How is social media changing education and creating a richer learning environment?

Social media is allowing students to learn from sources other than the few sole sources an instructor might be teaching from. The information may be considerably updated over what is in print, as well as possibly being false and misleading in its presentation. The utilization of social media exposes an instructor to questions regarding their discipline they may never have been exposed to before. There is no doubt this can result in being a wonderful teaching tool for both parties, rich in depth and understanding. With such an abundance of data, all the various learning styles could very easily be accommodated. That would, of course, take considerable time and effort on the part of an instructor to search and assemble just a few key sites for inclusion in the class curriculum. I can see social media being equivalent to ‘nirvana’ in current studies where first-hand commentary on every natural disaster and political upheaval would put a real human face on world events. In fact, social media might very well result in a world-wide “social conscious” regarding those less fortunate or living under persecuting regimes.

At some point “rules of engagement” would need to be created so the massive amount of data from social media is effectively leveraged to have validity in the classroom. Turning inquiries around so students have to continually participate in a give and take learning experience would certainly be beneficial. Letting students source their information and give authorship where due while concurrently learning analytical and evaluative skills regarding the data would eventually lead to critical thinking skills, which I suspect is what any content expert would desire.