The Social Media Classroom

With the rapid advancement of technology, it is challenging for teachers and educators to ensure that learning design approaches remain current. Teachers are expected to be up-to-date on and be proficient in the newest technology in the classroom. While using various technologies to supplement learning is attractive, the use of these tools is not always intuitive. It can be difficult for instructors to maintain best practices of pedagogy while continuously learning and relearning how to incorporate emerging technologies. One group of technologies that is increasingly of interest to instructors is social media. Social media are web-based platforms that facilitate collaboration, interaction, and exchange of user- generated content. Sites such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, and various wiki- style sites are integrated firmly into the personal lives of most students, allowing faculty the opportunity to customize course material to facilitate and accomplish learning expectations and goals. This course is designed to help teachers and educators understand how to incorporate very popular tech trends – social media, blogging, web-based tools – into the classroom. Through a series of theoretical lectures and practical workshops, teachers are expected to get familiar with social media and become able to use them in the classroom for educational purposes.