Social Media and Education: Reconceptualizing the Boundaries of Formal and Informal Learning

Social Media and Education: Reconceptualizing the Boundaries of Formal and Informal Learning

Social media has played a greater part in my life especially when it comes to information reach. Many questions can be asked when it comes to the benefits of social media and education. Do you think that today people are reaching people better than when they relied on traditional methods of communication? It is one of the questions that play a greater role in establishing the importance of social media with learning. The quote I chose was; 

“Research on social media in education suggests that integrating social media in learning and teaching environments may yield new forms of inquiry, communication, collaboration, identity work, or have positive cognitive, social, and emotional impacts (Gao, Luo, and Zhang 2012; Greenhow, Burton, and Robelia 2011; Greenhow and Robelia 2009a, 2009b; Pimmer, Linxen, and Grohbiel 2012; Ranieri, Manca, and Fini 2012). For instance, research on learning and social network sites (e.g., Facebook) in particular has suggested their affordances for interaction, collaboration, information, and resource sharing (Mazman and Usluel 2010); encouraging participation and critical thinking (Mason and Rennie 2007; Ajjan and Hartshorne 2008); Learning, Media and Technology 7 increased peer support and communication about course content and assessment (DiVall and Kirwin 2012); inter-cultural language learning (Mills 2011); and their positive effects on the expression of identities and digital literacies, particularly for marginalized groups (Manca and Ranieri 2013) (Greenhow & Lewin, 2019).” 

The quote goes well with this week’s lesson. Even though some researchers indicate that social media has a negative effect on learning, in most cases the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. One of the advantages of social media on learning is the art of communication. Social media plays a bigger role in learning in helping students in the process of interacting with things they see online. There are different platforms like Face book and Twitter that helps students in learning new concepts. These concepts are both useful for students in the informal and formal students. 

I chose this quote because it helps in giving a clear answer on the functions of social media on education. The article describes social media as a connectivism platform. It therefore shows that social media provides multiple links to many sites, sources, and people since it is user-friendly and provides channels for advertisements. The article presents a study done to test the influence of social media on students both at primary and secondary level. The results indicate a positive influence of social media on them. One of the results show that social media offered young people opportunities to harness the power of network and seek relevant expertise. In most cases, social media gives young people the opportunity to connect with other people outside the school walls. The increased networking has made many students get different types of expertise that are also helpful in other areas. 

The quote is also helpful to educators in making them understand the role social media plays in learning. Educators need to incorporate the use of online tools like Facebook and Twitter to help their students access new education and insights that they require in learning new things. It also helps them in producing students that are more exposed with everything in their surroundings. It is also important because it enables young people in the minority socio-economic contexts to engage with different platforms that enable them engage with self-directed learning activities hence making them interact with participatory and collaborative technology. It makes them interact with different people and networks that enable them acquire knowledge that can be used in handling tasks outside the formal sector. 

Therefore even though some researchers feel that social media attributes to low performances among different college-going students, the advantages such as connectivity and the ease of acquiring enriching data makes it more better than it is said to be worse. 

Reference

Greenhow, C., & Lewin, C. (2019). Social media and education: Reconceptualizing the boundaries of formal and informal learning. Social Media and Education, 6-30. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315121697-2