Role Of Social Networking In Education Systems Information Technology Essay

In current days the usage of social media like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and so on is very common. These social networking sites are used by millions of people throughout the world. The emergence of social networking creates a revolution among people for easy communication and knowledge sharing. In this essay we are going to discuss about the usage of social media in modernization of education system and the advantage of implementing social networking in modernization of education system in India.

Modernization of education system:

In India, education system currently present is mostly based on books and paper. I have a business idea regarding modernization of education system in India. Nowadays the lecturers in colleges teach using board and books for taking classes. According to my idea the concept of book based teaching is modified to e-resource usage in teaching and testing students. This process of conversion of books into e-resource will help the student to learn easily and quickly. This a powerful tool to disseminate the theories and formulas in books to students with proper examples.

Current system:

In India, all the colleges must be affiliated to some university. In that manner a single university controls over many colleges with same syllabus. All colleges under same university will follow the same syllabus for same subject. So all the students from different colleges have the same syllabus. But the way of teaching is different from college to college for the same subject. There is no common method of teaching for all colleges under same university. There is no communication among the students of different colleges. So socialization among the students gets affected.

Assessment system:

The syllabus for all colleges being same the exams are also conducted at same day in colleges with same questions to all students taking that subject. But the way of teaching and learning differs. They follow different materials for preparation for exams. As the core material would be text book prescribed by university, but the reference material will be entirely different. So the way of presenting answers different from student of one college to other college. Likewise the assignment also varies from college to college for same subject. There is no particular assessment for assignment. To neutralize this problem, our proposed system will be much better option. In our system the assessment will have common criteria and assignment must be framed by university which should be assessed properly as like exam.

Proposed system:

To establish a communication medium between students and enhance their opportunity of knowledge sharing we are planning a system. In our system, we need to convert all the teaching hints into PowerPoint presentations. We are going to prepare a general presentation for each subject which will be based on prescribed text book recommended by the university. All the students will be given handouts of teaching materials which will enhance their observation capacity and improve the understandability of concepts. For preparing that presentation we are going to hire professors from many universities. Each topic must have presentation which will be prepared by group of professors and approved by some experts in that area. All the student in all colleges must given access to all materials related to their subject (similar to Moodle in our university).The main thing is many colleges affiliated to same university must be connected under a network which will be maintained by our system. Because of this connectivity all the students are able to communicate with one another to share their knowledge.

Usage of software in the proposed system:

The proposed system for universities in India will requires a good software system to run this system. The basic idea for this software is implementing social networking among the colleges which are come under same university. This also unique for all the colleges under same university. The basic reason behind this is just to connect student among different colleges who all are studying the same subject can share their ideas and knowledge learned in the subject. To get some practical ideas related to subject, students will use our system as medium of communication with external system which means students from other colleges. The reason which forces me to think in bringing social networking among students is increase in usage of social media websites by university students. As per the result of survey conducted by university students in social media usage shows that in overall 93% of college students are using social networking sites. Among the social networking sites, Facebook users are majority which occupies 96% of students, You Tube holds second among them which comprises of 84% of students. Blogs (14%), Twitter (14%), MySpace (12%), and LinkedIn (10%) respectively. In initial day’s students who used the social networking sites just for entertainment purpose. But in current situation the awareness of social media to the students is bit higher, so the usage of social networking sites by the students for education purpose gets increased. So in future the rate will get increased further so that knowledge sharing will get expanded in student level.

General use of implementing social networking in business:

The main advantage of using social networking in any business are listed

Establish communication among the employees at all levels which makes the degree of transparency between management and employees to become high

Easy and cost effective tool for marketing a product

Possibility to attract people of a particular group

Effective and efficient way to improve the contacts around the world

Faster way to reach people in cheapest way

Easy to know about consumer realistic reviews by joining in consumer community

Helps to analyze about competitors currently available in the market

Advantages of social networking sites:

Most of the students in the educational institution have been using the internet quite often. Social networking has become a revelation among the young generations by which it is easier for them to communicate between each other. Will social networking sites will be helpful if it is implemented along with educational forum like Moodle? There has been a big debate over this topic in the past. Many educational experts express their interest in changing current education system in India. Many researches are going on in the current system of education in universities. The advantages of implementing social media in modernization of education system are as follows

Role of social networking sites in education:

Social networking sites are related to web-based services that offer us an opportunity to socialize with others peers in the network

It will be helpful in making new friends and importantly to meet new people through their general interest

The new development in social networking sites are the developed and sustainable relationship between teachers and students in learning and sharing content

Most of the students studying in colleges communicate to their peers regarding education through text messages or phone calls, nowadays mobile phones are prohibited in many colleges by the management. So they are in need for some other mode of communication.

With the introduction of the social networking sites the students can have live interactions and chats to their peers which will largely benefit the students

How the students will be benefitted out of this

Social networking sites are web-based services that offer us an opportunity to socialize with others

Increased exposure to varied views

Utilizing all the study resources properly

Increased skill in technology

Development of communication skills

Increased talent to work on group projects

Many students already use these forms of technology, so they may be more engaged in learning if they utilize it

They will get chance to share the ideas which they have learned in their subject

How it is benefitted for the teachers

Increased access to resources

Can form partnerships with lecturers in other states or countries

Exchange lesson plans and information with students

Cheap and effective way to convey details to students

Easy to give lecturers in class by having proper resource

Organized structure of classes will help them to plan accordingly to cover syllabus in particular period of time

Easy to clear doubts of students by creating a forum to their subject

Role of social networking in staff recruitment:

As per our idea, for the preparation of common materials we need to recruit experts for each subject. For selecting experts from all areas social networking plays a major role. LinkedIn is a major social networking site contains profiles of millions of experts which allow the recruiter to choose the effective and suitable person for each subject. LinkedIn proves to be first social networking sites with lot of profiles with experience in all areas. It paves way for searching experts for all the subjects.

Overall benefits of social networking to our system:

In overall, the benefits of implementing social networking in our system are as follows

Cheap and effective ways of communication from different level of users like students, lecturers, and so on

Improve the socialization among students as well as other users of the system

Tend to increase the knowledge of students by improve the knowledge sharing

Fast method to convey message to all students

Improvise the standard of student in whole country

Creates opportunity to know about latest technology and current events

To get quick access to study resources any time and any where

Lot of time consumed by preparing common material

Lecturers will maintain records of all the students easily

It will reduce the cost of communication to colleges

It improves the result of students by having proper material which suits for students at all level

Examples with Facebooks, blogs and forums:

At Penn State University the library service has been using Facebook as one method of allowing students to contact the librarians with enquiries

A survey conducted in 2006 found that more students were using Facebook to contact the librarians than any other method

Forums are also a part of Social Software that can be a useful tool in education

Forums are also related to Blogs, though a blog is centered around an individual, whereas a forum is centered more around an area of interest

The major usage of the forum and blogs are the students can post their blogs and works so that others can comment and advise on it

There may be a positive impact on climate within the classroom when students see staff as approachable