Social Media Every Step of the Way

As teachers of writing, it is imperative that we not only keep students writing, but that we keep them interested in writing. Because social media sites are such a huge part of student's lives out of the classroom, if more of those sites are incorporated into the classroom, students have the potential to become more engaged in their writing assignments.

Having seen mostly traditional writing assignments throughout their academic career, students can write more on "their terms" and in "their setting" through social media. Students in the year 2011 have grown up with digital technology; they not only feel comfortable using it, they want to use it. In a recent presentation entitled Teaching Invention Through YouTube, Ruijie Zhao argued, "Facing a student population that has grown up in this digital environment, instructors need to implement innovative teaching that incorporates technology to cater to what students know and need."

The central piece of social media sites is writing. While the sites can incorporate music, video, pictures, and graphics, writing exists as the main form of communication on most of these sites. By focusing more on writing on these sites, and the improvement of writing on these sites, we can hopefully improve the writing at the academic level as well.

The rationale for using social media to help teach writing also has practical implications past just meeting students on their terms.

In her article entitled "A Model for Teaching College Writing," Barbara Vance argues that "Writing and reading online is different than performing those same tasks on paper. We communicate differently on the Internet, and as more and more people read from their phones and portable e-readers, our understanding of communication will change further still. As technology shifts, so does our means of persuasion; if students do not explore this, they will find their skills quickly out of date."

In this blog, we are going to explore ways to successfully incorporate social media into the classroom. The goal here is two-fold: to meet students on their terms and to have them meet our expectations in the writing classroom. My thought is that, in general, academic writing can become more accessible and practical for the student, and that the process will remain worthwhile and rewarding for all parties involved.

Stay tuned for some interesting ways to implement social media into the classroom and hopefully you can try some of these tools in your classrooms.