SOCIAL MEDIA IN CLASSROOMS 1

SOCIAL MEDIA IN CLASSROOMS

ELIZABETH TOLEDO-BESAS, RN
bethbesas@yahoo.com
Master of Arts in Nursing
Gordon College, Institute of Graduate Studies
Olongapo City, Philippines

INTRODUCTION
Previously, teachers and schools were left on their own to judge this matter.
This has changed with the recent memorandum from the Department of Education
(DepEd) that affirmed the Department of Information and Communication
Technology’s (DICT) appeal to prohibit schools from using social media in class
projects and homework.
DepEd Undersecretary for Administration Alain del Pascua, in a memorandum
dated June 28, 2019, explained why the department discourages the use of social
media in classrooms. “While social media is the “easiest mediums to deliver
information in this digital age using the latest on-hand technologies,” the use of the
platform also “opens one’s identity to the world wide web making young learners
exposed to different cyber threats.” (Tempo.com.ph)
DepEd argues that “social media is not the proper outlet to support the need
of learners” and instead recommends the use of open-source Learning Management
Systems (LMS) such as Edmodo, Schoology, and Google Classroom, among others,
to support the e-learning requirements of schools.

THE SOCIAL MEDIA

Alongside with the fast and ever changing technological advancement, social
media plays a vital role in communication. According to Wikipedia a Social media
are interactive computer-mediated technologies that facilitate the creation and
sharing of information, ideas, career interests and other forms of expression via
virtual communities and networks. The variety of stand-alone and built-in social
media services currently available introduces challenges of definition; however, there
are some common features.
Social media are interactive Internet-based applications; a user-generated
content, such as text posts or comments, digital photos or videos, and data
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generated through all online interactions, is the lifeblood of social media. Users
create service-specific profiles for the website or app that are designed and
maintained by the social media organization.
The use of social media has surged globally in recent years. Based on
individual companies’ statistics in July 2011, Facebook passed 750 million users
(2011); LinkedIn had over 100 million members (2011); Twitter hit over 177 million
tweets per day (2011); YouTube reached three billion views every day (2011). Social
media are infiltrating the educational arena (Chen & Bryer, 2012). The online social
networks are increasingly being used not only by students, but also by instructors
and educators for different reasons (Mazer, Murphy, & Simonds, 2007; 2009)

IN THE CLASSROOM

Social media teaching can be an incredibly useful educational tool. The social
networks students use are conducive to so many facets of modern learning. Things
like collaborative planning, data and resource sharing, and progress updates
concerning group work all apply with social networks. They appeal to our digital
natives, and with social media, they become easy to adopt. The prospect of social
media teaching can be alluring or repulsive, depending on your understanding of it,
and your experience with it.

According to Watanabe-Crockett (2017) of Wabisabi Learning it doesn't need

to be difficult or stressful. For any teacher wanting to broaden connections with
students through different teaching strategies, social media is a terrific choice. That
said, it pays to do a bit of homework on the subject before diving in.

Watanabe-Crockett sited some of the advantages and disadvantages of

Social Media. Like any new venture, there is a good side and a bad side to it. Just as
many things can go wrong as they can go right.

ADVANTAGES OF SOCIAL MEDIA / PROS

Social media can increase engagement and enhance collaboration.
• It can make learning more enjoyable for students. Social media allows
students to flex their creative juices and interact with their peers in a way that just
cannot be replicated in the classroom. By engaging students in this way, learning
outcomes can improve if the learning objectives align with social media platform’s
features and ‘climate.’
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• Many social media sites are great for project management, posting
portfolios, team communication, and sharing important information.
• It's a great pathway for teachers/students/parents to stay connected and
updated.
• It can be a great platform for teaching kids the importance of digital
citizenship skills and mindsets. While the scale of the lessons can quickly get
out of hand if not planned and controlled for, the fact of the matter is that social
media can teach (a sometimes exaggerated form of) life lessons.
• Social media sites can link students to professional communities to help
them find jobs, or to find people to consult with on their school projects.
Part of the reason social media can teach these important life lessons is that it’s
‘real’ to many students. It’s credible and authentic and functions in a way familiar
to them and their experiences online researching ideas, messaging with friends–
and yes, wasting time.

DISADVANTAGES OF SOCIAL MEDIA / CONS

These technologies can be abused and exploited. Teachers understand that as

well as anyone, but that does not mean they need to ban it entirely.

• Social media can be a distraction in class.

• It can be difficult to monitor its usage across a larger group of students.

• It can become an anonymous haven for phishing, flaming, and

cyberbullying. There is little denying the social media makes it easier for
students to bully or abuse their peers — or even their teachers. The
Cyberbullying Research Center reports that in 2010, 20 percent of students
reported being the victims of cyberbullying, and just as many admitted to being
cyberbullies.

