Social Media impact on exam preparation

The Internet as we know it - is the 21st century. The student of today has known the internet his/ her entire life. This generation mostly communicates via social media like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. They are savvy with blogs, mobile devices and video. Facebook,Twitter and YouTube; often banned and routinely derided by many peers, if used with a positive intent can actually allow students to do better work and pay attention to important academic and non-academic issues that results in quality research. How do the two separate paths of social media and academics cross? This is a question lurking in the minds of all the leading educators of the world. A recent USA based research reports: When students feel connected and have a strong sense of belonging to the school community, they do better in school. They persevere in school and achieve higher pass rates. It is quite promising to know that engaging in social networking sites helps students develop and deepen their bonds with tutors and class mates over time.

From Gen Y to Gen D (Generation Digital)

"Being literate in 2011 means being digitally literate," says Ms. Affaf Noor, Principal of SKANS School of Accountancy, a Platinum Status Approved Learning Partner that believes in actively using social media to cater to the academic needs of its students. All important announcements and student views are exchanged on the FB fan page, making it the quickest and effective tool of communication. Students come to us drained out at the peak times due to exam pressure and it is a challenge for us to figure out how to use the exam preparation tools and revive their interest remarks a SKANS facebook fanpage administrator. Uploading exam preparatory materials in the form of videos are often the best means to make the students prepare for the exams. A longtime devotee of YouTube, Aqsa Waseem - also a worldwide place winner in F4 ACCA in June 2011, remarks that she used it to grasp the idea of law and service contracts.

A study support that never sleeps

Close to the exam days, students search for support that suits their personal study schedule, which means a source that can be available 24/7. What better than the social media? Mr. Irfan Qadir, ACCA P3 Tutor at SKANS, experimented with a few social networking sites and created networks by invitation for students last year. In his class, Mr. Irfan asked students to make PowerPoint presentations about Business Analysis Performance Matrices. The presentations were recorded and posted on social networks to be referred back to as a study guide. This was a very positive and effective use of the media.

The social media interaction enables the students to have uninhibited discussion of their course with the institutes advisors and alumini. Many senior students also guide their junior counterparts on exam preparation and performance tactics. The big advantage is students can be authors, they can add links, pictures and comments. It gave them more resources and made the subject a little more interesting. Mr. Qadir

No Classroom is small or far enough

Students are using social media sites like Facebook to add new dimensions to their lessons. Many sites allow them to set up free social networks by invitation only, which helps ease privacy concerns and help them interact with their classmates about classroom lessons and assignments. Teachers also use social media to provide a digital forum for students, upload and distribute homework assignments, class tests as their motivation booster; networking with other teachers and sharing information with parents and the community.

Providing structure and guidance

There is a lot of free content available to the students, so much so that they may access irrelevant websites. But majority of the times these are students, who are not actively engaged with social media and browse through the content, not knowing which content is useful for their exam preparation. Since the fact which started this discussion remains unchanged; innovative educators should learn the social media language to communicate with their students and progress. In short the institutes using Old School teaching methodologies need to apply the motto: If you cant convince them Join them!