Coexistance in a Digital Neighborhood

Children are called digital natives. Teachers are outsiders in their world. How do educators make meaningful connections on students’ turf without it coming across as forced and incoherent? Many reports about connecting with students tell that educators need to use the mediums that children access in their daily lives. They are online in social environments. Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram are only a few. Education is a social process. Through logical reasoning, the crossover should be simple to accomplish. Using these devices to engage in dialogue with students does not automatically elevate us to acceptance. The possible result of diving headfirst into social media integration is the equivalent of the awkwardness of watching an adult speaking to a child while using intonation and faddish slang.


So, how do you make a connection? First it is important to understand how and why children make connections in online communities.

Online identities exist in three levels.

1. True identity: This is the truest self and includes real profile names and personal information.

2. Pseudonymity: This provides a level of protection to the user. Fabricated profile names or user IDs take on aspects of the true personality without directly revealing the identity. A person who plays as a pitcher on a baseball team may use a name like, “fastball123.” Reputation building is possible and others in the community come to recognize the individual through this identity.

3. Anonymity: This has the most obscurity in online social environments. Reputations are impossible to build without the ability to take credit for contributions in the online community (Junco, 2014).

For more about online identity development:

Social Media and Student Identity Development

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In educational settings, the goal is to get investment then credit students for their contributions. The level that you most desire is the true identity of the child. The problem that creates is, this level does not provide the securities that a student may desire in expressing their opinions and beliefs. While this holds true, there are other considerations that online communities offer that extend some of those securities. Junco (2014) explains the Online Disinhibition Effect as, “Online, there is a barrier between the communicator and the recipients—that barrier being the computer” (p. 113). Someone who tends toward introverted behavior in public forums like a classroom may be more inclined to offer input in a social network chat. There are multiple reasons for disinhibition online. Students are capable of planning and editing exactly what they want to express before making it public. In the privacy of their homes, they do not have the sensation that their peers are watching them.

The second part of coexisting in this environment is remembering that while you are opening a door to them in their native environment, you are still the teacher. Treat the social network like an extension of the classroom. Build and plan the use of social media into lessons and curriculum. Do not use social media simply as a bridge to gain the student’s attention. This method is a lure and will create distrust. This infographic provides an excellent process for using social media.

Still reluctant? You are not alone. While research and surveys show that teachers recognize the importance of the use of technology in education, many are still not using it. Check out this link to read an article that could help if you are still on the fence.

U.S. K-12 Teachers Reluctant to Integrate Social Media in Classrooms

One Person, Multiple Identities

EDUCATORS! Your students are not who you think they are.

Take a quick inventory of the multiple accounts that you access through the internet. There are social sites like Facebook that allow casual to intimate interaction with friends and family. Twitter inspires activism and engagement with topics that are important to you. Then there are professional network sites like LinkedIn that keep you in contact with peers and mentors in your industry. With a probable exception of the newest teachers, most educators can recall an adolescence free from the intertwined web of online social networks. The person sitting in your class reflects only one small sliver of the larger social environment where they exist.

Erik Erikson defined eight stages of psychosocial development. Adolescence falls into the fifth stage called Ego Identity vs. Role Confusion. Erikson explains this transition as a major stage of development. The adolescent will experiment and challenge values in the pursuit of a sense of self and personal identity (McLeod, 2013).
Read more:

Growing Up Wired: Social Networking Sites and Adolescent Psychosocial Development

(The National Center for Biotechnology Information advances science and health by providing access to biomedical and genomic information.)

The struggle is not one that should be feared or avoided. The development of these identities is one that educators have a responsibility in nurturing. A society without boundaries is developing online that adolescents can claim as their own. They are creating meaningful connections with greater diversity and acceptance than any previous generation. They are developing compelling web content. Knowledge is vast and accessible online. Finally, a world market, with new economical dynamics is emerging.
Read more:

How Students Benefit From Using Social Media

(Edudemic was created in 2010 and has grown into one of the most popular destinations to cover teaching, learning, and how technology positively shapes our education.)

Investment equals motivation. Students have additional access to their teachers and fellow students through digital applications. The nature of collaboration in social networks establishes a stronger connection to education. The “go anywhere, be anywhere” function of social media networks changes the dynamic of the traditional classroom. New experiences with high-order cognitive learning can become the norm for students in 21st-century classrooms.
Read more:

Advantages of Using Social Media For Students in Education

(Academia Apps provides resources to educators to help them incorporate technology effectively in the classroom.)

Incorporating & accounting for Social Media in Education | Harry Dyer | TEDxNorwichED