Andrew Caswell

12/1/15
PME Areas of Interest in Education Response
Albert, D. (2015). Social Media in Music Education. Music Educators Journal, 102(2),
31-38. doi:10.1177/0027432115606976
The topic that I chose to read about was technology in music education. I chose
this topic because it struck me as something very new, exciting, and cutting edge. I like
to hear peoples opinions on techniques that are unconventional. Im also an advocate
for trying to connect more with students and speaking at a level and with a language
that they understand. The article that I chose to read was about social media in music
education. The article specified social media integration in a musical setting, yet the
information presented could be transferred to all areas of education. This article
discusses how social media plays a role in the life of the 21st century student. The
article states how social media connects students and can give them a sense of
belonging and community. A great example is how I have 600 friends on Facebook, yet
in real life I have around 10. Facebook gives me, and many other people, a feeling of
belonging within my 600 friends. The article then mentions Vygotskys theory of social
contructivism and how students learn better from their peers. Using social networking in
the classroom is an extension of that theory because students would be communicating
via the internet in a group oriented learning environment. For instance, if there was a

journal prompt that students were to fill out as an assignment, they would be more likely
to take great care in the quality of their work if it were to be posted on social media.
Students care more about the opinions of their peers, especially if their peers are
actually critiquing their work. The article then mentions the dangers presented with
using social media in the classroom. Such dangers include privacy errors, parental
discretionary preferences, cyber-bullying, and inappropriate behavior from teachers
and/or students. Solutions to theses were to clear everything with parents first before
posting anything with or about students online. Also it would be good to check a given
schools policy on such things. Solutions to privacy issues is to only use purely
educational cites such as Edmodo or Google classroom. To prevent cyber-bullying,
teachers would need to monitor student behavior on whichever sites they use. To restrict
inappropriate behavior, teachers would use accounts made purely for the purpose of
their classroom and not for private matters.
Knowing this information about using social media in the classroom will help me
as a pre-service educator because it will keep me thinking forward and ahead of what is
already being done. The social network has barely been implemented in any classroom
up to date. This is partially due to the fact that it itself has not been around for that long.
One could say that it is a grammar of schooling that the social media cannot be used in
the classroom. I think as pre-educators its imperative that we break that barrier. This

forward in the way also helps us reach out to students. Students will be more willing to
listen to, respect, and ultimately learn from a student whom they can connect to. For
example, Alexander the Great led one of the greatest armies in human history on a
conquest across most of Asia. Why was he successful? He was successful because
Alexander fought alongside his soldiers in every battle. His soldiers respected him
because of this and they fought harder and more diligently. I feel the idea of adding
social media into the classroom reflects this idea that if a student can feel that the
teacher is not some king living far away, telling them what to do, they will be more willing
to follow the teacher on their conquest of learning. This point leads right into how as a
pre-service teacher, I should be thinking about steering away from a teacher-led
classroom that I grew up with and moving towards a more student led, constructionist
classroom. Once Im a hired teacher, this thinking will be helpful because it will show the
community, the board, and my peers that I am forward thinking and concerned about
giving students the best possible education with the best methods and medium
available.
Albert, D. (2015). Social Media in Music Education. Music Educators Journal, 102(2),
31-38. doi:10.1177/0027432115606976