Social Media as a Material in Teaching and Learning Process

     In speaking of trend, social media is in. It is a websites and applications that enable users to create and share content or to participate in social networking. It is a forms of electronic communication (as Web sites for social networking and microblogging) through which users create online communities to share information, ideas, personal messages, and other content (as videos).

     How do social media useful in teaching and learning process? It encourages students to share work socially. For each class assignment, students were responsible for evaluating each other's work. Because the class was online, social media played an essential role in connecting students and creating an online community. So, they are working wherever they are. It requires students to keep a blog. Keeping a blog is a phenomenal way to work on your voice as a writer, and to truly explore and hone in on your personal interests. However, between essays and homework assignments, many college and high school students see blogging as more of a chore than a positive career move. By requiring students to keep a blog in place of some traditional assignments, you make your job as a teacher easier, and you help them establish their digital presence as an emerging thought leader. It requires original expert sources. For journalists, LinkedIn has proven to be an invaluable tool to reach out to sources, from CEOs to corporate PR representatives. Teachers can foster this skill by encouraging students to reach out to sources directly through LinkedIn. Use Google Hangouts. If you're teaching remotely, or if you're teaching an online class, Google Hangouts can be a great way to check in with students face-to-face.

This is also a good option for adjunct professors who wish to conduct office hours but may not be on campus often enough to meet with all of their students. Create a social classroom on Edmodo. Edmodo helps to create a social, digital classroom. On Edmodo, you can vote, post assignments, create a class assignments calendar, and upload photos and messages to students. Edmodo encourages students to practice their reading and public speaking skills with other students from around the world. A teacher can Hold a class in Second Life. Students created accounts on Second Life to explore themes such as online identity, online community building and in-game economics. There are other ways of how social media can be useful. A teacher can create a class Facebook page. It is for the benefits of the students as well as for him. It can be used for the important announcements, assignments, class activities and deadlines of the projects or outputs. A social media can also serves as a channel to get information from the peers. Each one of them can exchange information. For example, in making a lesson plan. they can ask if what strategy can be used for a lesson to be effective and students will surely acquire knowledge. 

     Students are already using social media away from the classroom. So, integrating it into the classroom helps students learn best practices for social media and offers an interesting new twist on lessons. They could learn on their own way.

References:

•   https://www.google.com.ph/?gfe_rd=cr&ei=TrgIVv75GuvC8AenjI3YAg&gws_rd=ssl#q=social+media+definition
•   http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/social%20media
•   http://mashable.com/2013/08/18/social-media-teachers/#42GvC.pdEZqx
•   https://globaldigitalcitizen.org/how-teachers-can-use-social-media-in-the-classroom