Create Engagement with Your Students
Utilizing social media apps in the classroom to increase engagement with your students can be a daunting task. Many of us use social media in our personal lives to communicate with our friends, family, and acquaintances. A majority of adults use YouTube and Facebook while Snapchat, Instagram, and TikTok are much more common with adults under 30 (Atske, 2022). According to the Pew Research Center, roughly 70% of Americans use some form of social media on a daily basis. This statistic has remained stable over the past 5 years. Furthermore, YouTube and Facebook remain the two largest user bases, with YouTube and Reddit seeing significant growth since 2019 (Atske, 2022).
Demographics
Being able to utilize social media in the classroom is dependent on who are audiences are and what they are using currently. Understanding social media demographics will allow us to easily reach students where they are, instead of trying to force them into a new social media app. Based on data from the Pew Research Center, demographics will play a large part in what social media app a particular person or group will use. Once we have a better understanding of who we are trying to appeal to, the question is how to begin to add social media to our classes with a goal of increasing engagement and participation. Social media in the classroom can be used as a guide for students to expand their knowledge, experience with different perspectives, and build connections on a much more global scale (Dakic, 2022).
Classroom Benefits
The are various benefits to using social media apps in the classroom including but not limited to: Student Engagement, Building Connections, Classroom or Department Promotions, and developing Digital Citizenry. Beginning with Student Engagement, we can use an apps such as X (formerly known as Twitter) as a classroom message board, discussion board, or a way for students to post current stories that coincide with topics from class.
Building Connections
Using blog sites allows students to express themselves and share ideas with their classmates and instructors. Posting blog links inside of their LMS allows students to break free from the limitations of the built in assignment submission processes (Dakic, 2022). Using social networking such as LinkedIn encourages students to begin building relationships, seek out potential employers, and learn how to interact in a more professional manner (Dakic, 2022).
Digital Citizenry
Incorporating social media in the classroom promotes positive digital citizenry. Based on various ISTE standards, Digital Citizenry is based on the premise that educators will promote and inspire students to responsibly participate in the digital world. There are four components which make up the educator standards for digital citizenry - building relationships, establishing a learning culture, mentoring, and management of personal data (Anonymous, n.d.).
Educator Expectations
There are various strategies for incorporating social media in the classroom. Educators should establish expectations early, understand what students are using currently, make it easy to access and mandatory, and create group and individual work. Educators should make themselves available for students when troubles arise and finally, allow students to use these apps anonymously when they can. By following these guidelines, educators can being to slowly introduce various apps into the classroom to hopefully increase student engagement and participation.
Works Referenced
Anonymous. (n.d.). ISTE standards: Educators. ISTE. https://www.iste.org/standards/iste-standards-for-teachers
Atske, S. (2022, May 11). Social media use in 2021. Pew Research Center: Internet, Science & Tech. https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2021/04/07/social-media-use-in-2021/
Dakic, M. (2022, December 20). How to incorporate social media in classrooms. Zesium. https://zesium.com/how-to-incorporate-social-media-in-classrooms/
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