Why Do We Have to Use Social Media in Schools?

Why Social Media?

My blog has not been updated like it used to and the reason is just lack of time. I started all my social media activities at the same time I started this blog, August 2007. At first it was just a hobby to me, but connecting to other people in the digital world, I realized that this is the way the younger generations see the world. All the phones they know are mobile, they manage their life through Facebook, write and read blogs and  use text messages instead of emails. 

On the other hand in schools we teachers would like to keep the teaching the same it has been for decades. We have the new text books, which are somewhat more colourful than in my schooldays. We prefer black boards and photo copies and some advanced teachers have adopted the documentaty cameras and projectors or even have their notes on Power Point. Luckily the overhead projectors are dying.

Digital Age

What we should realize is that the digital age is here. Instead of writing everything down on their notebooks, students want to use tablet computers or netbooks. Those are something they use on their free time but the schools make them go back to the ancient methods. Textbooks can be digital and even interactive and we could save lots of trees by not printing them. Using the internet does not limit ourselves to just one book but we can use all of them. 

The teachers are still needed to guide the students to choose the right paths and explain things the students don't understand. However many teachers are very reluctant to adopt any technology in their teaching. I can understand them. They were students in the old world and did not use computers while they studied. In fact no one really taught them to use computers unless maybe their own children did. 

Now it is time for all teachers to update their technological knowledge and reverse their thinking because the digital generation is growing up! See for yourself.

Monday - the 20th - Teaching Principals

After the busy weekend I still had an extra task on Monday. I had promised to give a lesson about blogs and Wikis in education to some of the gymnasium principals in Turku. My part started after lunch but I wanted to be present from the beginning to hear what the other lecturers had to say.

There were two very interesting parts I have to mention here.
There first one to start the day was the chief of the gymnasium and adult education office in Turku. He had very advanced opinions about the direction where teaching should go. Distant learning must be used also to give different options for the students and also to make learning more interesting. Lately the gymnasiums have had less appliers than before. It seems that professional trading is more interesting than the higher all-round education which basically tries to prepare the students for universities. He made it very clear that even the last ones opposing technology in teaching should change their opinion now! I agree :)

Even more interesting was the demonstration of two students about their use of Facebook. My children are too old; they have learned about Facebook after they had graduated but these two girls use Facebook in their everyday life. All events and parties are announced to friends in Facebook and people confirm that they are definitely attending, are not coming or don't know yet. Facebook is like e-mail to adults with the exception that you can really handle several people at the same time. Only a couple of their friends did not use Facebook which created some problems to others. I can imagine that; to me nowadays it is hard if I can't send e-mail to someone.

One of the principals asked how long times the girls spend on Facebook pages. I think that showed how much the worlds of us old people and young students differ. I have heard about the studies that students using Facebook are getting worse grades than those not using it but I think these two girls were already on the next level. Facebook is a tool for them, not the place where you use the childish applications. People who do that are people like me, having fun in a different way for a change.

I introduced the audience my Finnish blog, the Wiki I used in my computer science class and also told about Twitter. Like Saturday I was again talking about something no one knew. Fortunately I had info about the use of Twitter in classes and even universities and I had blogged about the Twitter conversations Saturday. Also I had to promote myself a little showing my story on Conceptis pages.

I am not sure if I convinced any of them. The good thing about all this is that my own principal shares my opinions totally. She even said in her introduction about me that I am "wonderfully nuts" about technology in teaching :)