Empowerment of Social Media in the Classroom

Students nowadays are so engaged in technological advancements that consume most of their time.  Internet café's are full of students busy browsing the net or playing online games.  The advancement of technology seems to fill the minds of the people especially the adolescents.  Students are dependents with their gadgets than books.  Students are actively interacting with their chat mates or online friends than in the classroom discussion with the teacher.  The problem of the teachers nowadays, addressed us to this question, how can the teachers engage and inculcate learning  to the techno-world of the students? 

  To answer this question I have interviewed Hannah E. Gonzaga, a science teacher from Misamis University.  She said that the challenging role of  teachers nowadays is how to actively engaged students in a learning process.  With the widely used of technology today, students can have a greater access to online communication thru social media, etc.  That’s why teachers like her, need to be informed, aware and engaged themselves in the use of it for them to connect to the lives of their students. She pointed out the use of Social Media in instruction is one way to fill the gap between the students and the teacher.  The students will be interested and are expected to engage in a meaningful way for a lifelong learning.  She added, that one way of using social media is through establishing groups in Yahoo,Facebook , wikis, etc.where students can access learning activities.  By this, they will be engaged in a learning process through active interaction between me and their classmates.  Instead of preventing them to be digitally oriented, let them use their knowledge, skills and interest in it to be utilized properly that at the same time learning will occur, she said.

Also she cited some advantages and disadvantages in using social  media. 

Advantages of using Social Media in the classroom:

•   Promotes the active use of technology in a  meaningful way.
•   Relate to the interest of the students in a social media interaction that keep them to actively engage into it.
• Less difficult for students since they master the use of it.

Disadvantages of using Social Media in the classroom:

• The students may become lazy for a real life set up for learning. 
• Students will become dependent with it and cannot cope with the actual learning.                              
  
  
•  Learning of the student may be overpower by the persistent use of social media.

       As a teacher, social media influence her teaching in a way that it creates a closer understanding and a connection between her and her students.