21st Century Classrooms can be Better with Technology & Social Media

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No matter who says brick and mortar classrooms would take no time to shut down with the emergence of digital learning tools, it’s not going to be easy. Although it’s true that the 19^th century Industrial model have rather nothing left in it to serve the needs of the 21^st century learners, countless academicians still believe that classrooms will never lose their importance.

 Social media in conventional classrooms

Schools and other brick and mortar institutions that comprise straight rows of desks and shelves of books can just not decide to wrap up things so easily. What is required is not only gradual implementation of digital learning tools in classrooms but utilising them in such a manner that can clearly bring out their effectiveness. One such unconventional learning approach that is now being used at conventional learning platforms is social media.

To some extent, it can be accepted that books are fading in importance, and of course the reasons are valid. Technology is giving rise to such exciting and digitally enriched learning tools that students are taking pleasure in clinging towards these devices instead of doing the same with books. It’s not that books are monotonousness, but they fail to hold on to one’s interest and attention for long. Therefore, the social media strategies are playing more efficient roles by keeping students engaged towards their lessons for hours.

So, how this social media is actually working out?

·        Blogging – Imagine how monotonous it is to typically answer questions from a chapter. Rather, if students can create blogs of their own and write on a certain section of that chapter or a story, it’s certainly going to be more interesting. They can even write their own observations and opinions and share them with their classmates. In fact, this would let them impart knowledge to each other, which in other words is called collaboration.

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Videos – Who doesn’t like watching videos on YouTube? In fact, blackboards if replaced with audio-visual equipments can bring a deeper impact in the classrooms. Learning through visuals instead of texts actually generates more interest and enthusiasm among students. So, videos if made interesting and useful are bound to make students understand their lessons faster.

·        Google Drive – In this age of digital learning, what students prefer is using file storage platforms for writing collaborative summaries. Google Drive here plays a key role where students with the help of keyboards initiate discussions and group findings. Once done, they share with their group partners as well as with people outside their classrooms.

·        LinkedIn – LinkedIn is one of the most renowned social media platforms meant for professionals and students. In fact, this is a reliable platform where students can get in touch with several learning communities, groups, experts and instructors. In a classroom where students are limited to their teachers’ instructions, these professional social interaction platforms can actually make students more knowledgeable and smarter.

So, the more these social media activities get introduced to classrooms, the better will be the productivity. Books and blackboards are age old strategies that must be replaced with technology and social media, and then only we can expect our education system to achieve maturity.

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