The group notes other studies place these estimates as high as 40 percent.
Fortunately, the center also offers resources for teachers who want to prevent
online bullying among their students, including lists of warning signs, teaching
materials for lessons in Internet safety, and even scripts for parents and teachers
who want to approach the subject with their students.
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• It can take away from face-to-face communication and interaction.

• It can become a place for students to "hide" from doing work.

• It's easy to misuse (ex: posting sensitive, harmful, or inappropriate

content). Yes, the Internet is chock full of inappropriate images and language,
viruses and scams. Thankfully, notes Mashable, the Children’s Internet
Protection Act helps protect students from much of these dangers by blocking
social media sites like Facebook and MySpace in public schools. Tools that help
teachers block unwanted content in the classroom are available.

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION (DepEd)

Earlier in June 2019, the Department of Education (DepEd) released a

reminder that it prohibits the use of social media in class projects. The DepEd
recognizes social media as a tool for collaboration and communication, but it could
also be a platform for gaming apps, online selling, and other services, as well as
different multimedia content. “It opens the door to one’s identity in the world wide
web, making young learners prone to different cyber threats,” DepEd
Undersecretary Annalyn Sevilla.

The reminder listed several possible problematic issues that students may encounter
when using social media for school projects and homework.

• Group chat features “that has adult content, which can elicit malicious and
incorrect values to learners.”

• It may open doors to “cyberbullying, identify theft, online gambling,

pornography, and market fraud,” which can cause isolation, humiliation, and
trauma.

• It can be a distraction, and adversely affect the study habits of learners, which
can lead to poor performance.

• It can cause learners to lie to their parents about being online; they can “easily
say that they are waiting for the teachers’ assignment post.”

DICT strongly discourages the use of Facebook, including teachers sending

group assignments through Facebook Messenger, as it exposes the kids to more
online risks, being the most popular social media platform in the country. “As long as
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it is official, it is okay to give online assignments, but these must not be relayed
through social media,” DICT Cybersecurity Policy Head Genalyn Macalinao told
Philippine News Agency.

The agency suggests using email or the school’s existing official online
platforms instead of social media. DepEd adds that schools should opt to use open-
source Learning Management Systems (LMS), such as Edmodo, Schoology, Google
Classroom, Nearpod, and Socrative to support schools’ e-learning requirements.

Planning Makes (Virtually) Perfect

If the points above teach us anything, it is that social media can be an
important learning tool when used appropriately — something that demands a great
deal of planning. Do we research and plan for potential problems before introducing
social media to our students. Ironically, one of the best ways to do that is to engage
ourselves in social media, joining communities of educators willing to share their own
ideas and experiences.

CONCLUSION

Social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, and Flickr, as well as
open social practices such as blogging, are being used in learning for the purpose of
convenient communication with other students and potentially with others outside the
class such as students of the same topic and subject experts. Many social media, as
commercial endeavors, are attractive in that their features often surpass those of
internal firewalled environments. The fact that these media are generally open to the
world implies a need to carefully consider the risks of openness as well as need for
ongoing communication with students in order to address their concerns and deal
with issues in the use of social media as they arise. These risks are counter-
balanced by the benefits of open discussion and academic debate in authentic online
environments.
There is no consensus on social media or social networking being
positive or negative in education – its both. It’s not the social media that’s the
problem – its bad media and addiction! We need to 1. Talk to students of all ages
about the topic. 2. Teach responsible use of technology. 3. Create a fake
news/resource identification section in all classrooms. 4. We need to work towards a
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good mental health plan in all schools – addiction of all sorts should be worked
against!

REFERENCES
Chen, B. & Bryer, T. (2012). Investigating Instructional Strategies for Using Social
Media in Formal and Informal Learning. The International Review of Research
in Open and Distance Learning: Volume 13 No1.79-104
Mazer, J. P, Murphy, R. E, & Simonds, C. J. (2007). I’ll see you on “Facebook”: The
effects of computer-mediated teacher self-disclosure on student motivation,
affective learning, and classroom climate. Communication Education, 56(1).
Mazer, J. P., Murphy, Richard E., & Simonds, Cheri J. (2009). The effects of teacher
selfdisclosure via Facebook on teacher credibility. Learning, Media &
Technology, 34(2), 175-183.
Social Media (Wikipedia). Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_media
Watanabe-Crockett, L. (2017).HOW TO SAFELY ADOPT SOCIAL MEDIA
TEACHING WITH YOUR CLASS Retrieved from
https://www.wabisabilearning.com/blog/safely-adopt-social-media-teaching

https://www.smartparenting.com.ph/life/news/deped-warns-schools-social-media-for-
class-projects-a00041-20190622

https://www.teachthought.com/technology/6-pros-cons-social-media-classroom/

http://tempo.com.ph/2019/07/01/deped-discourages-social-media-use-in-classrooms/