Journal 3 Case for Social Media

Journal #3        The Case for Social Media in Schools

Kessler, S. (2010, September 29). The Case for Social Media in Schools. Retrieved from  
      http://mashable.com/2010/09/29/social-media-in-school/

     The article written by Sarah Kessler addresses and includes reasons proponents of educational social media should use more social media programs. The author Kessler reasons the fact that social media is not going away and that kids learn better when they are engaged. Additionally, this is an opportunity to incorporate learning tools that students already know how to use.

  Kessler believes that safe social media tools such as kidblog.org, Edmodo, and Edublogs are available for teachers to use in their classrooms.  She also encourages schools to compete with other social media sites for students' time.  Doing so will encourage collaboration with other students using social media.  The author states the cell phone as yet another media tool that would help to reach and engage students.

     In Kessler's 2010 article she shared how she started a pilot social media program. The program helped improve grades by more than 50% and helped reduce absenteeism by more than a third. In her article, she shared how she began by introducing this to seventh graders in Oregon. Kessler and other proponents of educational social media argue that the educational benefits of social media far outweigh the risks.

Schools do worry that they are missing out.  School districts are now attempting to manage the use of the Internet.  This is to make it a safe tool for the students to use. Use of social media tools should be with some restrictions. There are safe and free social media tools are available for example, kidblog.org. Sometimes using of the cell phone to reach students is not the wisest or best approach. Every student does not have access to a cell phone.  Cell phones are great but, students need to be provided with advice and taught about the risks of using social media. School environments need to have the appropriate safety measures limiting potential harm to users and to the parties that provide access to the tools.

 Social media has educational benefits, but the risks still need to be weighed.  One benefit is for students to use learning tools that they already know how to use.  Obviously, social media is here to stay. Social media is also extremely engaging.  Keep up with technology is important! Incorporating it into the educational system would facilitate making this happen. We all need to truly concern ourselves of the potential unsafe environments presented by some social media tools. Caution should be exercised because students may be the users more at risk.