Nowadays, when we think about social media like Facebook or Twitter, we only see the funny point of view: share photos, comment the wall of our friends, keep in touch with the world every second, etc., but I think that it is time to introduce these tools in the education of teenagers and university students (under and postgraduated).Social media could provide a lot of vantage in an university class: more participation of the alumni, research of examples in the web, share of contents outside the class and the most important aspect, knowledge about how to use in a responsible way these tools. One experiment about social media in the University is showed in this video.
After seven years at a Spanish University where I studied a little bit of Photoshop, editing video and audio, blogs and Microsoft Office, I did not learn anything about social media. Is Microsoft Office Word the future or the social media? Nowadays, everybody knows more or less how to use Microsoft Office and how to send e-mails, but not how to use the new tools that Internet provides, and I think that this gap could be cover for the new PR practitioners. We do not need the same preparation than practitioners ten years ago, the technology is changing everyday.
I think that the introduction of social media in the University and High School could get better the formation of the future proffesionals and moreover, teach to these target of people how to use them, because the majority learn alone and they do not have any idea about the power of these tools.
For all these reasons I think that social media should be a compulsary subject.
Picture: http://www.webintenta.com/Iconos/6/
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Even when I was at school (I left in 2001), IT/ICT was a very important skill to have. However, we were just taught how to do spreadsheets, how to word and text processing and get a nice certificate at the end of it. The evolution of social media since I've been to school has been phenomenal. It was just chatrooms and regular emails. I think that PR practitioners have to take social media seriously, as it is todays major communicating tool. Therefore, I have to agree with you that social media should be compulsory as it is increasingly a skill that PR companies require their employees to have.
ResponderEliminarI agree that social media should become a part of computer studies in education. It is of growing importance within a lot of work places, particularly PR, and students should be aware of its importance outwith a social setting. However there is the problem that students may just become distracted in class and start conversations with friends, they must ensure that if this was to be introduced in a classroom setting that it was monitored.
ResponderEliminarI think this it is a good idea to introduce computer skills in the timetable of schools already. On the one hand it is useful in general even if children grow up with much more technical tools then 10 years ago and learn it quite easily.
ResponderEliminarBut I think the most important point is to teach them to be reasonable with their data. The internet is surely a great invention but it holds also a lot of risks. Profiles were saved by companies and future employers will discover all embarrassing pictures of several wild weekend parties on facebook accounts! Therefore it is necessary to explain children already also the negative sides of the internet
I think it's important to know the insecurity that exists in education regarding new technologies. Knowledge of the internet by people who end the university should be commensurate to the times we live and work you can access. In some Spanish schools are taught the wise use of the internet, but is a minority and should foster a more practical education.
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