Teaching Social Media—Adding To K-12 Curriculum

It has been suggested that the scholars be taught social media basics. This may very well be a brand new set of “3 R’s” for education. The social media 3Rs might include, along with “reading, writing, and math,” “research” and “respect.”

The “researching” ability may very well be used to assist teach young users on social media find out how to avoid believing every little thing that’s posted. This might help to stop the spread misinformation. The “responsible use” of social media helps users to grasp the importance of being careful about what they share, in addition to showing respect towards other users.

Increased social media usage could mean more problems

This curriculum will develop into much more essential as users of social networks are expected to grow in number over the following few years.

Statista reports that the variety of social media users worldwide has risen from 970 tens of millions in 2010 to 2,96 billion by 2020. That is in accordance with Dr. Vivian Maria Vasquez of American University, a professor of Education.

Vasquez said, “Today’s children grow up in a world with increased media usage. A world that’s characterised by latest technologies and types of communication.”

As technology became more accessible and youngsters gained more independence, they spent more time on tablets, social media, streaming and other technologies.

Using social media platforms has increased the likelihood to immediately broadcast experiences of life as they occur. “Social media is an awesome way for corporations to sell products, and news outlets and government agencies to quickly share information in real time,” Vasquez said.

In an effort to help navigate the web world, similar to on social media, youth today may require tools. Vasquez believes that media literacy ought to be a part of the literacy curriculum.

Stacie Pettit, an associate professor in teacher education from Augusta University Online suggested that media literacy and awareness of social media also needs to be emphasized.

Pettit said that students don’t must be taught in regards to the platform itself, but reasonably find out how to discover credible online information and stay secure when using the web. So far as social media is anxious, teachers can use it to have interaction students through the use of this tool. But teachers must consider their purpose in using social networks and shouldn’t use them only for its own sake.

There’s a Recent Media

Though other mediums didn’t require such education—nobody ever taught anyone find out how to watch TV and even find out how to play video games—a difference here is how social media can impact the user in ways in which other media doesn’t.

It may very well be so simple as giving younger users an insight into the impact of this medium on people’s on a regular basis lives.

Anthony Silard is a professor of Luiss Business School, Rome and creator of Digital Age: The Art of Free Living.

Silard said that social media and phones are each as fascinating for our kids and teenagers as they’re us. Each are here to stay. We are going to keep doing the identical thing until we’re able to help them adapt to this latest aspect of their life.

That is where it could back to those latest Rs—in order that children understand find out how to be respectful of others, how they should take responsibility for what they post and the way they shouldn’t contribute to the spread of falsehoods via the platforms.

Vasquez stated that “children must learn find out how to critically evaluate the messages on social media they arrive across directly or not directly to make sure they’re not duped by anything they hear, read, or see.”

Children must know what messages to retain and which to discard from the media. In our classrooms, we’d like to offer children the space to see how media images and words are used to portray people in certain ways. To develop into a critical literate person, it is important to show children how text could be utilized in real life.