Cyber-Learning or Cyber-Slacking: Using Social Media in the Classroom (Featured Article)

My senior year of high school started much like any other; I walked down the familiar hallways, after returning from the Medina County Career Center. I seen some of my closest friends as I start this school year, and I couldn’t wait to sit next to them. I knew that this year was going to be a breeze since I had completed all my assignments the last year when I studied cosmetology. Upon entering my first class of the year, I noticed an iPad sitting on every desk. As the Twitter app hype reached me,” I thought to myself? Is this a dream?” I took advanced composition and I cannot imagine taking that class without the use of technology. Having the ability to go to the computer lab everyday was a positive in that class. We do plenty of research papers and not having to go to the library for our research was a tremendous asset.

Medina High School is my Alma Mater, a school with many state winning athletic teams, as a result of being one of the largest high schools in the state and drawing in some of the best athletes from the surrounding area. Our size benefited us in other ways as well, notably in the sheer number of resources available. IPads and computer labs were available to students surrounding school hours that encouraged students to complete tasks in a timely manner. I was one of those students. I took advantage of these resources without exception, because I knew that my only hope of keeping senioritis away was by diving headfirst into my academics. I strongly believe that having technology available throughout my whole grade school experience as well positively impacted my learning experience.

Since the beginning of time, when a movement to develop technology and social media in the classroom was created in the 1990s, the movement has been viewed as both a strength and a weakness. Technology aided education and was viewed as a strength because it was said to build on the development of other educational goals and open up opportunities for new ways of pedagogy and learning. As a future teacher, I want to be fully prepared and educated on all new and improved technology. I also want to be understanding of what will be best for my students’ education, and what things will get them engaged and excited about the lesson. As a student from Ashland University and also a future teacher, I am very intrigued about technology in the classroom; I want to know and understand if it will help or hurt my students. These studies and articles have allowed me to form my own opinion and arguments surrounding the use of technology in the classroom. My belief, is that this uprising of using technology and social media in the classroom is something that a lot of teachers are evolving into using. Ultimately, having technology in the classroom allows for student improvement, involvement, and differentiated learning to occur.

This essay will analyze the opinions of teachers and students regarding technology in the classroom. Firstly, this paper will examine scholarly articles about technology in the classroom. Secondly, I will develop this argument throughout the progression of this paper. Specifically, I will empower the argument that technology is useful and helpful in the classroom. I will give evidence through the scholarly articles to build a sophisticated dispute. Thirdly, this paper will review the other side of this argument and give evidence of why they believe that technology should not be used in the classroom. Lastly, this paper will recommend ideas of what to study in the future in case the topic should be further examined. After reading this argument paper, I hope to persuade you that allowing technology to dominate the classroom is beneficial for teachers and students alike.

Robin Giebelhausen’s article, “What the Tech is Going On? Social Media and Your Music Classroom”, is about a music teacher for preschool to eighth grade wants to incorporate technology in her classroom. She writes, “After that first year, however, I became curious about incorporating technology in my classroom. How were other secondary general music teachers using technology in their classroom? How could I find those teachers and make networking connections? Thus, began my love affair with Google” (Giebelhausen). Gielbelhausen wants to create a personal learning network and allow her students’ parents to be involved in their musical education. Her desire to get parents’ involved in their children’s music education is shown when Giebelhausen writes, “Perhaps one of the most exciting places to allow parents and students to connect with your musical content is through SoundCloud and YouTube. These two websites allow streaming media, sound and video, respectively, allowing students and parents to directly engage with the music you wish them to listen and respond to, practice, and perhaps even create” (Giebelhausen). By creating a SoundCloud which is a networking website where you can upload recordings of music it allowed students the opportunity to rehearse and parents the opportunity to get involved. She explains how at first she was surprised by the fact that technology wasn’t being used in the classroom, “If I think back to my first year of teaching, I am now stunned by the lack of technology use. The technology was available, but I did not know how to use it nor did I have many local examples of technology use in secondary general music” (Giebelhausen). Even though she knew of all the technology, she still refrained from using it in her classroom for a while. She wanted to create a social classroom that engaged her students, brought relevance to the lesson, and differentiated learning. One may think that having the tools to incorporate technology in the classroom, but refraining from using it is senseless because you should take full advantage of all resources available to you as a teacher. In the end, Giebelhausen joins a teacher networking blog nationally and internationally and recommends exploring a new direction for music teaching. This article is a great resource for all current and future music education teachers looking for a little extra help in student engagement.

