Today,
technology provides a lot of opportunities for education that can be accessed
by everyone around the globe. The educational field has completely transformed ever
since the Internet and technology are included into the equation.
Due
to the growth in social networking websites, educators are looking for their
potential for use in education, having the conscious that social networking
sites may have the ability to endorse both collaboration and active learning.
Thus,
the affirmative effects of social networking in education are perceptive. Social networking sites not only
assist students but also offer great opportunities for communication among
administrators and teachers.
Using social networking sites, teachers can
able to improve the involvement of their students in studies and education,
improve technological ability, provide a great sense of collaboration in
classroom and make good communication skills.
The
University of Minnesota had a research on social networking sites like MySpace
and Facebook and found that the social networking sites have a great impact for
educational growth for students in high school.
Christine
Greenhow, the principal investigator in the study, has elaborated the impact of
social networking sites on education. She has done her research on students, aged
from 16 to 18, studying in urban school, located at Midwest.
The
study showed that, 94 percent of the observed students used the Internet, 77
percent had their account on social networking sites and 82 percent of the
students went online at home.
The surveyed
students said that they have learned many important skills such as
technological skills, communication skills, creativity and being open for diverse
opinions and views, which are all important for 21st century. Moreover,
teachers can also be able to make the school more linked, appropriate and
meaning to the students.
Also,
the study showed that, the students are using latest technology systems,
updating web content and also having idea about web design and layout. They
share their creative work like films, poetries, etc., and also carry out the
responsible use of Information as well as Technology. Few among these students
are also aware of professional networking opportunities that social networking
websites usually provide.
As a
result of this study, Greenhow told that social networking sites provide more
than just social exploitation. It offers wide opportunities to give support
what the educators learn on the websites.
Therefore, social networking websites are
considered as an ideal source that helps us to widen our knowledge. Recent
survey says that millions of people accessing social networking sites for their
educational requirements. Thus, the field of education has undergone a drastic
shift and hence gained a new dimension for the past decade.
The following
are the popular social networking websites that have effective educational
benefits:
EDMODO:
Edmodo is the largest social networking website used mainly for
education purposes. As per the survey, more than 13 million people are using
this website effectively. Edmodo provides great security for all its users. If
an institute is using this website, then the institute will get a security code
from this website. Hence, the institute can share the code to the people
whomever it wants to access the website. This is how the website provides great
security to its users. Edmodo encourages other activities such as posting
assignments, conducting surveys and sharing images and videos.
ENGLISH BABY: Teaching conversational English
is the main objective of the English Baby website. The analysis showed that nearly
1.5 million people across the globe are using this website. This website is
very famous among the Chinese people still the website is also used by
Americans, Japanese, Indians, Egyptians, etc. However, only the premium users get
rights to access this website.
LIVEMOCHA: Livemocha is a social networking website used
to teach various languages to the website users. As per the analysis, nearly
1.2 million people around the world are using this website. The website consists
of a collection of course material available in more than 38 different
languages. The users of this website can perform activities such as posting
content and reviewing content.
ACADMIA.EDU: Acadmia.edu is a science-related
website built specially for scientists and the respective college students. As
per the study, more than 1.9 million people are using the website all over the
world. It is a platform mainly for academic researchers and aficionados to
share research materials and research papers to other website users. Using this
website, the users can able to share their research papers with other users in
the same field, have contact with experts of a field and get their help in a
research. The website also shows the number of people accessed the papers and
their reviews to the users who post their research papers.
EPERNICUS: Epernicus is another social
networking website, focuses on social networking aspect, built mainly for
scientists and researchers. Unlike Acadmia.edu, it doesn’t allow users to share
their research papers and materials. It allows users to post questions and get
suitable answers from recognized experts. The users of the website can
participate on any topic related to science and research and hence the website
is quite informative for its users.
COURSE CRACKER: Course Cracker is a network that enables
students, teachers and parents to connect with each other resulting in the refinement
of the learning process. The main objective of this site is to improve the
educational experience of users by using latest web applications and web tools.
