Social networking sites help students do better at school - Research Paper Example

There are some students who find physical-social contribution and interaction difficult. Engaging these students through an online platform can make studying easy for them (Osborne). Dialogue and collaboration are hampered by the introduction of social networking on the learning environment. Collaboration and dialogue are critical to the one-to-many and one-to-one models. In the many-to-many model which is used in social networking, the point of attention shifts from the collaborative to cooperative learning and from the group level to an individual.

While collaboration seeks that the group moves together, cooperation seeks individual affinity and flexibility in a learning environment. George Middle School, in Portland developed a program that encompassed social networking and school routine. Through the program, they discovered that grades increased by 50 percent. 20 percent of the students completed extra assignments at will. Through the program, they discovered that integrating social networking with the education system lowered absences by 33 percent.

An article in The New York Times explains that, Erin Olson a teacher uses social media to improve class participation. The students use a website where they post their feelings and thoughts about the classroom discussion. Olson appreciates the arrangement because students become more engaged in learning and participate when they others post their views than when done in class (Sang). Students and other individuals join social networks to associate and engage with others who are like minded and in need of learning similar things.

Some schools impose learning management systems on their students. Many students are of habit of avoiding using the school-managed learning environments and systems because they are either difficult to use or irrelevant to the basic daily learning needs. Such a response from students shows that a loose network of composed of willing participants guarantees