Educators are constantly on the lookout for tools to help them achieve their goals. Social media is one of the most popular tools in use today, and it can be used to help you market your school, build relationships with parents and community members, and even get your students involved in learning.
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Social Media Tools For Educators
Connecting with each other comes to us more easily now that we can just tap away on a keyboard and chat with a person who lives over 3000 miles away. Finding information knows no boundaries with Google on every computer in the world.
As educators, this means access to more, faster, which is thrilling and mindboggling. However, it can also be frustrating and confusing with so much to choose from.
How do you know which platform is the best for your goals? Which social media organization has the best resources and community? Which one would help you communicate better with your students?
All of these questions flutter through our minds as our eyes wander through the gallons of information we search through. So, to simplify this daunting task for teachers, the following list consists of the best social media for teachers.
1. The Connected Educator
A great site for connecting with other educators is edConnectr. It gives educators several avenues with which to find other like-minded educators. A Visual Mapping Engine narrows down certain criteria allowing educators to save valuable time and energy.
2. Edmodo
Edmodo acts as a playground for teaching and learning with a place for posts, calendars, and general communication for teachers and students. Linking to students becomes simpler and more efficient as well as more effective when students enjoy the presentation of it. It makes it easy to share valuable apps with students.
3. TedEd
TedEd offers a variation of TED Talks with shorter, often-animated clips of subjects such as science, technology, social studies, literature, language, art, health, psychology, and business and economics. With communities and clubs, the site also makes it effortless for collaboration.
4. Google+
Besides great graphics and themes, Google+ takes teachers to their students with circles that make managing virtual communication an art. Students might need to know more about a particular lesson because they didn’t quite get it the first time. Pull them into a circle of their own with just the right tools to connect them to their path to understanding and learning.
5. Facebook
The great part about Facebook is that everyone is on it. Students love connecting with their friends and family with Facebook so telling them to check out the page where you post only makes sense. However, it’s very important to stay professional and have a separate personal account.
6. Twitter
The best way to use Twitter for teaching is as a reminder to students that they need to complete an assignment for a particular due date or that they have an exam coming up soon so study this or that. Sometimes teachers even use it for inspiration by sending a famous quote.
7. Instagram
Students love Instagram for so many reasons but mainly for the photos and effects available to them. Teachers can create assignments that tap into the need to Instagram such as photo essays where students take photos, upload, and add captions or students can even create campaigns for certain organizations or just for a lesson.
8. Vimeo
If you want to share videos on Facebook or Twitter, use Vimeo. But, there’s a whole lot more teachers can use it for such as uploading and storing video then utilizing it as a tool to teach students more about creating video. Vimeo teaches for you at Vimeo Video School with lessons and tutorials.
9. WordPress
With so many themes to choose from, WordPress has become a popular way for teachers to set up a web of communication and lessons with their students. Chalkboard is an educational theme that prepares students for learning and helps teachers outline goals and objectives while still providing great visuals. Teachers can also use it to inspire students to write more by having them create their own blogs and meet the WordPress Challenges.
10. Blogger
Like WordPress, Blogger connects teachers to students using unique themes as well as diary-style writing. With access to teachers’ posted links, lessons, and thoughts students become more successful and comfortable with the teacher when learning online.
11. Skype
Using Skype means connecting with anyone, anywhere, at any time. This means students not only connect with teachers but teachers encourage students to broaden their view of the world. Set up virtual connections by contacting other teachers then connect the students to each other. Also, Skype has a whole portal dedicated to educators who can use it to teach various lessons already set up by the Skype team.
12. Pinterest
The celebrated platform for pinning favorite pix can be a great teaching and learning tool. It also encourages quick collaboration between teachers on all sorts of subjects and interests. Teachers can set up a Pinterest page for one particular class or a series of classes with Pins that focus on themes or subtopics important to the lesson at hand.
13. YouTube
Educators of any level can click on the education category within YouTube and find several subcategories such as university, science, business, and engineering. YouTube even has a special section dedicated to teachers and how to teach with it. But, even if teachers never visited that section, they could teach using all the great videos available according to subjects or searches.
14. TeacherTube
If YouTube doesn’t make the cut, try TeacherTube. It’s dedicated to all sorts of education, from the basics to more complicated work. Interestingly, the tabs for docs and audio are some of the more useful resources within it. However, it’s the idea of TeacherTube and it’s tools that make it so useful because teachers can use it to communicate with students and there’s no question that this is within an educational format.
15. Academia.edu
For academics whose main goal is to share research papers, Academia.edu draws a crowd of over five million visitors. Academics can monitor the effect of their research and keep tabs on the research of the other academics that they follow. It’s a great tool for anyone needing data and information on various subjects and interests.
16. LinkedIn
While acting as a professional social forum for employers to connect with applicants or search for potential employees, LinkedIn is used for so much more than that. Having students post professional resumes there and then contacting them about the job market and the business world around them keeps them in touch with reality and the endless possibilities through a targeted education.
17. LabRoots
Access millions of documents and hundreds of scientific news feeds by using LabRoots, a social networking site catering to scientists, engineers and technical professionals. Besides the plethora of information, it helps stay connected with colleagues and peers. Pulling students into the mix gives them a cutting edge feel and insight into precious tools and information.
