I suppose that different schools have widely divergent policies on use of social media because there are both benefits and potential drawbacks and also because any time something new is introduced, its adoption will not be immediate and simultaneous in all places.

Let’s start with the pluses of using social media in education. First of all, it’s highly engaging and appeals to youth. Second, it’s already widely used by our youth and its use is growing. Third, it helps our students develop some of the 21st century skills in technology and communication that our students need for the job market. Social media can encourage discussion, communication, collaboration, and interaction -perhaps more than pencil-and-paper assignments would. Edmodo and padlet.com might be better suited to quick gathering of ideas in writing during a brainstorming session.  Even Twitter can be used creatively and effectively, as demonstrated by NPR’s Scott Simon’s tweets during the days leading up to his mother’s death. http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/07/30/207032871/on-twitter-scott-simon-s-long-goodbye-to-his-mother

Now let’s consider the drawbacks that parents, administrators, and teachers may worry about. First is cybersafety and cyberbullying. These have been issues with very damaging consequences in unregulated settings outside of school. Second is the potential for students to write inappropriate posts that could be viewed by a wide audience. Third is is possibility that the quality of student writing may decline. Normally when people use social media, they type quickly; pay less attention to sentence construction, grammar, spelling, and capitalization; and they may hit “send” before stopping to look over and edit what they wrote. There is also the possibility that students’ depth of thought may decrease. Their writing may be more superficial, more like initial thoughts quickly typed without taking the time to think fore deeply. People may question whether widespread use of social media will contribute to our children having shorter attention spans, having less patience, and skimming the surface instead of diving deep. Lastly, there is the question of whether students will miss out on some element of human connection when they use social media rather than direct person to person or group communication.

I think the concerns about cybersafety, cyberbullying, and inappropriate posts can be addressed by using sites like Edmodo and padlet.com where the teacher controls who can enter the group and the teacher monitors posts. I think concerns about the affect of widespread use of social media on writing skills and depth of thought are valid, but may be circumvented by proactive, thoughtful design for lessons using social media. For instance, maybe incorporating peer review and feedback followed by revisions will help with that. All in all, I think the pros out weigh the cons. And no matter what we think, change is coming. So the most constructive thing we teachers can do is look for ways to make the changes work for us and support us in working toward our goals.