There is a wide range of social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. They provide free information and connection worldwide. These media can positively be used by educational institutions to improve the learning experience. Today, most people from 13 years old have a social media account.
Students in high school and university connect through various online tools to meet their education needs. Educators can use social media to enhance learning. On the other hand, students can create learning groups to help them connect with students around the world. Here are the benefits of using social media in educational institutions.
It can be used as a communication channel
Most students use social media as their easiest way of communicating. For example, a student could be looking for an essay writing service. They can quickly ask for recommendations from their peers. Within a few minutes, they get ideas and choose the best writer.
Quick communication is essential in the education sector. Information between teachers and students must be sent fast. For example, a teacher could be reminding students about a fast-approaching deadline for submitting a paper. If they pin the notice on the notice board, it can take many days before every concerned student reads it.
It is easier for the teacher to open a group for their classroom. It connects students taking the same course. If a student wants to confirm anything, they will post on the group. The teacher or other students can answer them quickly.
It opens more distance learning opportunities
More students are registering for distance learning every year. Their teacher sends them notes online. Many of them study and do exams online. To make their learning better, students download different learning applications. This is one of the reasons why you should upgrade your iPhone often. It helps to make sure its applications are up to date.
If you are registered for distance learning, you can connect with your teacher through skype. You can also receive webinars, or download recorded videos. It is easy to ask your teacher any question.
It doesn’t matter where you are located in the world. You will get your notes and books in time. You don’t have to attend a formal classroom to study. When you are connected on social media, you study at your convenience.
It connects students worldwide
Today, a student doesn’t need to travel to another country to study. They can register with a college in another country while seated in their home. After they start to study, they need help from other students. It is easy to connect with any student worldwide.
They also need help from online tutors. Because of social media, they have a big advantage. They can connect with student groups worldwide. The student only needs to search for a good group.
Anytime they want to ask a question, they only need to post it in the group. For example, a student might want to know how to delete a Snapchat account. If they have no idea how to do it, they can ask for ideas from the group. Within a few minutes, they will get many ideas and solve the problem.
Involvement of education stakeholders
For many years, it has been difficult to involve more people in the learning process. There have been challenges in involving parents, education leaders from the government, and textbook sellers. Social media can help bring these different groups of people together in different ways.
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Parents share their ideas
More often, parents have ideas about their children’s education. They love to share them with teachers but they lack the chance. Today, most schools have social media accounts for parents. For example, there can be an account for parents with students in the engineering department.
When the parents have any issues to share, they connect online and post their concerns. The teacher may answer or let other parents answer them. If it is a high school class, the teacher can open a social media account for their grade level. All issues touching on the grade get to be shared on that account.
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Sharing student performance
Apart from sharing concerns, teachers share student performance. After every exam, parents are usually eager to know how their students performed. Instead of sending individual performances to every parent, the teacher can post records for all students. Parents can compare how their children performed against other classmates.
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Communicating notices
Notices can be in terms of meetings or emergencies. Traditionally, teachers send letters to parents to notify them about upcoming meetings. The letters sometimes can take longer to reach the parents. If this happens, the parent might never attend the meeting. It is easier to post one meeting notice on social media. Every parent will receive it and plan to attend.
Sometimes, emergencies do happen in schools. These are issues that affect the whole school. For quick communication, the teacher can post an emergency notice on the social media account.
It is an educational tool
Educational institutions do not just use social media to communicate. It is also used as an educational tool. Many teachers prepare short courses and upload them on social media. When students search for online courses, they get a large number of good courses. People who develop software post updates on social media.
Some of the software is good for education. The software developers create software for educational games. Some create online tuition where students can connect with a teacher online and learn. Some may charge a small fee but the student benefits in many ways.
It is a great marketing tool
Social media is a very useful tool in marketing. The school chooses its main social media platform. Once it opens the social media account, the school begins to use it for marketing. There are different ways schools can achieve this.
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Posting daily
The school can post useful information daily on its social media platform. This helps them to increase followers. Both students and parents become their followers. They make the ordinary types of posts that do not require payment. This is what is called organic posting. When the followers share with their friends, information about the schools spreads wider.
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Paying for posting
Another way schools can market themselves is to pay for posts. This happens when the school wants to reach a wider area. It could be they want to reach the whole country. It could also be they want to reach the whole world. To do this, they prepare an advertisement and pay for it. They indicate where they want the advertisement to be seen. This is what is called paid advertisement.
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Posting photos about the school
School managers can also post photos of the school. They may also choose to post videos. People love to watch videos. They will rarely ignore a photo or video about the school. Some social media platforms are better when posting photos. For example, Instagram is a good choice for photos while YouTube is good for videos.
Helps to increase student participation
Every social media platform provides different ways for use in the classroom. It can be used to share homework or other class assignments. It can be used to share notes or submit homework. The teacher uses the same platform to give feedback about performance.
Traditionally, many students do not do their homework because they lack time to copy from the board or book. Many other students fail exams because they don’t write notes during lessons. Some do not understand the assignment topic. Due to this, they write the wrong information for their papers.
Using social media in the classroom helps to increase student participation. Nearly every student has access to a smartphone or computer. When the teacher posts homework on a social media platform, every student gets it. No student misses class lesson notes because the teacher posts them after every lesson.
When they give assignments, they post the instructions on the platform. Because of this, more students take their time to do homework and other assignments. They submit the homework on the same platform. This approach helps to improve student performance.
It helps students to learn digital literacy
People throughout the world are moving away from traditional methods of teaching. Traditionally, students and teachers use paper textbooks and exercise books. Anytime they want to do research, they go to physical libraries to look for books. This trend is coming to an end fast.
The new trend in teaching is focusing more on digital literacy. Teachers look for better ways to teach about research. They teach students how to communicate online, collaborate, and write information. Digital literacy cannot be separated from social media.
Students learn how to read and write using digital gadgets instead of papers. Social media is a major communication channel between students and teachers. They must learn how to write effectively so that their message is understood by everyone.
Many students learn how to use various digital gadgets by first connecting to social media. They learn to write, reply, and give their opinions. As time goes by, they learn to do a wider range of communication.
Conclusion
There are many benefits the education sector gets from using social media. Mainly, schools use different social media channels for communication. They send notices for events, semester breaks, and exams on social media. The platforms are useful for distance learning. Students register for online courses from their gadgets. Social media helps promote digital literacy among students. It promotes student participation in classroom activities and homework.
