Social media has become a way of life in our society. Teachers use social media all the time to connect, gain information and to be able to share ideas. I have used all types of platforms including twitter, Instagram, facebook and even Snapchat to find information and learn from others. Why can't students also? The biggest fear that I have seen as a teacher for administrators to accept social media is the fear of cyber-bullying and the fear of improper usage. But what if we can teach our students how to use it properly?
It is important for us as educators to teach digital citizenship. The reality of our surroundings is that social media is here and if we don't teach our students about the impact of their digital footprint then they are just going to continue to misuse it. Social media can be scary if you don't use it properly, but it can also be exciting if used correctly. Aside from communicating information quickly to our community (students, colleagues, parents, etc), social media can expose you to much more. Twitter can allow you to share information with people in other countries in target languages, Instagram can allow you to see pictures from around the world and share with others, facebook can allow you to congregate as a community in a common place and communicate in an instance and Snapchat, as controversial as it is, can allow you to place yourself in another country and experience cultures from a first person perspective (I have used Snapchat to show cultural video clips as they are happening for example "Dia de Los
Inocentes" in Latin America, or "The Tomatina Festival" in Spain).
Inocentes" in Latin America, or "The Tomatina Festival" in Spain).
Social media, in my opinion, is not the problem but how illiterate our students are being responsible digital citizens. If we teach them how to properly use it we can expose them to a whole different world where respect and common sense are key, because social media is only going to continue to grow. We cannot continue to ignore the elephant in the room.
Here is an interesting article that I found that talks about how there is a need for a social media etiquette curriculum and how it should be.
