The Positive Side of Social Media in School

In recent years, social media has become more and more popular among the younger generations. People always talk about the negative side of having it in the school system rather then the positive ways it can benefit the students.

In today's world opportunities for education online have increased like never before. According to a study done by The University of Minnesota, using social media sites teaches the students what we want them to learn for the future. Since kids are so familiar with using social media it is easier to learn from something they are used to working with and incorporate it in the curriculum by connecting with the kids and make the learning relevant to their lives. Teachers also can have better communication with the students inside and outside of the classroom. I personally know that having discussion boards as a class benefit me while doing homework and needing assistance. Using social media not only benefits students, it also is very helpful to teachers and gives them new opportunities for communication and lessons. According to Social networking on ProCon.org, 59% of students with access to the internet report that they use social networking for educational topics and 50% use it to discuss school assignments. 

I found it interesting to see from the chart above that a main reason teachers use some of these sites are for current events. What better way to see what the world is talking about than a simple hash tag on twitter?  I know as a future teacher I love looking through Pinterest to get good classroom decorating ideas, as well as lesson plans and games to play with the students. A lot of teachers these days are having students create boards on Pinterest for final projects. I think these are such creative and fun ways to learn, not to mention useful! When I was in Junior high we had to make a Facebook page for the characters of a book we were reading. Personally I thought it was one of the most creative ideas to do as an assignment. It got the class involved and interested by listing the hometown, things they "liked", events they attended, friends they had and many other Facebook type things.

As the debate continues on whether or not social media should be permitted in the school system, remember that the world is changing and teaching safety on the internet is an important learning experience. Social media is the start of a new path for growth in the school system. The only way to keep kids interested and involved is to keep up with the times. What better way to keep up then to incorporate social media into the learning experience?


Robb, M. (n.d.). Pause before posting: Using social media responsibly. Retrieved from http://www.socialworktoday.com/archive/020911p8.shtml

Procon.org. (2012, May 24). Retrieved from http://socialnetworking.procon.org

Educational benefits of social networking sites. (2008, July 10). Retrieved from http://www1.umn.edu/news/features/2008f/UR_191308_REGION1.html