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Why Social Media is Useful for E-learning
To most educational programs, social media has been used to facilitate, supplement and support learning. There is a very big increase in distance learning or E-learning of teacher programs and courses that are very much similar to the ones offered in schools using the internet. Social media is one of the most important components of E-learning. Since students use the internet to take their classes, it is only natural that they also use it to find educational material and interact with fellow online students and teachers. Many people think that social media is only limited to social networking sites. However, there are other forms of social media being used for E-learning to enhance online teaching. Social media, what is it?
"Social" means the interactions amongst people. "Media" means the web-supported technologies which keep and transfer electronic information or data. In other words, social media is web-based programs and systems that assist user interaction and information sharing. These web-based systems have developed over the years and have become more mature. Its being interactive differentiates it form conventional media. People can react and comment on the post. It also effectively bridges users from different parts of the world. It offers a way for users who share similar interest to create virtual communities. Users are no longer isolated and can communicate to other people via sharing post, materials and information.
Tools for Social media
Since social media connects people from different places, it's perfect for online programs like those found at Degree Jungle. There are currently thousands of tools for social media available on the internet; more are being developed every day. There are different types of social media such as social networking, blogging, multimedia sharing and social bookmarking. Below are a few popular examples:
Micro-blogging/ Blogging - Twitter, WordPress, Blogger
Social networking - MySpace, Facebook, Ning, LinkedIn
Social bookmarking - Diggo, Delicious
Collaborative authoring - Google Docs, Zoho Office tools
Multimedia sharing - YouTube, Flickr, Qik
Web conferencing - GoToMeeting, WebEx, DimDim
Most of the students connect to these social media sites to get education material and interact with their fellow students.
Social Media's Features that benefits E-learning
When social media is properly integrated in online classes, it can offer new learning experiences; it can even enhance the student's engagement with the class. Faculty members can design unique and creative online educational activities using social media. Online collaboration is easier with the aid of the social media tools. For example, students can work together on projects by connecting to tools that have video, call or chat conference functions. Teachers can use blogs to post supplementary notes and other additional learning resources. They can even publish academic articles or journals where their students can discuss, analyze and comment on.
It is only natural that students and teachers of online learning programs use the full power of the internet to help them in their classes. Social media tools are not only being used by online classes but with real classes as well. This development has revolutionized the way people learn and share information.
Guest post is by Jennifer Gilley. To find out more about the educational opportunities online visit DegreeJungle at www.degreejungle.com.