18. ResearchGate
Ijad Madisch founded ResearchGate, which is similar to LabRoots bringing scientists together for collaboration. The difference really lies with the mission and the creators who are scientists working to give visibility to the dedicated researchers all over the world.
19. LabforCulture.org
Not a science lab, LabforCulture.org provides a place for artists to start blogs or an art group as well as connect and share information. Mostly made of Europeans, LabforCulture.org also highlights art news, events and exhibitions and helps artists find jobs and learn more about funding their projects. Teachers can use this for motivation and to help students get a feel for other artists’ work.
20. CultureInside
Focusing on the gallery concept, CultureInside creates space for online galleries and actual galleries. It might just be an artist’s dream if used correctly. With the guidance of a teacher, students can profit from their creativity as well. There’s also a feature called lightbox, which connects artists and helps promote artwork in other artists’ lightboxes.
media platforms for education
(Image credit: iStock/pichet_w)
Social media sites and apps are a natural for education. Given that students today are digital natives and familiar with the details of these popular platforms, educators are well-advised to thoughtfully incorporate these into classroom and remote teaching. Fortunately, most social media sites and apps include controls to restrict the potentially troublesome features that tend to distract from learning.
These social networking/media sites are free, easy to use, and offer rich opportunities for educators and students to network, create, share and learn with each other.
Brainly(opens in new tab)
A fun social network through which students ask and/or answer questions in 21 topics, including math, history, biology, languages, and more. Students earn points by answering questions, rating comments, or thanking other students. Free basic account allows unlimited questions and free access (with ads). Parent and free teacher accounts available, and answers are verified by experts.
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Edublog(opens in new tab)
A free WordPress blogging site that lets teachers create personal and classroom blogs. Edublog’s step-by-step guide helps users master both technical and pedagogical features.
Litpick(opens in new tab)
A terrific free site devoted to promoting reading, Litpick connects readers with age-appropriate books and book reviews. Kids can read their peers’ book reviews or write their own, while teachers can set up online book clubs and reading groups. A can’t-miss site for educators.
TikTok(opens in new tab)
A relative newcomer on the social media scene, TikTok has exploded in popularity, with more than two billion downloads worldwide. The music video creation app is free, easy to use, and familiar to most students. Teachers can easily create a private classroom group for sharing fun and educational video projects and assignments.
ClassHook(opens in new tab)
Bring engaging and educational movie and television clips into your classroom with ClassHook. Teachers can search the vetted clips by grade, length, series, standards, and profanity (you can’t choose your favorite profanity, but you can screen out all profanity). Once selected, add questions and prompts to the clips to get kids thinking and discussing. Free basic account allows 20 clips per month.
Edmodo(opens in new tab)
A well-known, established social media community, Edmodo provides a free and safe social media and LMS platform with a highly useful suite of moderation tools. Teachers set up classes, invite students and parents to join, then share assignments, quizzes, and multimedia content. Online discussion forums allow kids to comment, offer feedback on one another’s work, and share ideas.
edWeb(opens in new tab)
A popular website for professional learning and collaboration, EdWeb provides its one million members with the latest in certificate-eligible webinars, best practices, and research for education, while the multitude of community forums focus on diverse topics from 21st century learning to coding and robotics.
Flipgrid(opens in new tab)
Flipgrid is an asynchronous video discussion tool designed for virtual learning. Teachers post topic videos and students create their own video responses using the Flipgrid software. The original post plus all responses can be viewed and commented on, creating a vibrant forum for discussion and learning.
Facebook(opens in new tab)
The most prominent social media site in the world, Facebook is a simple and free way for educators to network with their peers, keep up with the latest education news and issues, and share ideas for lessons and curricula.
ISTE Community(opens in new tab)
The International Society for Technology & Education community forums are a great way for educators to share their ideas and challenges on technology, digital citizenship, online learning, STEAM, and other cutting-edge topics.
TED-Ed(opens in new tab)
A rich resource for free educational videos, TED-Ed offers much more, including pre-made lesson plans and the ability for teachers to create, customize, and share their own video lesson plans. There’s even a lesson activity page for monitoring student progress.
Twitter(opens in new tab)
Everyone knows about Twitter. But did you know that this super-popular social networking site can be employed for education? Use Twitter to teach kids about digital citizenship, or combine it with third-party apps to extend its functionality. Hash tags such as #edchat, #edtech, and #elearning will guide education users to relevant tweets. Twitter is also an easy way to stay connected with your fellow educators and the top education issues of the day.
MinecraftEdu(opens in new tab)
The celebrated online game Minecraft offers an education edition designed to engage kids with game-based learning. The STEM-related lessons can be individual or collaborative and focus on the problem-solving skills that students will need in every phase of their lives. Tutorials, discussion boards, and Classroom Mode make this a great place for teachers as well!
Instagram(opens in new tab)
This famous social networking site has been in the news lately, and not in a positive light. Nevertheless, Instagram’s popularity makes it a natural for teaching. Create a private classroom account, and use it to showcase lesson ideas and student work, communicate with kids and their families, and act as a hub for positive reinforcement. The platform is widely used by teachers to share their best classroom projects and concepts.
TeachersConnect(opens in new tab)
A free networking site by teachers, for teachers, that features moderated community forums with topics including careers, literacy, mental wellness for educators, and more. TeacherConnect’s founder Dave Meyers maintains an active presence in the forums.
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