Url: [http://edudemic.com/2011/01/the-ultimate-teachers-guide-to-social-media/]
This is like asking: Why should teachers care about their students? Where they come from...etc Because the student of today, like it or not comes from a digital world. In an article by Howard Rheingold, he mentions how these digital natives or students, carry mobile phones, media players, game devices, laptop computers with them almost everywhere and know how to use them. He mentions how these students also "know the Internet not as a transformative new technology, but as a fixture in their environment". This in turn effects teachers because these are the students that they will be developing lessons for, TODAY! These digital natives are somewhat self-guided in the ways of technology and learning, but are still in need of guidance. So if teachers cannot speak the digital language of their students, then how can they offer guidance?
By teachers creating a online social media classroom, they create (and surveillance) a space for ideas, questions and conversations to grow into knowledge. Teachers should learn about social media, and understand in detail how their students are using social media in their lives. The Internet is a good start, as it provides digital production tools and information to distribution networks that "enable people to mobilize new types of collective action"(Rheingold, 2).
Outlining this idea is an article entitled: Digital Media and Youth: Unparalleled Opportunity and Unprecedented Responsibility - by Andrew J. Flanagin and Miriam J. Metzger. It gives great insight as to why teachers should care about social media. "With the sudden explosion of digital media content and access devices in the last generation, there is now more information available to more people from more sources than at any time in human history. Pockets of limited availability by geography or status notwithstanding, people now have ready access to almost inconceivably vast information repositories that are increasingly portable, accessible, and interactive in both delivery and formation. Basic human activities have changed as a result, and new possibilities have emerged". Teachers should be understanding of social media as a new possibility for student learning in the classroom, even if they are not fully convinced of its legitimacy. The article also continues to note that "the process by which people locate, organize, and coordinate groups of individuals with shared interests, the number and nature of information and news sources available, and the ability to solicit and share opinions and ideas across myriad topics have all undergone dramatic change as a result of interconnected digital media". This is language in which many digital natives are fluent. So teachers should at least attempt at speaking their language or trying to understand where they are coming from - technologically or digitally speaking.
Community production and culture (Wikipedia, Youtube, Flickr, the blogosphere) These tools, free and open are connected and open educational resources. Students are moving from a private, to a now public voice as a new type of self-expression. These students can learn public participation, and this is beneficial to learning outcomes of students. Teachers want active participation from their students? Well, students have the power to connect to each other with the click of a button, and can form online communities through social networking. Teachers want to give students a voice, social media lets them speak - through mobile/electronic devices that is. Social media is something easily implemented by teachers, they just need the willingness to learn new things, and to keep up with their digitally inclined students.
It all comes down to teacher choice. Make it. Or don't.
Url: [http://jameshooper.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/social-media.jpg]
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