Giebelhausen was writing specifically for technology in the music classroom, but authors Hsiu- Ting Hung and Steve Chi- Yin Yuen wrote the article, “Educational Use of Social Networking Technology in Higher Education” are writing to inform readers of learner difficulties and concerns of instructors about the educational use of social media. Hung and Yuen write, “Arguably, the web has transformed the way people interact and communicate in daily life. Many educational researchers and practitioners also believe that the web has vast potential to shape the way people learn” (Hung 703). Changing the way that people learn is a major deal; some people might learn better with the help of technology. Hung and Yuen write, “It appears reasonable that educators should make instructional use of the social nature of Web 2.0 in order to create optimal, natural environments for learning to take place” (Hung 703). Giving students the option to learn in different ways, opens up other opportunities for them to get excited about the lesson and in return getting better results. They also write, “This study, therefore, explored the possibility of creating class social networks with a Web 2.0 social networking tool as an alternative supplement to traditional classroom teaching” (Hung 703). Hung and Yuen offer some insight when they explain how learning is recognized as a social construct that is explained by students’ sense of classroom community and their active participation in a classroom of community practice.

Just as Hung and Yuen examined a very specific way of how technology helps students learn, author Lorraine Jackson’s article “Is Mobile Technology in the Classroom a Helpful Tool or a Distraction? A Report of University Student’ Attitudes, Usage Practices, and Suggestions for Policies” observes and studies the many policies on the use of mobile technology in the classroom; other instructors design learning environments integrating the usage of smart phones, tablets, or laptops. Jackson writes, “Mobile devices capable of accessing the Internet have become ubiquitous, creating both challenges to education, as well as opportunities for learners.

Increasingly, faculty find themselves dismayed or even annoyed when they observe students who are inattentive to lectures because of their use of laptops or other mobile devices” (Jackson 129). One might think that having your students be inattentive to lectures is annoying or aggravating, but they also could be taking helpful notes. Jackson also writes, “Many educators have banned laptops in their classrooms, regarding them and the social media sites students like to visit as a distraction to learning” (Jackson 130). Students should not have to suffer because the teacher is not up to date on the latest technology. Although, if the student really is being a distraction and being inattentive then the best thing to do would be to remove whatever is distracting them. Undoubtedly, it is of the teachers’ discretion to allow or not allow their students to use their technology devices in the classroom, but it they are using it to aid them in any way pertaining to the lesson, then it should be their decision. After much research, Jackson writes, “Furthermore, the level of laptop use was negatively correlated to self-reported understanding of course material and overall course performance” (Jackson 131). Few studies have examined students’ attitudes toward mobile technology usage and policies. This article describes university students’ perceptions concerning mobile devices in the classroom.

Lastly, in her article “Incorporating Social Media in the Classroom” April McMeans mentions that since students are already highly involved with social media, McMeans explained how incorporating social media in lessons would make the students want to learn and make them more excited about learning. McMeans writes, “Technology is ever-changing. We are living in a world that consists of constant change and advances with technology, the workforce, the classroom, etc.” (McMeans 289). Jackson’s research states that having technology in the classroom was a major distraction, however, in McMeans research she writes, “Incorporating social media into the classroom will provide a positive, upbeat learning environment that students are engaged in on a regular basis” (McMeans 289). All teachers should want a positive and upbeat learning environment for their students. McMeans also addresses teachers who aren’t as familiar with technology as some of the new teachers when she writes, “Educators are wedged in old teaching strategies and are reluctant to change their teaching approaches” (McMeans 290). She highly emphasizes that the educators that use old style teaching methods are becoming the victims of not being properly educated on the new world beyond the classroom.

While my research has shown that using technology and social media in the classroom is beneficial to students, some people believe that it causes learner difficulties, drops students’ GPA, and that it causes many distractions in the classroom. They give strong evidence about how they feel about technology when they write, “Arguably, the web has transformed the way people interact and communicate in daily life” (Hung 703). They also give strong evidence about how they feel about technology in the classrooms when they write, “Many educational researchers and practitioners also believe that the web has vast potential to shape the way people learn” (Hung 703). Changing the way that people are learning was thought to maybe not be such a good thing. Hung and Yuen offer some insight when they explain how learning is recognized as a social construct that is explained by students’ sense of classroom community and their active participation in a classroom of community practice. If students are not comfortable in their classroom then they are unlikely to succeed. Hung and Yuen write, “As applied to educational settings, it appears that the success of classroom communities rests on how well learners are socially connected and perceive the value of such social bonds in their classroom” (Hung 705). Here, they are stating that children should not have to rely on social networking and technology in order to succeed. They exclaim how some students may not have the newest of gadgets to show off to all the other students and some will begin to feel uncomfortable and left out; when they start to feel those things, they will also start to shut down as well as not do as good on assignments as usual.

