5 Reasons Why Middle Schools Should Use Social Media For Education

“What is interesting is the power and the impact of social media...So we must try to use social media in a good way.”

- Malala Yousafzai (Female education activist, The youngest ever Nobel Prize laureate)

Social media is a magical wonder of technology that can simply dismiss the idea of “communication gap” by connecting the whole world with its one solid string. But, it is also an undeniable fact that social media creates severe addiction. A recent research came out with a report that 75% of all internet users are attached with social media network(s). Another research has shown, 92% teen social media users come online regularly- within that percentage 24% of them accepted the fact that they stay online “almost constantly”. In the teenage years, when students are going through their middle school education period, they are not just increasing their intellectual level through academic training, during this time, they are also gradually becoming more and more exposed towards the outer world and environment. At this crucial time, when they step inside the world of social media networking, it brings some serious changes in their academic, social and personal lives.

Let's take a look exactly how middle schools can improve their teenager students' academic foundation by including social media into their education.

Improve students' participation

If middle school teachers include social media within their academic training and allow their students to use social media with certain clauses and limits, it will increase their attachment with studies and the students will be more interested to participate in their education and classroom activities than earlier.

Easy, fast and flexible tool for sharing content

If used correctly, social media can create a strong bridge between middle school students and the teachers. Through proper and continuous communication, teachers can share every online academic resources with their students quickly and very easily. The students can also acquire those contents only through the clicks of their fingers.

Assistance for homework

Social media can help the students even in the time of homework. Using social media networks as tools they can connect with their respective teachers and classmates whenever they feel stuck anywhere. By getting spontaneous response, students can smoothly overcome the complications of their subjects and can get hold of the subjects more effectively.

Bringing all in the same page at once

Social media can help the students and the teachers to maintain successful two-way communication. By using social media parents of those students can also connect with respective teachers and can communicate them directly if needed. Not only that, teachers can post and share class events and activities through social media. This will help both the students and their guardians to be aware of class activities and prepare themselves accordingly.

Teaching proper use of social media

If school personnel encourage the students to use social media as academic and communication tool, they will also guide them about the proper ways of using social media and stay safe from its disadvantageous effects. In this manner, middle school students will be able to use social media effectively without getting into complications like cyber-bullying. By learning the proper usage method, middle school students will be able to keep themselves away from any kind of addiction by maintaining healthy use of social media networking sites.

How social media is distracting the middle school students from their academic orientation is a known fact. For example, a large section of this age group is literally addicted to social media and constantly getting detached from general human communication. Some of them are the victims of cyber-bullying incidents. But, all technological invention till now has brought some of its own benefits and costs along with it. Similarly, Social media also has its own disadvantages, but it can mould the middle school students' career orientation to the right way by allowing them to use it as a tool of their own intellectual and social advancement.

The educational consultancy firms in USA have their own definite way for bringing improvement in middle school education techniques. If you have the suggestive ideas, we have the database. To enforce your suggestions and analyse present situation get the database from K12 Lists.

For more details on Middle Class School Email Database, visit our website: www.k12-lists.com/.

5 Critical Issues In High School Education

The 2015 NCES data report on the U.S. Department of Education threw light on the dropouts in 2012. The report read that about 2.7 of the ninth-graders of 2009 batch had dropped out by the time 2012 arrived; which means that the students could have been eleventh-graders by that time. So, what other other than social position, parent’s education, family income, could be the reason for those dropouts? There are many challenges in the face of education that bothers the confidence of most students in the high schools. They act as the obstacles in the way of education completion. elements that we need to focus on in order to move forward and offer better opportunities to our students.

• Student-Centred Learning

Student-centered learning includes variety of cognitive learning that helps their academic growth. This learning can range from instructional teachings, educational projects, field-work learning experiences and academic-approach related strategies. Each of these different learning help elevate the cognitive ability and touches every aspect of student interests and goals. But the disappointing part is that most high schools follow structured schedules that cater to completing the course material designed for a particular term. Touching the issues related to religious groups and cultural groups will help students gain interest in their involvement in educational activities and programs, besides studies. Involving them in conversations that are related to them will help them in realizing the importance of school education. Lisa Nielsen had come out with her now famous blog named- “Innovative Educator” blog which emphasizes on the student's  voice, indication power to student learning more than student teaching. 

(Also see, http://k12educationlists.blogspot.com/2016/09/recent-trends-in-k12-education.html) 

• The use of Technology

While most schools would agree that the use of technology in educational programs add value to learning, but there is a vast difference between what needs to be use and what is generally used by schools that are not wealthy enough as their wealthier counterparts. Schools must understand that the use of the right technology is more important than introducing students to unknown technologies that do not urge them to use them at all. Most high schools even now use old technologies to prepare courses, modules, presentations, quizzes, e-learning material, etc. Schools need to evaluate whether they want to use MOOCs for structuring school course or continue to manually prepare them. The term BYOD suits corporate culture more, so schools need to know whether they will like their students to bring devices like iPads, gaming systems, etc.

• Pre-service Programs on Teaching

High schools shape the future of students, and it becomes quite important that every student, who sees their future as a teacher, should be encouraged. Also, the better a school is appreciated, more are the chances that experienced and highly skilled teachers will want to join it. But the grave issue here remains that interference of the policymakers and politicians is also shaping the image of high schools in the USA. Mentioning that schools are unsuccessful in achieving their endeavors, only pushes good teaching professionals to other educational institutes. Alongside, pre-service programs are not of high quality, because of which graduates may feel that they are not adequately prepared for the teaching profession. In 2014 a question was raised on K-12 schools, which asked if these programs, if improvised, can build a powerful gathering of learners.

• School Environment

In 2014, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder declared new guidelines as educational disciplinary policies to stop the school-to-prison pipeline and purify school environment. Given that student bullying happens quite a lot in schools and increases chances of students coming in contact with the juvenile criminal justice platforms, these guidelines portray the zero tolerance policies in schools, which decreases such mishaps at the high school level, and helps students know their optimal selves.

• Lifestyle Gap

Of all the students in the high schools across the U.S., approximately 22% of students live in poverty. By the time they go from kindergarten to high schools, they would be knowing 1/8^th of the vocabulary knowledge their richer peers will have known by then. The lack the decent informative resources, and the backward communities where poor students live cannot afford their proper grooming. As serious as it sounds, these issues have been there and still are, though the education ministry is taking disciplined measures to reduce them.

No association can be made big without co-operation, and it all starts with us. Do you have anything to contribute to such high schools? Get in touch with Email Data Group that puts you in touch with key decision makers of high schools through its exclusive email list of high schools.

Posted by K12 Education Lists