Social Media in Education Pros and Cons: Reflections
Modern teens cannot fancy their lives without social media. Schools do not approve of this attachment to smartphones and forbid using them during school time. Thus, school students cannot be active users of Twitter or Facebook while studying. Still, there has been a dramatic change in the overall approach. Schools have reviewed their attitude and deemed the role of social media in education pros and cons from a new perspective. Now they are eager to introduce social media in the education sector to use their benefits for more practical studies.
So, both learners and their instructors try hard to push the process of studying beyond the classrooms. While students need to work hard to prepare for their classes, many of them have used the option of turning to EliteWritings.com. Most of them consider the company the best custom writing service that provides help with various academic assignments. Even though using social media for homework is different from a purely academic task, the company’s experts can give insightful tips on how to reap the most from using social media in education.
The use of social media has already gone beyond the field of communication. For example, a social network can be one of the most productive advertising sources, a medium for raising public awareness, entertainment, and promotion. As a result, there are specific disadvantages and advantages of using social media in education.
Advantage 1: Communication between the teachers and students gets to a new level
Nothing can enhance communication between the learners and the teachers as a social media website. Teachers can use a Twitter feed or a Facebook page to answer the students’ questions. They can use this medium for sending essential updates on the studies or posting assignments for homework. They can also give lesson plans, exchange messages, or publish schedules. They may share valuable multimedia content, provide links to interesting websites, or announce some events. It is convenient for the students to request help from their peers or teachers on Twitter. Teachers may also give additional scores to the students for tweeting something studied in class.
Disadvantage 1: Social media creates distractions
Why were the teachers against the use of social media in classrooms? It was because of the great power of distraction. The students would entirely forget about the assignments to do and pay no attention to the teachers’ explanations. The students did not pay attention to anything but new posts and photos online. So, the learning process was ruined altogether.
Now, when social media are welcome in the classroom, it is a crucial concern not to let them spoil the process again.
Advantage 2: Flexibility with a chance to learn at home
There are many situations, especially under the present-day conditions of the pandemic, which make offline education not possible. Social media has become a valuable tool of alternative methods of acquiring knowledge. Enjoying the comfort and safety of their homes, the students can study and do the tasks. It is also beneficial for the students from different states or even countries. They no longer have to worry about lodging or transportation.
Distance learning has become a reality of education now, and social media make it possible. Therefore, there is no necessity to organize face-to-face meetings. Also, the costs of education get reduced due to limited travel.
Disadvantage 2: Finding and posting not relevant content on social media
It is challenging to exercise control over what the students are doing when they use social media in class. No one will notice that students use inappropriate vocabulary or post pornography on the websites. It is an activity that can be ruining for the students.
All students in schools should be well protected from harmful content. It is also essential for the teachers to control their sharing content. They hold responsibility for the safety and decency of the students; so, it is a matter of crucial concern.
Advantage 3: Social media facilitates researching
All university and college students get several writing assignments to complete. In addition, they have to cope with their reviews, reports, projects, term papers, and other types of academic writing, which imply conducting research. So, they need corresponding skills.
Using social media produces a favorable impact on research as websites, blogs, and social media platforms contain essential information. Thus, the students get important outputs after doing the required search. Students frequently have questions about what they should do for school. On social media, they can request help from their peers and even ask for advice from strangers. Some of the platforms allow the exchange of questions and answers to help the students master the topics they are studying. Thus, they access the materials they need and do research easier.
Disadvantage 3: Bullying online takes place often
Online abuse or bullying has become so widely spread that even the teachers become its victims. The Internet makes it much easier for the students to send offensive messages and torment more vulnerable peers. As per the Cyberbullying Research Center report, 20% of the students (that is one-fifth!) stated that they had been bullied online. Other 20% indicated that they had been cyberbullying others.
It is important to raise awareness of cyberbullying and spread information on how to prevent it. Therefore, the center publishes lots of teaching materials on online safety, scripts for the parents, and lists of warning signs.
Thus, social media websites connect people and serve as a tool for hurting others.
Thus, is the use of social media beneficial for schools?
It is impossible to give a universal answer to this question as there are a lot of pluses and minuses of using social media in the process of education. People cannot get away from technological progress. So, the students and their teachers and parents are involved in the active life on various media and communication online. Thus, it is impossible to avoid that, but it is excellent if used for good purposes.
From a technical viewpoint, it is challenging or impossible to ban media or restrict their use at school. Even if the school does not allow using social media in class, the students have access to the Internet on their smartphones and can overcome any limitations.
What is essential in this situation is to study all the relevant issues. Also, it is of great significance to identify all risks to create a set of strict rules and get the scope of risks to the least possible. Finally, it is important to use all the available opportunities and exclusive benefits modern media provide for education.
