In this situation, the explosion of social media has affected our everyday life making it easier for the audience to communicate using modern technology instead of face-to-face. We communicate through social media instead of face-to-face but this source makes us question why we do this (Margalit, L. 2014). What is it that makes us feel so much more comfortable doing this through a computer or phone? In my opinion, I think it has become an unconscious desire for some audiences within this generation, to the extent that they don’t even know they are doing it. On the other hand, the aspect of communicating face-to-face isn’t as appealing because you can have the same conversation through a laptop or computer instead. Video, multimedia content, tools and streaming capabilities are successfully engaging students in new forms of learning (Cisco. 2011). Similarly, the growth in social media has increased the engagement to students within lessons because it’s a familiar tool they are confident with using. Specifically, within these blended learning hours, social media is sometimes added to enhance the students knowledge.
Social media has increasingly woven into the everyday lives of teens and adults, this has become a significant part of how they relate, know and learn (Castro, C. J. 2012). Students understand and relate to social media because it’s part of their everyday life, whether it’s following a certain celebrity or using Facebook to communicate with a collaborator. These are all essential skills for using social media to enhance your education, this is a brilliant source to platform different ideas and to force students to share and correspond with each other. Also, social media has amplified the ability for many different kinds of people to gather across time and space to share ideas (Castro, C. J. 2012). Within students education they use social media to enhance their learning and communicate ideas through different sources. Empowering students to do more complex and creative work, allows them to use digital online applications and tools (Herold, B. 2016). Within the students education in the current curriculum, we enable students to work with social media which allows them to create high levels of work and be more creative independently. As students are allowed to use these social media sources, it enhances their education because they are using digital online applications and tools to help with upcoming and ongoing projects throughout their study.
References:
-Castro, C. J. (2012) ‘Learning and Teaching Art: Through Social Media’, ProQuest, 53(2), pp. 152-169. Available at: http://search.proquest.com.plymouth.idm.oclc.org/artbibliographies/docview/933127698/fulltextPDF/2652006634DC4603PQ/1?accountid=14711 (Accessed: 12 December 2016).
-Cisco (2011) Video: How Interactivity and Rich Media Change Teaching and Learning. Available at: http://www.cisco.com/c/dam/en/us/products/collateral/collaboration-endpoints/collaboration-room-endpoints/k12_video_wp.pdf. (Accessed: 12 December 2016).
-Herold, B. (2016) ‘Technology in Education: Overview’ Education Week. Available at: http://www.edweek.org/ew/issues/technology-in-education/ (Accessed: 12 December 2016).
-Margalit, L. (2014) The psychology behind social media interactions. Available at: https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/behind-online-behavior/201408/the-psychology-behind-social-media-interactions (Accessed: 12 December 2016).
Abbie Fothergill 