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As a parent and teacher, seeing gadgets in the hands of students and using these as a tool for learning feels like walking upon a thin sheet of ice. If you’ve been on one, then you know how these emotions go. I feel my emotions fluctuate from worry to anxiety and then to apprehension. After all, a lot of things are happening in social media, which you would definitely want to protect your child, or student, from.
But could it be really possible that a student’s learning experience is enhanced when they are utilizing their favorite apps and online tools? Well, read on!
In a 2022 study conducted by the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona1, researchers found that when students use their favorite digital platform to demonstrate learning, there is in fact more stimulation and interest displayed. As a result, certain learning gaps in their knowledge have been filled.
The study further explores the fact that using online applications such as TikTok or Twitter in certain situations enables the students to display their knowledge because the teachers are able to meet students where they live. In essence, integrating the digital tools in a student’s learning experience empowers them to experiment and explore so that they could dig deeper and learn to disseminate what they have learned.
If you’re also curious exactly how beneficial using digital tools is for a student’s learning experience, that’s what I’m going to break down for you. So keep on reading:
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Agents of Positive Change
The social media atmosphere, while it delivers different kinds of messages across countries, cultures, and age level which could potentially cause confusion, it could in fact provide a platform for students to create content that will educate other people on various topics that they have learned in the class.
For instance, some teachers will challenge their students to write a summary of their learning in 280 characters or less and then tweet it. Other teachers assigned their classes with tasks to create 15-second to 10-minute videos about key points they have learned in their course, which they would then post on TikTok.
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Engage Deeper to Generate Informed Answers
In traditional classroom assignments, students may be required to submit their reading responses on classical books or find out what the latest trend is on the economy. Using search engines like Google, students could find their answers right away.
However, using the same tools and apps, we can in fact challenge our students to dig deeper on the topics assigned to them by creating video essays or answering prompt questions. If there are items in their lessons that they find confusing, they could create a video essay (the counterpart of written essay but in video) to verbalize their thoughts about this. These expressions put them in a space where they could feel comfortable about exploring and discovering the answers to their nagging questions.
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Organize Thoughtful Academic Conversations
It is not surprising when students feel afraid to stand in front of their class and have to explain something. We all remember that feeling! Of course, just like us adults, these students also don’t want to be perceived as weak or dumb. And yet, the same Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona1 says that children as young as 12 years old are able to type out their thoughts and post in their respective social media accounts.
Along this line, digital tools can in fact open opportunities for students to engage in academic conversations on social media platforms. The caveat here, however, is that regulations and ground rules have to be firmly established to ensure that the conversation remains to be academic and educational as well as respective and objective in nature.
I realize that the idea of letting our students use social media tools in the classroom is a little out there, but more and more studies are finding that digital tools that our students are already using have the potential to add to the quality of their learning experience. In this age when technology is not going anywhere anytime in the far future, it is best for us teachers to find relevance and provide creative integration so that a student’s grasp of knowledge reaches the heart and translate into positive actions.