Another reason why people believe that technology shouldn’t be used in the classroom is because it is researched that it is changing the students’ attitudes. Jackson writes, “students have never known a world without personal access to information technologies, often take them for granted, and integrate them seamlessly into their daily lives” (Jackson 129). Students are already highly involved very much in their technological devices that they tend to forget what is going on right in front of them when they look up from the screen. Jackson also emphasizes how technology is a distraction in the classroom when she writes, “Practically speaking, mobile phones may offer an essential communication function in case of emergency. Despite these potential benefits, mobile phones can be a distraction. In addition to the nuisance caused by vibrating or ringing phones, the tendency for students to send and receive text messages is problematic” (Jackson 130). There will always be that one student or many students who are easily distracted, however, if teachers set rules in the beginning of the school year for their classroom about cell phones, then students are more likely to abide by them. Teachers shouldn’t completely restrict cell phones from the classroom, but they should definitely state that if they’re not being used for educational purposes, then they should be silent so that they don’t create a distraction in the classroom.

Although a lot of students don’t have technological devices, a lot of students will. Accommodate to the needs of your students, by pairing them up with a student that has a device. By doing this, it will allow the opportunity for all students to experience technological learning. Finding out if they are able to access technology at home is also important. If it is unavailable, then encourage your students to go to the library. In order to not have complaints avoid having too many online assignments and just reassure the benefits of technology while in the classroom.

I believe that there are many ideas and controversies about educational technology but when the gap is finally closed, improvements in learning will start to show as well as student success; inside and outside of the classroom. I believe that it is time that teachers take notice in what surrounds their students twenty four seven and also take action by incorporating it into their lessons. With that said, incorporating technology in lessons are getting the students excited to see what is coming up next. Even though technology is used in almost every classroom these days, teachers still need to be well aware of their students grades at all times just in case they start to decrease, but they also need to watch so that rewards can be given for improvement.

In the TED Talk “Blending Technology and Classroom Learning” spoken by Jessie Woolley- Wilson she explains the need for blended learning for the upcoming generations. Wilson expresses, “Students need to realize their learning potential, and when they do, they will soon realize their human potential” (Wilson). With technology in the classroom, Wilson states, “You can learn the learner as the learner learns” (Wilson). Though that statement is strong it explains the purpose for blended learning that incorporates technology. She introduces the idea of intelligent adapted technology, which is an online learning tool that teachers can use to evaluate each student individually. This allows students the opportunity to create their own learning path based on what they already know and what they don’t know yet. I believe that this tool will be very useful and successful amongst many students; it will reduce the chances of students getting embarrassed because they don’t know the answer to something, but it also will allow for the chance to get students engaged. With intelligent adapted learning, there are worries that it will replace great teachers, but Wilson states that it is only supporting great teaching. Not only is it encouraging students, it is encouraging teachers as well. It is important to support great teaching because with your support it will help the classroom to erupt with success. A lot of students don’t get the opportunity to experience blended learning, so teachers need to incorporate it in their classrooms.

In the future, the idea of technology in the classroom should remain in action. Learning that combines the traditional face to face classroom experience has the potential to change the ways that students learn. It doesn’t matter what the student has learned in the past, or what they currently know. What matters is their journey along the way of how they got to know what they now know. The research that can be done to continue the argument that technology is important in the classroom by taking observations of students of all grade levels and study the increase or decrease in student involvement and also their grades. Students are used to having immediate responses with the touch of their finger, and when a technological device is not working correctly, students will get easily frustrated. Continuing to encourage students is also something that will help further this this argument. Students need support, especially from their teachers. Teachers shouldn’t be discouraged, they should be determined to make their students successful. These students are the future, if the students do not learn the way teachers are teaching, then teachers need to teach the way students are learning.

Speaking as one who was brought up in this technologically adaptive environment at Medina High School, I have seen the positive results of these resources first-hand. They provide student motivation, differentiated learning, student involvement, and overall it provides a successful classroom. Having the opportunity to have had class iPads, and the many computer labs was a privilege. Having the computer labs to go to created student based technology. I believe that involving technology in the classroom will provide students’ to improve their learning. Improvements in learning will start to show as well as student success; inside and outside of the classroom.

Works Cited

Gielbelhausen, Robin. "What the Tech Is Going On? Social Media and Your Music Classroom." General Music Today 28.2 (2015): 39-46. Academic Search Complete. Web. 22 Jul 2015.

Hung, Hsiu-Ting, and Steve Chi-Yin Yuen. "Educational Use of Social Networking Technology in Higher Education." Teaching in Higher Education 15.6 (2010): 703-14. Academic Search Complete. Web. 23 Jul 2015.

Jackson, Lorraine D. "Is Mobile Technology in the Classroom a Helpful Tool or a Distraction?: A Report of University Students' Attitudes, Usage Practices, and Suggestions for Policies." International Journal of technology, Knowledge and Society 8.5 (2012): 129-40. Academic Search Complete. Web. 23 Jul 2015.

McMeans, April. "Incorporating Social Media in the Classroom." Education 135.3 (2015): 289-90. A. Web. 23 Jul 2015.

Wilson, Jessie. "Blending Technology and Classroom Learning." TED Talks. 17 Dec. 2012. Web. 4 Aug. 2015.

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