Students openly use social media websites in their free times. Even parents do not oppose it these days since they know it has become a with today’s generation. Teachers though do oppose the use of cell phones in class rooms due to the same reason. Social media websites are too enticing for some students to wait till the end of the lecture. However, use of social media for the proper purposes in the right time can yield brilliant results for the learner. Social media can effectively provide a real world scenario to aid the students in emphasizing on the practical aspect of studying rather than only on the theoretical version. With proper guidance from parents and teachers, social media can be the most useful tool.

Here are the top 5 ways of using social media as a helpful tool if you are an online high school student:

• • Explore the power of Blogging
    Blogging can also serve as an effective tool for completion of homework or assignments. The practice of maintaining personal blogs to share what each of them have done with a specific topic creates an environment of healthy competition. It also helps or inspires certain students, especially those who lack the “drive”. The very idea of showcasing the talent in front of others excites the students. They go through an invincible urge to prove their strength and get accolades in return. They can take up on blogging writing their own views and opinions with different subjects. Writing a personal blog should be followed by a group evaluation that is to be done by the children. Freshers prefer easy-to-use platforms like WordPress that allow them to create and customize the privacy settings of their blogs.Students with a knack for blogging can also team up to create collaborative projects. You can form your blogs for various purposes such as discussion forums, or listing all the doubts or major critical points of a lesson that cannot be overlooked.

• • Take a ride of YouTube
    Sharing educational classes in video format is perhaps the best idea to make students go through the study material intently. It is very effective for visual learners. In fact, most of the students are visual learners. Popular YouTubers create and post various educational videos on every possible topic on this earth. In fact, most of such YouTubers might have been or are professors themselves. The best part is that these videos are absolutely free and just a click away.

• • Have fun with Pinterest
    When students work on collaborative projects, each student tends to have multiple ideas which might even be contradictory to those of others students of the group. To avoid unhealthy collisions within the team, Pinterest can be used for all students to present their individual views. This shall make it much easier for all the students. Pinterest is a great platform to present educational resources. Pinterest can also be used as a search engine for educational material. Fill the search bar and you’ll discover some cool resources you can present in the classroom.

• • Be a part of Facebook and Twitter
    Creating a closed group on Facebook is very common today. You can establish a clear set of rules for what is prohibited in the group, and of course be certain to regulate it. The healthy discussions are sure to deepen the bonds among the students and eventually lead to a brilliant team-work. Certain useful ways to use Facebook groups:
    • Posting of guidelines for working on important assignments.
    • Posting of Reminders for assignment submission deadlines
    • Posting of reference links to meaningful online resources pertaining to the curriculum
    • Posting of doubts or tricky mind-boggling questions for a particular lesson
    • Posting of mind-stimulating discussion topics
    Twitter is also an awesome place for students to stay connected as well. Sharing of resources and innovative fun-filled activities or insights is made easier by Twitter.

• • Hold on to Skype
    Trip to a thousand places from the classroom is made possible by Skype! Skype’s convenient video chat sessions enable students at a corner of the world to interact with students at the other extreme end of the world. Students can be made to experience different cultural aspects for real through tours organized by certain educational destinations. It might even involve substantial interactivity.

In addition to the above five ways, honorable mention of Google hangouts should also be made! Students can interact among themselves or with professors from any part of the world through google hangouts as well. Social media might be a blessing to today’s students. It can efficiently hone the learning skills of a student, provided one knows how to make use of it. In fact, social media is misused more than it is properly used. It is the responsibility of the trio that is the teachers, the parents as well as the students themselves to explore the various means lying within the social media that might take your learning skill to a new level. Social media brings a lot of colors to the black and white learning schedule of the student. It might even rejuvenate interest for learning in a student who had otherwise given up on his interest due to the monotony and pressure. It focuses on the idea of being creative, authentic and innovative. Students today already are very well aware of the social media as most of them make a friend circle via the social networking sites. But, most of them do not know how it can be a trustworthy tool in terms of augmenting your learning skill. Social media directly affects the growth of the online community. When things go online, there are limitless opportunities, resources, means to self-analyze, means to expand your real-world knowledge etc. After all, theoretical knowledge does not go a long way. Practical knowledge that is implementation of your theoretical knowledge in the real world is all that matters and makes you hit the jackpot!