Social Media in College Classrooms - Essay Example

The classroom is an area in which social media has a significant impact besides being the core of the higher education experience. According to Kist (2009, p.218), the Pearson Social Media Survey indicated that lecturers use social media to some extent in their courses. One may employ social media in a classroom setting in various aspects as explained below.

Basic course communication

Marquis says that social media is majorly used in the classroom as a channel for communication between the instructor and the student. This is true and the link may be created using Facebook whereby the instructor or lecturer posts course syllabus and assignments and can even take attendance.

Connecting beyond the campus

The World Wide Web complements the lecturers’ information that students get. The internet is where students can get in touch with other learners, experts, and experiences in the real world, which an individual teacher may not match.  A teacher can provide additional insights by using the web to connect students to others.  In addition, the teacher may express alternative points of view via the Internet. This is the best way to engage students on a much deeper level with the content of the course.

Research Site

Often, teachers assign students to work that requires them to research from books and other sources to get the required information. With the Internet, students can obtain information at a lower cost about time. They also get up-to-date information from a wide scope. This is because topics such as education, commerce, religion, politics, or even medicine can be accessed on the Internet. Thus, allowing students to access and conduct research through the internet aids their learning.

Creating and Sharing Media

As students research on the internet, they also gain skills on how they can share their own media or critique work done by others; which helps students to participate in their knowledge of production. By use of social media tools like YouTube, Wikipedia, and blogs to synthesize knowledge and explore their intellect engages students with the current topic and besides, and they establish long-term patterns of inquiry and scholarly communication.

Conclusion

Owing to the above, there is therefore need to allow social media use in all college classrooms for efficient learning to take place and for teachers to have an easy time accessing their students.