Do you want social media as an ally?

I am still a believer in the old school way of teaching. The way I was teached when I was still a lad. The teacher was in front and he/she would facilitate the teaching by asking questions and sparking your curiosity. The teacher would not converse with the students outside the class room, it was kept as a learner-teacher relationship.

Some of the ideas that the articles gave across, was a little too progressive for my ancient was of thinking, but that is not to say that there where others that I thought that I could implement in my class.

First let’s look at the ones that I might use:

• ·      Reminder - it is a tool that allows the teacher to connect with the teacher through their mobile devices. The teacher would create a group and only the teacher will be able to post on the group. I think this will be a good way of relaying important information to their learners, and will help the learners stay up to date with the classes.
• ·      Blogging - In the way as the teacher will post something that will spark the internist of the learners and they can then exchange ideas or thoughts that they have on the specific topic. The parents of the learners can then also see how their kids react to the new information or ideas that is put out there.

Now let’s look at the part where I differ:

• ·      Twitter - I feel that twitter is too personal, the line between teacher and learner gets blurred, the learner will think of you as a friend. I see where the idea can actually help with the teaching, "Twitter has become a medium for students to expand their learning in the classroom. They've used Twitter to share something they saw outside of school that related to our class conversation."
• ·      Instagram - I don't think that sharing funny photos does anything to help with teaching... I understand that you can extend the learning beyond the classroom, and that you can share informative ideas or concepts through it, but I still feel that it becomes too personal.

In summery we have to remember that we are in South Africa and that all the learners don’t have equal opportunity to technology and that we can’t go running blindly in to this way of teaching. Some of the ideas that was giving in this article I feel will benefit the learners. Most importantly I feel that the learner-teacher relationship must stay just that, it can to easily morph into something that can be interpreted as something that was not its intention.