Blog Post 3
Social media has been regarded as one of the most ground-breaking technology in the era of information, where Internet users can exchange their opinions and make some differences to their own lives or the community as a whole. Increasingly, what has been invisible in recent years is that social media is a good learning tool by bringing together a community of learners and creating opportunities for them to interact with each other. For example, bloggers who are knowledgeable or experts in some fields could post their learning materials and tips online for other learners to follow; and anyone can share their learning experiences and provide recommendations via their Facebook accounts.
It has been suggested that social media creates community because it corresponds with the original definition of community, that is, “to give or to make common among each other” (Johns, 2015: 227). To be specific, the virtual community allows learners to be around each other who holds shared goals or ideas, and their interdependence or interconnection, to most extent, can support them to go further.
This provides a lens studying the reasons why social media has become a popular and widely welcomed tool among learners in the modern era. First of all, it saves great amount of money, time and energy for these learners, who do not have to go to the classroom to find partners and teachers any longer. All they have to do is to prepare an Internet-connected computer and their passion for learning. Besides, it creates a sense of companionship and belonging. Instead of learning separately and individually, participating in social media groups can create a warm as well as supportive learning environment to learners, which is crucial to one’s achievement in the end.
However, this is not suggesting that this virtual community for learning is a panacea because it might distract learners by various advertisement and other entertainment online.
References
Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash
Johns, H. U. P. (2015). Teaching online : A guide to theory, research, and practice. Retrieved from https://ebookcentral-proquest-com.ezproxy.library.uvic.ca