Teaching and especially in most South African schools have be or still are teacher centered, where information is provided to the learner and you learn! Using social media in conjunction to this challenges the known, the way in which it has been done. Challenging this status quo can prove daunting and even fatal if adopted in the wrong manner.
Social media can be used to cause harm, the challenge lies in not only introducing the use thereof into the way I teach but also to teach the learners how to use the social media "correctly". With " correctly " I am implying for educational purposes. Students already know about most forms of social media and the use thereof but not for educational purposes. I would start by introducing Twitter questions, after the class or while doing homework students should experiment with asking questions through a hashtag, such as #askEcos. When viewing these questions, students can reply to one another and answer questions, but it also gives me as the teacher an idea of what they understand and where we have to focus on again.
The remind I will definitely setup with my class once an official teach at a school, only because I will know I will be dealing with these learners for atleast a year. Looking back at my own school days and even vasity experience sometimes information gets lost or forgotten, remind will be used to fill these gaps. Reminding students of assignments, extra encouragement through exams and just general school information.
I look forward to implementing and discovering these forms of social media with my learners.
