The Atlanta Journal Constitution – Maureen Downey
“The University of Phoenix College of Education surveyed teachers on their use of social media in the classroom and found teachers wary of involving their classes in websites and apps that enable students to create and share content or network with others. With today’s kids essentially living their lives and making their connections on social media, a strong argument exists that schools ought to bring the online world into classrooms. However, teachers tell me the monitoring necessary to keep students on task and out of trouble cancels out the benefits. While schools increasingly rely on text messages to alert students and parents to deadlines or remind them of events, it remains rare to see a classroom where mobile devices and social media are integral to daily instruction and exploration. A rationale against incorporating social media into instruction has been that not every student had a phone, but that seems less of a barrier today. Visit any middle school in metro Atlanta at dismissal and adolescents will be on their mobile phones.”(more)