Learning Through Social Media

Learning through social media is becoming more prevalent in both school and businesses alike; however, the manner in which the information is being presented depends on the social media site. One of the newer social media sites, Elgg, allows for logical organization of a social network. For example, it offers blogging and micro-blogging capabilities as well as file sharing and networking groups. While sites such as Facebook and Twitter can certainly be used for learning, Elgg offers a more sophisticated approach through use of social media. It is not to say that one social media site trumps another in terms of effectiveness and functionality, each serves its own purpose in sharing information. Elgg focuses on hard, cold information and developing a strong social network while Facebook caters to more trivial and personal information. Twitter is more of a separate entity on its own. As a micro-blogging tool, it expedites smaller bits of information and is up to the minute. Each can be used as a learning tool; it just depends on the type of information that is desired.

Elgg, Facebook, and Twitter foster learning in a way that is different from other types of online learning. Through social media, people learn from interacting with one another by sharing information. Other types of online learning, such as eLearning, present information in a way that is more structured and self-paced. The difference between the two is the way the information is communicated, not necessarily how it is absorbed by the learner.

-Meghan McSloy