25 June 2019

Advice On How To Use Social Media For Educators

By Patricia Gray


Due to advancement in technology, there are so many tools that teachers can now use in the classroom. You might have been an active social media user, but perhaps you have never thought of incorporating it as a tool of instruction in your class. If you haven't yet done this, then it is time that you seriously thought about using social media for educators. There are a number of ways that you can do this.

You can get your learners to follow someone online. This is on the different platforms that are available. Tell them to choose one platform online and follow one person on that platform. This means keeping up with their posts on a regular basis. They can then write a response paper on the various posts that the person has made. The main aim of this is that the students will learn the major vocabularies that are used online.

You can teach your students how to blog. Since learners get to do a lot of writing anyway, you can make this more exciting for them by asking them to create a blog and post their assignments on their blogs. Then ask them to read the blogs of other students and at least leave comments in a couple of blogs. You can make their posts public or private, based on your preferences.

Use these platforms to link with other students from other parts of the school district or other parts of your town, country or even the world. You can have a virtual class together and even get to have discussions. This will be great in helping learners to form new friendships and getting them to understand people from different backgrounds.

One of the things that can be done includes creating an online group in one of the social media pages. Then post relevant information on the group. This includes things like announcements and even assignments. The learners can post any questions that they have. A group gives parents an opportunity to follow what is going on with their kids at school. It is also a good way for learners, teachers, parents and administrators to keep in touch.

Use these platforms to not just teach your students but to improve your life as well. For instance, use the platforms to connect with your peers. Join professional groups in your country and around the world and share ideas, lessons plans, materials, experiences and other things.

Increase the creativity of students by requesting them to make picture boards. This can be on a specific topic that you are teaching them. They can then save the pictures and give short descriptions about the various images they have saved or shared. This provides students with activities to do and prevents them from getting bored with their classes.

As much as using online platforms can be beneficial, it is important that you establish guidelines for students. This way, they are likely to use their pages responsibly, given that any information they share online will be publicly available. Give them guidelines for safe use of the internet. In addition, you do not have to use the real platforms, as there are other sites that imitate the real ones and can only be used for students in your school only.




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