How Educators can use Social Media Effectively!

Picture Credit:  Free Spirit Publishing Blog

Since the coming in of internet in our lives, learning has become absolutely free. The ocean of knowledge is overflowing and that is the reason that most people feel lost.

The water is overflowing! They are unable to store it in due time.

I don’t want to go round and round in circles.

What I mean to say is that people are clueless as to where to begin taking in the knowledge and how to utilise it effectively.

I see the same drain in the field of education. The educators are thoroughly confused about where to look and what to find out.

When they collect information they get lost while putting it to use. Because such a lot of information cannot be implemented in a class of 40 minutes a day!

Ultimately their learning is limited to the wonderful and eye catching images rolled out by www.pinterest.com.

Books are always the first recommendation for anyone when we consider learning. But most of the people are uncomfortable and do not know which is the right book that they should buy to read.

When resources are available for free, purchasing something loses value.

So here are a few points for the educators to help them streamline their activity and time on Social Media so that ultimately it results in productive output not just ‘scrolling down’ time.

Productivity hack #1

Decide a topic:

Before you hit on the internet decide a topic which you want to learn or want more information about. Think for the best suitable line which you want to type in the search engine. A line which would give the closest result to the topic that you are searching for.

When you type your query and hit search, it is obvious that the first three or four listed websites will have the necessary answer.

Right click and open the website in a new tab. Scroll through. If it is useful take the information from that website and log off.

If the information is not proper then go to the next tab that you have opened.

Read, take notes, or bookmark and exit the window.

Productivity hack #2

Note down the names of useful websites:

Another useful way to stay on track and learn a lot in a short time is to note down the names of the websites which you found useful and want to return to again for some enhanced learning or a revision of ideas.

This hack really saves a lot of time and is very productive.

Each time you press the search engine for information it produces different results. Hence you might have to browse different websites for the same piece of information that you want.

Remembering the websites and visiting them again for information helps. Moreover not all websites have free giveaways like worksheets.

Generally the teachers browse internet for worksheets. So it would be great if you note down the names of websites from where you can collect information each time that you log on.

Productivity hack #3

Blogs are also helpful:

As far as education resources are concerned, I have found blogs to be more useful than websites. There are different hard and soft topics in education upon which educators need an advice.

 Brainstorming, peer challenges and other practices for which you need help and reading online is something which proves very useful.

A teacher can browse through many sub topics similar to the main topic and arrive at a conclusion to take a decision which she would want to implement.

Let’s take an example. There are numerous concerns related to behaviour among the children. There is no written rule which ensures a solution for such concerns.

The best way is to keep applying and see what works with the children. At this time lots of ideas and suggestions are required from which a particular idea might be used. 

Productivity hack #4

To-do-list: It really helps if you sit with your to-do-list when hitting the Google search button.

We use these lists in our day to day life. They are really helpful in keeping us focussed towards our work. Similarly keep this list handy and stick to it. It saves time and your work will be over soon.

Without a to do list, many a times educators just keep searching. There are around 2 billion educational websites. Imagine the amount of material available for an educator. Filtering information through this lot and coming up with the necessary amount of information might be a difficult task and it can lead you astray.

Productivity hack #5

Do not use your mobile:

It is better to use a laptop when you are doing some professional work. Mobiles are not very good. The notifications keep you distracted and so the amount of time taken to complete the work is more.

Some features do not work on a mobile, the screen is small, at times material cannot be downloaded, some handsets do not support MS Office, so formatting creates an issue, etc.

And extremely important is stay offline on mobile while working. You will complete the work in less time.

No notifications means no distraction. 

These are some of the tips that I use while browsing the internet for learning. It saves time and gives a feeling of accomplishment because I complete the work.

There is no waste of time only productivity.