Social Media

Social Networks as a Tool for Modernizing the Educational Process

Social networks increasingly integrate into our daily lives. It is not enough to talk about uniting and uniting groups on the basis of age criteria, professional and common interests, territorial aspects, social networks allow to penetrate the life and culture of other countries and this is a fact. But recently the relevance of this subject is justified by a number of other factors such as:

The negative influence of social networks on the educational and working activities of its users. Often raised such a topic as the relationship between the general level of education and intelligence, and the time spent in social networks. The issues of confidentiality and accessibility of information. In connection with the latest change in legislation, the subject of placing audio and video materials for general access was sharply discussed. As can be seen, social networks are in themselves a factor in the formation of a new information society and a new way of life

 

This implies another factor that influences the urgency of the social. Networks are the prospects for their further development, namely, new areas of application and capabilities, a new interface and access points. The growth of negative attitudes and sharp criticism from the legislation, representatives of the education sector, the parental part of the population, the users themselves, leads modern innovators to search for the spheres of application of social networks with the opportunity to make positive trends, both in the development of each individual and in the development of the whole society. One of such spheres is the sphere of education. A typical user of social media is a wealthy person aged 18-24. Thus, the student population is one of the best segments for introducing innovation through a social network.

The purpose of this article is to analyze the positive and negative aspects of social networks to further identify the possibility and feasibility of creating them on the basis of the university, assessing the prospects for further development.

Social networks have a lot of advantages over other means, methods, ways that accompany the education process.

One can single out the following advantages of using social networks:

  • With the help of social networks, students have the opportunity to keep abreast of all the news and changes occurring in the learning process.
  • Social networks are free for students, teachers and parents
  • Students are interested in social networks. Most students are involved in social networks more than other Internet resources. The various management systems used by teachers do not attract students, unlike regularly visited social networks, they appear in them only when necessary.
  • Social networks allow teachers to quickly share important information with students and make reminders of any events.
  • Students, in the process of learning in social networks, get the skills of owning the means and ways of communication.
  • Social networks provide an opportunity for students and teachers to quickly exchange information from other web resources, conduct a discussion of the materials found on the Internet.
  • The use of social networks helps students who miss school for some reason, support the learning process and participate in it online.
  • With the help of social networks, it is possible to provide a continuous educational process, that is, teachers and students can interact at a time convenient for them. It is possible to conduct daily individual consultations and planning the educational process as a whole.
  • Social networks enable teachers to conduct lecture classes in an interactive mode, thus, students, when listening to a lecture, have the opportunity to ask questions of interest to them and conduct a discussion of the lecture material in chat and personal messages without distracting the teacher.
  • The use of social networks makes it possible to involve students in the education of parents.
  • Social networks, unlike other ways of obtaining information of an educational nature, can be accessed constantly and everywhere via the mobile Internet.
  • The ability to save, without printing, handouts, placing it as a file on a social network.
  • Through social networks, students who have problems with public speaking before the audience can be active in the virtual learning process.

These advantages prove the usefulness and effectiveness of the application of social networks in educational education.

However, in the modern world, there are problems associated with the use of social networks in the educational process. The most common problems are:

  • absence of accepted norms of behavior, which is important in the process of communication, as the participants in the conversation feel their impunity in behavior,
  • presence of a high degree of labor costs of programmers, faculty of the university for the organization and support of educational work.
  • The absence of direct contact between the teacher and students prevents the selection and development of the necessary teaching materials.
  • The danger of using social networks in education, which consists in the gradual replacement of real virtual communication, which becomes predominant in the student’s life, which negatively affects his mental health.

Social networks depersonalize the whole process of communication. A person who is in the network for a long time gradually disconnects from everyday human communication, becomes dependent on the computer and the network itself. He loses the skill of real communication with people, becomes irritable and withdrawn. There is a misunderstanding with relatives and friends, conflicts. This, of course, affects the mental health of a person and his relationships with others and, importantly, his ability to learn. However, we must understand that social networks do not in themselves generate such shortcomings. The emergence of such problems is due to both the human factor and the behavior of a single individual.

To solve these problems, it is necessary to develop effective methods of using social networks in the educational space. The benefits of using social networks are currently not sufficiently appreciated. Many people are skeptical about the possibility of using this method as a means of training, since traditionally social networks are perceived as an entertainment and leisure environment.

This information and communication resource certainly has a great future. From year to year the number of social networks increases, and the boundaries of their actions expand, opening up new opportunities. This, of course, attracts, causes interest, this kind of communication is delaying.