June 25, 2026: Social Media in Education

Social Media in Education

This week's readings have shown that research not only recognizes social media's risks but also its potential for learning. Online platforms can support a range of educational activities, from reflection and discussion to collaboration and knowledge sharing. When online tools are effectively incorporated into a course, students may learn the course material in more engaging ways while developing digital communication skills that are increasingly important today. The key is the design and alignment of social media learning activities with the course goals.

What I found really nice is the idea of annotating papers with fellow students. This approach reminded me of a course where the instructor uploaded the papers on Google Drive, and students were able to read and annotate together. This mitigates students' tendency to interact primarily with instructors rather than with one another when online and instead fosters dialogue and interaction, exposing students to new perspectives and creating opportunities for collective knowledge-building.

This made me wonder about how students in fields with relatively less reading, like chemistry or biology, can benefit from online tools. What online platforms are there to foster connections and promote sharing ideas among STEM students?

Reflecting on my friends' assignments and their work, I was thinking about...

• Discord, Jupyter Notebook: Many computer science students use those to document their coding. These would be great tools to foster collaboration when working on a programming project.
• Google Doc, Word shared on OneDrive, Notion, Overleaf: For students who work in labs, they could write their notes and get feedback and tips.
• Miro, Mindmeister, Canva: The whiteboards can be used for mind-mapping ideas for research projects 

Some of the tools are not too familiar to me, and I am sure there are many other platforms that promote networked learning. In the end, there must always be feedback between instructors and students to make appropriate adjustments and support students' learning as best as possible. I would be interested to hear which tools or strategies others have found effective for encouraging peer interaction across different fields.