogging through so many topics on technology, I thought that this would be a breeze....

While I have learned so much it has definitely not been as simple as I expected. Why would I expect to cruise through a class on Social Media?

Because I use it everyday! Multiple times a day! Professionally and Personally! 

Social Media has become a huge part of our everyday lives with Facebook alone having 1.97 billion users monthly and Snapchat over 400 million snaps a month (Kaur Kapoor et al., 2017). This number seems astounding to me until I think about all the information to be found on these platforms. Most of our news today is found on Social Media. Think about it where did you first hear about the Israel- Hamas war? News on Donald Trump's arrest? Social Media, I'll bet! 

I am no different, I regularly scroll Facebook, Instagram and Twitter for news around the Caribbean and World. In addition to learning more about what is going on around the world I use these sites to engage in my hobbies which include following my favorite cooking and reading influencers. Social Media has increased my enjoyment of these activities and has exposed me to so many new ideas that have enriched my personal life. I now cannot imagine life without social media and its influence.

Despite being an avid user of social media I had not considered its use in my classroom. Perhaps this is because I teach younger students and could not see how to connect Social media to my instruction and assessment. Seeing all the benefits of using social media convinced me that I should be using it in my classroom. Benefits like those listed here were all I needed to help me see that I was actually robbing my students of opportunities.

• Improves mathematics and literacy skills
• Provides opportunities for socialization
• Promotes problem solving
• Promotes critical thinking
• Increases imagination
• Allows for connections with peers
• Promotes self-development (Sakti Kaloeti et al., 2023)

This helped to convince me that using social media as a tool in my classroom was important for my students who are digital natives that regularly use YouTube, Instagram, What's App, Facebook and Twitter (Sakti Kaloeti et al., 2023). 

I was concerned though, because these same digital natives often struggle with social media! I worry about bullying, protecting their privacy and even sexting. This meant that I had to be aware of ways to keep students safe. While completing the discussion assignment on responsible use of social media I came across the website Common Sense Media that provides valuable resources for teachers seeking ways to safely integrate the use of social media into the classroom. 

This was new territory for me. I have always known that I have a responsibility to keep my students safe, but now I had to think of ways to keep them safe on platforms that they were more familiar with. Thankfully there are so many resources that help with this. Also, hearing the approaches of my colleagues was extremely helpful.

While I considered safety and the benefits of social media, I then thought of practical ways to include social media in lessons. 

How could students use social media platforms in ways that actually improved learning? 

Using YouTube for the discussion assignment, made me much more aware of how to use various platforms. I considered how simply commenting on a video might build community and increase engagement. I also became aware of how a school's Learning Management System (LMS) might be used as a platform that allowed students to share content, connect with others and engage with new ideas in a closed environment. I have thought about using more popular sites like Twitter while thinking of ways to protect students. I recently came across a Twitter post made by a teacher that was written by a student. Perhaps this is an idea I will adopt!

The future of social media use promises to be exciting! The average user spends about 151 minutes a day on more than six platforms that include Facebook, YouTube, What's App, Tik Tok and Snapchat (Zeller, 2023). Most teachers can describe how students use Tik Tok prolifically and its use with students can only continue growing. Even though these platforms have exploded in growth, changes in sites like Twitter and Facebook and concerns about privacy and safety have begun to change the way users interact with larger platforms. 

It's even being predicted that users will move to smaller platforms that are focused uniquely to their interests (Zeller, 2023). New platforms like Blue Sky and Mastadon are responses to concerns that many users have. 

This is good news for classroom teachers like me who continue to seek safe ways to have my students interact with social media. Social media is not going anywhere, but it is growing and changing!

It's up to teachers to embrace its use, encouraging students to use platforms as a tool for exploration. This class has shown me the great potential of social media and what I have been missing. 

Looking forward to propelling my students forward by being open to social media and its many benefits!