This website allows the users to post their course material, quizzes,
assignments and other sources related to education and also give them
permission to access the posted content.
STUDENTS CIRCLE NETWORK: Social circle network is one
among the latest editions to the club of social networking sites, consists of
different course materials in the field of science, business, engineering,
computing and humanities. The website consists of nearly 10,400 intellectual
courses, targeting mainly students and teachers.
9TH PERIOD: The main focus of this website is
on web applications and online tools. Thus, it facilitates education to its
users, such as students, teachers and universities, through the Internet. This website allows users who have similar
interest to interact with each other without any discrepancies.
THE SYNAPSE: This website mainly concentrates
on biology students, tutors and researchers all over the globe. This website
acts as a great source of latest happenings and development in biology,
generally built on Ning platform.
THE MOLECULAR FORCES: It is another website built on
Ning platform, focuses on physics and chemistry students, teachers and
researchers. Teachers can able to distribute their study materials and learning
approaches in this website. The website also acts as a great platform for
sharing and asking questions on new ideas.
The
following are the most popular social networking websites that promote
education:
WIKIPEDIA: A popular social networking
website that consists of a great repository of informative articles, generally
used by millions of users every one hour. When you see in the discussion board,
you can find many people sharing their views and opinions in a forum based
settings. Also, they ask questions, review, modify, mention references, give
feedbacks and share their knowledge gained from the article.
FACEBOOK: Facebook is a famous social
networking site that has nearly a billion users all over the world. This
website is considered to be the best website for promoting education. In this
modern generation, you can find almost every student has an account in
Facebook. The Facebook groups are formed for schools and classes and thus the
website allows both the teachers and students to share their information, post
queries and answers, set reminders about upcoming events, etc. The eminent
Facebook groups that are available are Wikieducators , E-Learning
in developing and developed countries, Teaching
Critical Thinking and Active
Learning.
LINKEDIN: LinkedIn is one of the largest
website created mainly for business relationships and networking. This website
is used by nearly a million of companies and professionals across the globe.
Not only LinkedIn educates its users, but also provides advantageous benefits
to employers and job seekers. Like Facebook, LinkedIn also has so many groups
for educators.
These
are the top 20 social networking websites that advances educations:
1.
Twitter
2.
Classroom
2.0
3.
Facebook
4.
Google
Plus
5.
Plurk
6.
Educator’s
PLN
7.
Sophia
8.
Learn
Central
9.
ISTE
Community
10.
WhoTeachers
11.
Edutopia
12.
Technology
Integration in Education
13.
The
21st Century Teacher
14.
Better
Lesson
15.
Diipo
16.
Intel
Education Teachers Engage Community
17.
Everloop
18.
Edudemic
19.
K12
Advantage
20.
Collaborative
Translation
How
social networking sites assist individual educators?
- Promotes creativity
- Enhances communication skills
- Develops collaboration and team work
- Provides access to information
- Increases awareness
- Develops social connection
By
using social networking sites, students get the following benefits:
- Improvement of communication skills
- Improvement of technology skills
- Increase in the exposure of diverse views
- Develop a positive image
- Increase the engagement of learning
By
using social networking sites, teachers get the following benefits:
- Increase the access to resources
- Collaborate with other staffs
- Exchange information and lesson plans
- Reach parents who are not able to come to school
- Form partnership with schools in different states and countries
- Get feedback about school and events
- Communicate with parents effectively
As it
is easy to access and use Social networking websites from anywhere in the world
and at any time, they have gained more popularity among people. Moreover,
social media sites provide a vast amount of information useful for educators
and thus make students learn dexterously discriminate between what information
is useful for them and what is not.
Despite
promoting education among students, social networking sites also helps them for
successful employment. Students who enter into the workforce can able to use
social networking sites to network and thus find employment too.
Thus,
social networking sites not only play a vital role in connecting people but
also play an escalating role in education.
