THE POTENTIAL OF SOCIAL MEDIA AS A COMMUNICATION TOOL.

My learners when asked them about the use of social media, it really excited them and their responses to the survey questions revealed that social media can be a great tool in learning.

The survey I carried out in my school revealed that, 80% of the students are already using social media though not purposely for learning.

And they know a number of social media platforms, like twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp etc.  

Those that are not using social media at least they know about it.

They really liked the idea of using social media in their learning and when I asked to imagine a class where they are allowed to come with their smartphones, they were so excited about it.  

So after the survey and sharing of ideas even with my CCTI colleagues I really see the potential of social media as a communication tool.

Why social Media?

Sharing of ideas: Social networking sites allow users to share ideas, activities, events and interests within their individual networks. Web based social networking services make it possible to connect people who share interests and activities across education, political, economic and geographic borders.

Tool of communication: Social networks are increasingly being used by teachers and learners as a communication tool. Teachers create chat rooms, forums and groups to extend classroom discussion to posting assignments, tests and quizzes, to assisting with homework outside of the classroom setting. Learners can also form groups over the social networking sites and engage in discussion over a variety of topics.

Bridges communication gap: Social media bridges the distance among different people. It offers platforms for online users to find others who share the same interests and build virtual communities based on those shared interests. With the availability of social media technologies and services, content sharing and user interaction has become relatively easy and efficient.

Source of information: Content generating and sharing sites serve as sources of information for various topics. Users can search for content, download and use the content available on these sites free of cost.

Low Costs/ Cost effective: It is cheaper to use online social networking for both personal and business use because most of it is usually free. Unlike in other forms of media like electronic or print, one has to pay a certain amount of money for a news item to get published. A person can scout out potential customers and target markets with just a few clicks and keystrokes.

Less time consuming: Social media is an effective time management medium of communication for academic purposes.

As a teacher today that has had a golden opportunity to Technology integration, I have been inspired to see that Social media is integrated in my classes.

Create social media groups for my classes, say a WhatsApp group, where I can post some questions and let students discuss them. Using these groups, I can communicate on different topics and allow students to brain storm on them even before we look at them in class.

I intend to record short videos on different topics and share them with my students using the social media platforms they prefer.

Plan projects and encourage them to collaborate using the social media platform of their choice to won these projects.

While doing this I need to make sure they are guided on social media abuse. So I need to watch their conduct.