Students spend a substantial time of their day on social media, which pushes educational institutions to embrace new ways of learning. Studies have suggested that students are using technology tools at large. Therefore, institutions cannot miss this opportunity to engage students on social media and develop effective digital pedagogies using these platforms.
Also, the pedagogies derived using social media are easy to comprehend and share as they involve graphics, pictures, games, and engaging content.
Also, it provides centralised platforms for students and teachers to connect.
Social media have given institutions newer ways to engage students. It helps them as academics through modern-day channels like YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. In addition, these channels allow students to sensitize the educational details and updates.
Institutions have adopted social media in their pedagogies and curriculums to enhance learning outcomes. It facilitates smooth interaction between students and educators and allows them to simplify complex subjects. For instance, challenges, hackathons, and educational gaming competitions online.
However, students get distracted due to browsing time, gaps in online classes, and the feeling of missing out on the outer world. But we cannot ignore social media and their benefits for classroom learning.
COLLABORATIVE ENVIRONMENT FOR STUDENTS
Seeing the high level of students’ engagement through social media, various schools adopted it for community building, raising awareness, and establishing communication and high-order thinking skills among students. Social media provide a collaborative environment for students to exchange information and learn from each other.
It enhances the communication skills of students as they connect globally. The diversified content shared on various social media channels helps students to develop critical thinking and creativity.
Social media tools such as WordPress and Facebook allow students to post their content and get opinions from experts, which helps them in building understanding and redefining their perspectives. Also, this builds confidence among students and enhances their thought processes. In addition, teachers experiment and evaluate students’ learning by assigning various social media projects so that students can explore their creativity and challenge themselves.
ROLE OF NEP 2022
The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 also focuses on putting students at the center of the education system and using extensive technology in the learning process. Social media tools have also contributed to making education student-centric.
It enables personalised learning by providing specific learning plans for their interests and abilities.
ROLE OF SOCIAL MEDIA IN STUDENT’S LIFE
Through social media, students actively participate in their learning rather than being passively involved in receiving knowledge they are likely to forget. Whether it’s about functionality, a live stream of an important event, a survey related to course materials, or a question posed to the larger community, social media present information in a way that makes sense and excites students more than traditional tools.
With recorded lectures, podcasts, live classes, and seminars, students can choose how and when they want to study what subject.
Students can use various platforms for educational purposes, powered by multiple languages, including regional languages packed with varied content quality. Emerging social media platforms provide content free of cost in different regional languages, making education more accessible and eliminating language barriers.
Live lectures and seminars on Facebook, Instagram, and other social media platforms bring education experts from various regions to one platform.
It encourages students to work more collaboratively and creatively in the classroom and helps them realise the practical uses of the social media platforms they already use.
For example, technical skills learned today will help students to find jobs in a market that increasingly relies on digital technologies for networking and information exchange. It also allows parents to monitor students’ learning through platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn.
Feeds on these social media platforms update parents’ school-related activities, events and projects happening. In addition, it is becoming a platform for teachers and parents to connect and discuss a child’s progress via Skype, Google Teams, and WhatsApp.
By: Dr. Amrit Das