Should instructors, without a doubt, keep away from using social media as teaching equipment? Previously, instructors and colleges were left on their own to judge this matter. This has been modified with the current memorandum from the Department of Education (DepEd) that affirmed the Department of Information and Communication Technology’s (DICT) attraction to restrict colleges from using social media in magnificence tasks and homework.
DepEd argues that “social media is not the right outlet to guide the needs of newbies” and, as a substitute, recommends the use of open-source Learning Management Systems (LMS), which include Edmodo, Schoology, and Google Classroom, amongst others, to help the e-learning requirements of colleges. While this new directive will be disregarded easily by many DepEd instructors who pay greater interest to what can be deemed extra concrete troubles, together as faculty rooms and earnings growth, this issue has some critical implications for instructors and colleges, which require vast attention. Around the world, a consensus has not yet been reached on whether social networking technology is fit for use as an academic method. This is notwithstanding the superb hobby of many training and media pupils in analyzing this distinctly new phenomenon. In a few colleges, strict blanket guidelines disallow instructors from connecting with their students online. In contrast, teachers are recommended to take full advantage of social media for pedagogical functions in other ways. Most Filipino instructors find themselves in between; social media use is neither prohibited nor promoted. Hence, many teachers use it for the sheer convenience it affords.
This subject befell due to DICT’s emphasis on the numerous cyber threats that younger learners are exposed to through social media together with cyberbullying, pornography, and playing. In a report, DICT Information Technology Officer Gen Macalinao said that dad and mom send them complaints about instructors handing out school responsibilities to their students via social media.
For many teachers, Facebook has grown to be an extension of the classroom. They have discovered that they can, without problems, connect with their college students for any motive through the platform. This ease of getting entry to manifestly brings both excellent and horrific effects. So, have teachers hook up with their college students on social media? Just like in most debated problems, the solution is both certain and no.
Teachers have various philosophies in terms of how to manipulate student-trainer relationships. Some prefer to be friendly and accommodating simultaneously, as a few would like to hold their distance. It is typically due to this extensive spectrum of teacher personalities and coaching styles—unique but effective in their own ways—that it is impossible to reach a single solution to the question. Instead of determining whether or not instructors and students can or cannot join online, the focus should be directed towards educating instructors on how to control their conversations with college students on social media. To begin with, this will involve a listing of quality practices and a listing of bad behaviors to keep away from.
As instructors engage with their students on the line, they’re additionally able to hone their professional identities. Some recommend growing a separate ‘professional’ account exclusive for college purposes, whilst others opt to keep their private debts, questioning whether the professional and the personal now do not diverge. Whether educators like it or not, whilst they are online, they become social media position models. Because of this, it’s miles first-class for teachers to adopt a few recommendations for themselves and their students—on language use, touch time, and other limitations for interaction. If those policies are enforced well, this can cause fine digital conduct for the scholars. When practiced time and again, that conduct becomes a norm that may extend beyond the lecture room context.
