How are Today's Students Different from Students in Past Generations?
It is not uncommon to have students in your classrooms carrying equipment with them to text, blog or even produce a movie or music video while sitting through a history lesson. Most students carry with them a poweful personal device (cell phone, laptop, tablet etc.) with them that is capable of accomplishing much more than the standard textbooks that were so popular with "traditional" forms of education. Students are extremely technologically savvy and connected to what is going on in social media. Today's generation of students are digital natives that are highly capable and comfortable with technology. Therefore, as teachers the following questions need to be asked; do teachers allow technologically savy students to use their vast knowledge regarding social media in the classrooms and support their passion for technology? Does this offer too much of a distraction? How can you ensure that all students have the same access to the various types of technology?
Students today are digital natives and have multiple sources of social media available to them at all hours of the day. From Twitter, Facebook, instant messaging to Youtube, students have never been more connected than years before. Verbal communication is not even needed anymore to dialoge with one another. Text messaging has quickly replaced the traditional phone call. The debate still continues on whether students have lost or will lose their ability to socialize and hold a face to face conversation with one another due to all the increasing technology. Are children today slowly becoming anti-social "robots", or does social media allow children to communicate with a greater number of peers with the invention of facebook? Is communication through social media the same as face to face interaction?
According to the Medical Post (2003), they believe that use of social media has lead to many harmful consequences in our students such as aggression, risky sexual activity, obesity, substance abuse, eating disorders, poor body image and bullying. They believe that children need to think critically about how they use social media. Therefore, as teachers do we encourage our students to use social media in our classrooms or are the risks too great? Another article by Byrne (2010) suggests that workshops should be offered to students to demonstrate how to use social media effectively and properly. Too often students will post inappropriate messages on their personal sites (Facebook, Twitter) that she suggests will haunt them for the rest of their adult lives. Students should be made aware of the consequences of the posts they create for these sites. Byrne (2010) also makes a point to say that students should create two types of social media accounts, one that is personal and can be kept private, and the other that is professional and for the world to see. Social Media doesn't have to be all "bad", students just need to made aware of how to properly represent themselves through the world wide web. When social media sites are used effectively they can be a great way to display all the accomplishments of each student. For example, Academic and sporting achievements can be posted to highlight all their positive characteristics.
Students today are digital natives and have multiple sources of social media available to them at all hours of the day. From Twitter, Facebook, instant messaging to Youtube, students have never been more connected than years before. Verbal communication is not even needed anymore to dialoge with one another. Text messaging has quickly replaced the traditional phone call. The debate still continues on whether students have lost or will lose their ability to socialize and hold a face to face conversation with one another due to all the increasing technology. Are children today slowly becoming anti-social "robots", or does social media allow children to communicate with a greater number of peers with the invention of facebook? Is communication through social media the same as face to face interaction?
According to the Medical Post (2003), they believe that use of social media has lead to many harmful consequences in our students such as aggression, risky sexual activity, obesity, substance abuse, eating disorders, poor body image and bullying. They believe that children need to think critically about how they use social media. Therefore, as teachers do we encourage our students to use social media in our classrooms or are the risks too great? Another article by Byrne (2010) suggests that workshops should be offered to students to demonstrate how to use social media effectively and properly. Too often students will post inappropriate messages on their personal sites (Facebook, Twitter) that she suggests will haunt them for the rest of their adult lives. Students should be made aware of the consequences of the posts they create for these sites. Byrne (2010) also makes a point to say that students should create two types of social media accounts, one that is personal and can be kept private, and the other that is professional and for the world to see. Social Media doesn't have to be all "bad", students just need to made aware of how to properly represent themselves through the world wide web. When social media sites are used effectively they can be a great way to display all the accomplishments of each student. For example, Academic and sporting achievements can be posted to highlight all their positive characteristics.