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Tuesday, October 21, 2014

Social Media in Schools ...... Possible!!

Now-a-days social media has become our habits more than our necessity. It's just too boring to spend a single day without a smart phone full of applications. But this is not always applicable for teens or school-going students. The must-haves or must-dos like Facebook, Twitter, Youtube etc are often a big no-no for students. The parents of a teen kid are mostly worried if the child is using internet. The teachers tend to advise parents to not let the students use internet before they turn 18. But till-date many teachers as well as parents are unaware of the benefits of Social Media in educational nourishment of a student. Let's have a look at the pros and cons of Social media on students.

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Pros:

  • Do we write letters when we can talk to people over phone? Do we even call when we can send some a message through SMS. Do we even spend Rs.1/SMS just to say "Hi" when we can simply Whatsapp (If we don't count the Internet charges)? The answer is known to everyone: "NO". Then why do the children have to select a place and meet there if they want to have GROUP STUDY when they can simply group chat and discuss about their study and progress?We all know how studying in group helps more than studying alone.
  • Have you always been the topper of your class? Have you never ever suffered from inferiority complex seeing someone doing better than you. Have you always been able to ask all your doubts clearly to the teachers in front of a full class? I know many-if-not-all would say No. These kind of students would find it very easy to ask about his/her doubts to only the teacher through Social Media where the whole class wouldn't be there to laugh at his/her dumb questions(Sometimes it may be such but that too needs to get cleared).
  • In past years, if a student had missed school one day, he/she would have to wait to meet friends back at the school and take the notes that he/she missed. But if the note is given in a soft copy, they can be shared within moments, and even if they are not, the students can easily scan or take a photo and share them which are equally useful.
  • And the most important thing, the parents don't have to wait for the PTMs to meet the teachers and know about their children performance. Parents, Students and Teachers can stay connected easily through Social Media.
  • The students can connect to their Alumni and ask for any kind of suggestions. 

Cons:

  • Along with being Pacific of Knowledge, Internet is also very much distractive with lots of eye-catching things being cultivated through out the online world which could really be harmful for the innocent, immature and curious minds of teens.
  • Sometimes students face Cyber-bullying (Cyber-bullying is the use of information technology to repeatedly harm or harass other people in a deliberate manner) by other students through social media.
  • Students can start sharing inappropriate photographs, contents, videos which are easily available online which can affect students' minds badly.
  • Students continually depending on Social Media  become less interested in meeting people face-to-face as they lack the social-life-skills.
  • The easily accessible information decrease the willingness of students to remember something.

Solution:

Easy Gurukul ERP has already made individual Parent, Student and Alumni login. Where students can stay connected among each other as well as with teachers and Alumni. The parents can also stay connected with other parents and teachers. Here students will not be open to add any unknown people but only the students of that particular school, hence the chance of distraction will be less. They can share any files, browse course related videos, play interactive games, prepare online for competitive exams, gets educational information's like various events, competitions, book fair, reality show participating dates, scholarship information etc.

So this way, we can utilize the good sides of social media for the growth of the students without letting them get exposed to the whole unknown world. 


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