Back in 2015, I had the fantastic opportunity to teach 16 - 18yr old public school students within the TDSB system the power and importance of social media through a 7-week pilot program.
It focused on the major social networks at the time (Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Google+) and best usage practices. The importance and power of metrics, information and privacy were key in students learning how to increase engagement and community involvement not just online but also offline and the implications of what putting data publicly available means.
During teaching these classes I've noticed teachers pop in and out of the classroom or stay after students have left to pick my brain on how to better use social media to:
- connect more with their students
- get students to participate more in and out of the classroom
- pay more attention to negative content that could hurt or hinder your social networking
With school policies to restrict laptops and smartphones into the classroom, these could be considered the new upgrade to the chalk and chalkboard, the paper and pencil, the keyboard and word document but teachers I'm finding are having a hard time bringing social media into the classroom.
With the current influence of social media on our daily lives, it's silly to think that our current education system doesn't have classes geared towards social media and teachers teaching from modern tools like a tablet or smartphone.
Famously, OnlineColleges.net released a nifty infographic (pictured below) for teachers to better understand how much social media is used inside classrooms now and how they can glean the benefits of connecting their teaching styles with everything social but it's a few years out of date now.
Take a look and leave your comments below and if you know any teachers who could benefit from this please share!