Can Social Media Support Your Home Learning?
Social media is often dubbed as one big distraction for young scholars. Indeed, it can be, with many influencers and marketers tailoring content to engage people for as long as possible. The manner of constant attention can be toxic, and the content can be too. However, as with many things, how you approach and utilise social media can make a big difference to how it impacts your life. There are pockets of this online space that are not only safe, but highly informative too! Even your home learning pursuits can be better facilitated through an apt use of social media. But how? Well, we’ll give you a few ideas after the jump.
Mute Functions
As we mentioned, social media can be a huge distraction. Not everyone can avoid these pitfalls through their own willpower alone. Still, there’s no shame in that. If you use social media already, consider opening up a ‘studying’ account that’s separate to your personal one. After that, some social media platforms may have ‘mute word’ and ‘mute phrase’ functions that enable you to do just that!
If you tailor the content that comes through your feed, you have a stronger chance of staying focused for study. There are really great and informative social media accounts out there, but sometimes their good work can be buried under lots of spam or content that might appeal to you in your free time. Filter out the noise and get to the good stuff! You may even be able to venture into your settings and turn off direct messaging, muting your inbox on respective sites. Keep your studying account private, too, and you won’t get distracted by juggling multiple conversations.
Prolific Academics
It’s important to be mindful of who you interact with online and the types of content you consume. Safety is always the most important thing. With that in mind, there are also people who are worth heeding. For example, Professor Brian Cox has a Twitter account, as does NASA, and a multitude of many other smart, studious people. There are lesser-known experts online too, still highly credible voices in their field that are worth researching further.
Many of these social media profiles have links to encyclopaedic websites of their own. So, in that respect, their social media presence may just be a stepping stone for a wider and deeper learning journey, too, connecting you with huge quantities of research and data elsewhere. Prolific academics that are online may post various facts and data that may inspire you in your academics, and potentially, even eventual career aspirations. They may even publicly disclose personal anecdotes that motivate you. Some of them may even have been home learners, too! It can all help you feel encouraged!
Bookstagramming And Other Suggestions In Social Media
Social media can help. It just shouldn’t replace the tutoring role. In addition to a tool such as Mute Function, things like ‘bookstagraming’ (where people post pictures and thoughts on their favourite books on Instagram) may help. It’s not academic learning, but if you explore these digital areas for books on your reading list, you may encounter many fresh ideas that can contribute to your home learning success! Remember to use hashtags when searching for the most relevant content to your learning!
Platforms like Pinterest can also provide you with plentiful inspiration. It’s a more visual social media site, where you should encounter more than a few studying and revision tips. A new perspective on your learning could be just the ticket!
Blogs can also be a useful resource when learning from home (and we’re not just saying that for obvious reasons!). There are so many institutions and writers interrogating the subjects you’re studying, and they also update their pages when new information, including research and statistics, becomes available.
All parties on the home learning journey can benefit through using social media tools responsibly. Inspiration and education are always evolving, particularly through online spaces. So, it’s important to stay up to date. Try to keep a dialogue open with your tutor so that you can be transparent and trustworthy and ensure you’re both in agreement about how and when social media can be used in your study.
If you are interested in studying a course with Oxford Home Schooling, you can visit our Courses page, or Contact Us to speak to a student adviser and find out more.
I'm a freelance copywriter with an undergraduate degree in English Literature. I've written for many different outlets, including but not limited to marketing agencies, graduate recruitment websites, and online training companies. I've even interviewed a few famous actors for student and arts blogs too! Covering a wide span of material has been incredibly rewarding, as I get to turn my experiences in the arts, education and careers into helpful advice. I sincerely hope you'll find something to your liking here!
