A Tweet a Day Keeps the Questions Away

As of 2012...

- 40% of people communicate more over social networking rather than face-to-face.

- 91% of smart phones are used for social networking.

- 3,600 photos are uploaded to instagram every minute.

- 100,000 tweets are sent a minute, and 11+ accounts are added each second.

- Over 1 billion Facebook profiles exist.

… So, is it really any surprise that social networking now takes place in much of education? Not many people think so.

http://ow.ly/qUCRO

Of course, as many would agree, when you think of social media being used in an educational setting, you automatically think “Uhm.. now how will that work?” But to much of our surprise, 73% of teachers use social media in their classrooms. With our ever-changing world, comes new ways of learning, experiencing, and teaching. With that, we find social networking playing a new role in education, and also teaching us more personal aspects of each other as well.

With teachers using social media, many students explain that it’s fun, and a much quicker way to communicate. The importance of knowing your students and what their abilities are, has become a strong attribute in education nowadays and with the use of Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and other social networking sites, teachers make this possible.

Trendy, fun, and gets everyone involved.

Penn State Art professor, Anna Divinsky, taught her entire class through social media. After students would create a piece, they would upload their finished product to Flickr, and were able to comment on each others’ creations. Through this, the students were able to see each others’ work, and also connect and share their work socially. By turning Flickr into a class, it  made the class enjoyable and exciting for the students, and also very different from anything they had done before.

So there are benefits?

Although many people are opposed to the idea of social networking being used in a classroom, they are blind to the benefits and positive changes it may bring, which include:

- Learning about our peers

- Receive the answers we need

- Communication

- Getting everyone involved

- Keeping up with the advancing world

With our fast paced lives, it’s important to have what we need at our use whenever we need it. Education no longer exists in just a classroom, and it has truly begun to expand. Instead of shutting down the idea of social media in schools, it’s important that we embrace the idea and welcome the tweets from our teachers and peers. And hey, resolving the stumped homework question you may have has never looked so easy.