Social media has become increasingly popular and prevalent in the daily lives of teens. With society constantly innovating, this technology is now working its way into education.
There is an important distinction between social media used for educational purposes and a teacher’s private account. To maintain a professional relationship, many teachers abstain from following students until after graduation. Teachers often have a separate account that is solely dedicated to classroom related updates.
Drew Anderson, a band director, approaches social media interactions with caution. He urges teachers to, “use it to promote and inform like a business would, rather than how students use as more of a relationship manner.” This is how the band program utilizes their social media accounts.
The band program has been using social media before it became integrated in other classes. Anderson described how the band adapts to the newest trends. First, there was a MySpace page, then Facebook and Twitter, and now they are possibly expanding to Instagram and Snapchat. In order to stay relevant, organizations must use the resources that connect with the most people
On top of updating members about band events, Anderson also uses social media as a recruitment tool. “If parents see all the great things we do, the more likely they will be to have their students join band.” As a result, the band social media pages post anything from important district wide reminders to spotlights about the most current performance.
This system caters to the specific information that the band program needs to communicate. Other teachers, however, do not operate in the same way.
Lynne Lundberg, an English teacher, started her Twitter account while attending the World Food Prize Global Youth Institute. She follows other educational accounts, such as historians, researchers, and publications, and is able, “to share those resources with [her] students even when we’re not in class together.” This is one example of how social media can be used to connect students to more enriching material.
Though they may post different content, Lundberg and Anderson both agree that social media is becoming an overall trend in education. The presence of social media in classrooms is a reflection of how society and communication is changing.
