The Future of Social Media in Grade School
As we've been reading about the increasing use of social media in higher education, I've also started thinking about how this trend may impact primary education. It is no secret that many teenagers have traditional social media accounts, regardless of age restrictions or platform policies.
Social media includes a wide range of tools, such as blogs and wikis, media-sharing platforms like YouTube, social networking sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn, and communication tools like email and Zoom (Zgheib & Dabbagh, 2020).
As a former elementary and middle school teacher, I frequently used tools like YouTube and classroom blogs to engage students with content. At the time, I never really thought of those tools as forms of social media. This course has broadened my understanding of social media.
I have started to wonder how far educators can go as schools increasingly incorporate social media into teaching and learning. I did a little research on platforms that are designed specifically for younger learners. Here are two that stood out to me:
Seesaw:
Seesaw is an online learning platform designed for students in PreK-5. It allows students to create a digital portfolio & share their work with teachers and families. The platform also enables teachers to communicate with parents regularly. It also has AI-supported features to enhance instruction (Seesaw).
Kidblog:
Kidblog, also known as Fanschool, is a blogging platform designed for students in grades K-12. It is managed by educators, allowing students to practice blogging in a safe environment. As someone who used classroom blogs with my students, I think this would be a great stepping stone before introducing learners to more traditional social media platforms.
Zgheib, G. E., & Dabbagh, N. (2020). Social media learning activities (SMLA): Implications for
design. Online Learning, 24(1), 50-66. https://doi.org/10.24059/olj.v24i1.1967
The two social media platforms for school-age learners look wonderful! How do you reconcile FERPA compliance with using social media? Did you use any restrictions with your class blog? Thank you in advance.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing these two platforms. It is interesting to see some of the tools that are being utilized. Recently I have been hearing about other countries moving away from technology in the classroom or at least not introducing it as early. Here is an article I found about this debate and the direction that Sweden is moving. Have you found a similar discussion happening in the US?
ReplyDeletehttps://www.zmescience.com/science/news-science/sweden-bringing-back-books/