Social Media and Education

There are a great many things we can't learn from a book, not just grander ideas and social  skill related things, but there are a great many points of view and pieces of information that will never make it to a printing press. There are probably a great many authors that won't make it through the publishing process because of the way the system works, putting this method of sharing ideas out of reach for many, but social media is much more attainable. If nothing else, using social media to explore the world of ideas you might never see from the safe space in front of your computer seems like a great way to open the door for students to become more curious about the going-ons around them. Through communication technology, not just social media, has opened up education to this kind of distance teaching, where a teacher can teach a massive number of students over the Internet, sometimes formal like an online class, or informal through instruction through Youtube, where anyone interested in the subject can peek in on the lesson. I can see the apprehensions some school districts have students and teachers on social media like Facebook. This makes it a lot easier for teachers and students to have inappropriate contact, and it also has this weird mix of personal life things and teachers personal opinions of things can come out, and warp students in an unintentional way because its coming from an authority figure in their life. But social media and education allows new methods of teaching, helping and assisting those who need more 1 on 1 help, in a private way. The current way teaching is done works for most people, but not all. Any opportunity to help those who don't fit the mold in the education model reach the same potential as everyone else should be welcomed with open arms.

Politics in Social Media

I haven't become more politically active because of social, or through social media. Mostly, I just don't participate in politics through social media, because it always becomes messy and the people who end up arguing about, aren't able to articulate their opinions well and don't  usually understand what a polite discourse is. What I appreciate through social media on politics is the articles and ideas that aren't normally seen through regular news outlets. Some of these sites are not to be trusted, and a lot of these sights have an agenda, so we have to be careful, but it at least shows a perspective or ideas the regular news didn't talk about at all, or the news thinks isn't important or against the news organizations agenda.