To begin with, we need to know what social networks are. Well, these networks belong to the group of webs 2.0. Such group is characterized by the following features: their users can share information, they allow collaborative work, they are user-centered, and most of them are free. All these features require an internet connection in order to be executed. Some other examples of webs 2.0 are wikis, blogs, web applications, and many more.
By having this in mind, we can define social networks as online communities of internet users that are meant to socialize and get in touch with people with similar interests. In the 21st century, social networks vary from one to one, but they all share the following elements: they provide the users with chat-rooms, file and photo sharing components, and e-mail accounts. Some of them offer the opportunity of contacting people who fit with a certain interest or profile. Moreover, they all are refreshing their repertoire in order to provide the user with a better experience.
Now, we should ask us, what are the perks of integrating social networks?
-Learning experience-
First of all, the learning experience that we give to our students is invaluable. I wish I had the opportunity of learning within an online community where I can learn not only from my teachers but from users with a similar interest. By asking our students to join to a virtual community where they can learn even more things than in the school, we are going to encourage them to develop several fundamental skill for their academic furture.
-Cultural expansion-
Undoubtedly, by being part of a social network we are exposed to many different cultural aspects. As English teachers, we can take advantage of that very easily because English and American culture are everywhere in a social network. Nevertheless, we should be wary of what we are exposing our students to.
-Collaborative work-
Social networks can really pave the way in our purse of having students working together. By their flexible nature, social networks concede the opportunity of working in an asynchronous way. This is to say, students learn at their own pace and time, and with the people they want to work with. We can take advantage of it by assigning them some tasks where they should interact with native speakers of English and report from their experience.
-Professional development-
Social networks not only benefit our students but us as well. Nowadays, schools are asking for teachers who have knowledge of their area and for the ones who can deal with modern technologies. This is why we should update our methodology and try to include at least a blog where we provide students with English instruction. I am sure this will be of great help in a short term period.
-Dynamics-
Finally, we have the dynamics in a social network. As mentioned above, these virtual communities allow asynchronous learning and collaborative work. In this way, the role of the teacher changes completely because even students can act as the teacher. For instance, once the teacher has delivered an assignment, a student may have a question that can be answered by another one. This is to say, feedback is not only given by the teacher but from the learners themselves.
Of course there are a great deal of benefits that social networks offer to us, but in my opinion these are the most remarkable ones. I hope you can find this useful and start considering the integration of social networks into your lessons.
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