Importance of Social Media in Education

• Merriam Webster defines social media as "forms of electronic communication (as Web sites for social networking and microblogging) through which users create online communities to share information, ideas, personal messages, and other content (as videos). 

Social media is practically everywhere, there's Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, Edmodo, YouTube, Tumblr, Flikr, Instagram, Voicethread and numerous others.  Social media is a part of our culture.  As parents and educators it's important for us to embrace the 21st century, accept and understand that the internet and social media are here to stay.  We all want to protect our children and there is some fear with regards to social media sites in regards to cyberbulling, inappropriate selfies, unmonitored conversations, and predators.  What's important for our children isn't sheltering them from this method of communication but teaching them 21st century skills including (Schrum and Levin, 2009), "critical thinking and problem solving, creativity and innovation, and communication and collaboration."  It's important for our students to be literate in ways other than reading literacy, today they also need  develop information literacy, media literacy and digital literacy (Schrum and Levin, 2009).  Vanwynsberghe and Verdegem (2013) state, "Media literacy must involve the acquisition of cognitive, practical and affective competencies in order to participate in social media competently."  Teaching our children how to search for and process information found, communicate and collaborate with others , and how to create content on social media are critical skills for today's students.  It is important that our students not only gain these skills in regards to social media but to also understand the consequences associated with social media like posting personal information or inappropriate selfies )Vanwysberghe and Verdegem, 2013).

With these things in mind, I have incorporated some social media into our WebQuest.  We will be using YouTube, Edmodo and Pinterest.  I will maintain a board on Pinterest where the students and I can post ideas and projects about the amazing animals.  

Here is the link to our Pinterest board about animal classification:
http://www.pinterest.com/dawnmdr/animal-classification/
Here is the link to our Pinterest board about animal habitats:
http://www.pinterest.com/dawnmdr/animal-habitats/

We will be using YouTube for watching videos related to amazing animals, classification, habitats and creating our own videos about these amazing animals.

We will be using Edmodo to connect with other students about our project.


Resources:

Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. Retrieved from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/social%20media.

Schrum, L., & Levin, B. B. (2009). Leading 21st Century Schools: Harnessing technology for engagement and achievement. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.

Vanwynsberghe, H., & Verdegem, P. (2013). Integrating Social Media in Education. Clcweb: Comparative Literature & Culture: A Wwweb Journal, 15(3), 1-10. doi:10.7771/1481-4374.2247