iPaddiction: Social Apps Students Are Using and Teachers Need To Know About

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Social Apps Students Are Using and Teachers Need To Know About

Some staff members in your school may contest that all social media should be blocked. While this is one route, a more relative response to social media should be to educate.

Let me explain.

Students are handed keys to a $15,000, $20,000, or even a $30,000 vehicle when they are 15 years old and allowed to traverse the highways and biways of our country. We don't ban them from this opportunity, in fact most parents are thrilled when their child earns their driver's license because it enables them to transport themselves to and from school and extra-curricular activities. We teach them, question them, and teach them again about the dangers of driving and show/discuss/demonstrate proper strategies for navigating when using the vehicle.

Social media in our schools via tech tools is much the same way. We can block all of these sites, but within days a student will find a work around. Whether it is through a trick on the device or the use of a proxy. Therefore, every member of a village who has the best interest of students in mind needs to be aware of the latest social media services that students are using. Beyond that, teachers need to be up front with students about their knowledge of these tools and confront the negative that could be associated with these tools. Having the knowledge of these tools directly ties in with our need to educate students on proper digital citizenship. Schools should try as much as they can to harness social media for positive use.

With that being said, below is the list of social media services that students are using. (via multiple conversations with students)

Twitter - students are transferring to this service in droves
Facebook - declining because as one student stated, "It's too dramatic!"

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