Most of us engage with social media informally, or at least associate social media with our non-academic lives. Often, though, we don’t realize how much social media is a part of the way that we learn about and see the world. Social media can, in fact, benefit your student’s learning experience in many ways, including offering unique resources, building learning communities, and providing real-world examples and experiences.
Looking for ways to enhance your student’s education this semester? Keep reading to learn four ways social media can benefit your student’s learning experience.
1. Social media can provide unique learning resources for your student
The internet is known for providing excellent resources for projects. Whether your student needs help with a research task, an essay, or another kind of project, seek out social media networks in addition to the library’s in-person and online databases.
Twitter, for example, is a social media platform that can feel like a jumble of unorganized information. However, it provides access to an abundance of linked resources. Use Twitter to search for a hashtag of your topic to bring up a list of results. If you’re looking for visual content, YouTube is one resource that offers tutorials and short teaching videos, in addition to educational channels. Check out YouTube alternatives, like TeacherTube, if you’d like a more focused, kid-friendly search.
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2. Social media can help your child organize resources in one place
Social media platforms are also great ways to organize resources into one place that you can later come back to. This is especially helpful for larger projects—you can bookmark resources into one large folder, or you could create smaller folders within a larger one according to your organizational needs. Pinterest works great for this as a visual bookmarking platform. The great thing about this platform is that you can share individual resources or the entire folder with classmates, so students can collaborate together on projects or help each other with study resources.
3. Social media can build learning communities
Social media is an excellent way to build and join a learning community. Some schools have social media platforms that they use within the classroom, where teachers can:
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Send announcements
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Provide links and resources
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Facilitate online discussions
If you’d like, you can also search for your own learning community on larger platforms, like a specific group on Facebook. A lot of times, these learning communities provide forums to ask and have questions answered online. These platforms offer an engaging give-and-take where your child can contribute to the greater educational community.
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4. Social media can offer real-world examples and experience
Communication has become increasingly digital in recent years, and social media is an excellent way to engage in ongoing discourse. While your child should not feel forced to join a specific social media network, if they’d like to, encourage them to see how they can apply classroom skills they already use or are excited about. Encourage them to engage in topics they care about—finding people to follow on Twitter or Instagram, for example, that support an expansion of their interests. Encourage them to consider audience, and how they might be able to share their interests with a wider online group.
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Be sure to speak with your student about online safety and strategies that can help make social media usage a positive and enriching experience. Don’t shy away from topics like cyberbullying and trolling. Opening conversations about the good, the bad, and the ugly of social media will help you give your child the necessary skills to take advantage of the best parts of these platforms.
Any topics you want to know more about? Let us know! The Varsity Tutors Blog editors love hearing your feedback and opinions. Feel free to email us at blog@varsitytutors.com.
