Chris: Social Media Not a Good Idea for Spanish Community Service Learning

Of all the social media listed, the only forms that I actually produce are blog posts. However, I am definitely in the minority in this area: facebook and myspace are ridiculously popular and most students use them on a daily basis. In terms of consumption, I also only read blog posts, but it should be noted that most students are constantly reading other people’s facebook and myspace pages. On another note, I think that it would be risky to try to use social media in community-based learning. In order to recruit other students into the program, participating students would have to post pictures of themselves at their service location on facebook or myspace. Such pictures would inevitably include non-students and minors, and I think that the program would run into privacy issues. Simply put, I do not think that the pictures of non-students should be plastered all over facebook and myspace, and this seems to be an unavoidable outcome of increased usage of social media. Furthermore, I think that many forms of social media are kind of complicated to use. Podcasts, for instance, are something that most students are not used to creating. If students are forced to use social media to which they are not accustomed, they will become very frustrated and probably do a poor job. Tons of the Spanish 232 digital diaries are completed late or never done, for example, because many students will not put forth the effort to correctly use a digital camera or youtube. In all honesty, I do not think that social media can help us provide services to the community. All of our work requires face-to-face interaction. Social media is a great resource, but I think that it might be overkill and more trouble than its worth for what we need to provide for the community.

Attached is a picture of me reading one of the many sports-related blogs on the internet. Thanks!

-Chris