Goodwall, a social networking site that encourages young collaboration, doesn’t view it as a distraction because media can affect learning. They use it to enhance student learning.
Taha Bawa, a founder of Goodwall, spoke about Goodwall’s role in harnessing social media’s potential as an educational tool. This is a safe space where students can connect and share their accomplishments. They can ask for help: ‘do my accounting homework’, or to help them with a task. Goodwall helps students engage in online and offline opportunities via gamification, social network, and other tools. They partner with universities and companies who want to offer scholarships and awards for students who share their passion.
Goodwall’s goal? The emphasis on experiential learning and entrepreneurial thinking will change the learning habits of students.
Bawa isn’t the only one. Edutopia published a George Lucas Foundation article on social networking in the classroom. Teachers from around the world collaborated to discover ways to use social networking in the classroom for students’ benefit.
What does dissertation writing have to do about education and learning? We will be discussing the benefits and pitfalls associated with social media in education.
Sorting Information
Anyone who has ever scrolled through Twitter’s newsfeed knows how you can sort information. It’s hard to discern what’s important from what isn’t in social media. It happens very quickly. It takes only seconds to decide what to read, what you want to keep, how to reply, and what to skip.
Collaboration
Social media can be a great tool for students working together. Social media allows students to communicate with each other via both Facebook groups and Twitter hashtags. Students can easily share information and collaborate simultaneously on projects using resources from around the world.
Loyalty to University
Social media can influence your perception of your university. Computers in Human Behavior published an article that demonstrated how Facebook communities can impact students’ perceptions about their university. Facebook can affect brand loyalty. Research suggests that strong Facebook communities can result in strong brand loyalty due to the importance to identify with the university community.
Be aware of the negative effects
While social media can be an excellent tool for learning, there are serious consequences.
The main problem? Addiction.
It can be difficult to focus on academic subjects when you have instant accessibility to all the information. A 2013 study found that women spend up to 12 hours per day on social media sites. Although social media can be helpful for information sorting, collaboration, and other purposes, research has shown that it has negative consequences.
Is there a silver lining? Higher grades can be linked-to listening to music or reading the newspaper, two activities that have been shown to be associated with higher grades.
What’s your take-away? Here’s your takeaway from the Beatle song: “All The World Is A Birthday Cake. So have a slice but not too many.”
