Social media is not only a platform to entertain, but also a useful tool that student could learn from the community on it. It has become an indispensable channel where I acquire additional knowledge and share with others in the same study group or who have a common interest. Google Doc and YouTube are two examples of community where I get encouraged and supported to achieve better study outcomes.
Google Doc is an extremely useful learning tool that supports students to build a community where they could share ideas and edit files even when they were separated by space and time. It is an online platform that students could upload their files such as Word, Excel and PowerPoint Presentation, and edit a file by different group members at the same time. If there are only two students sharing and collaborating a Word file, email would be enough to achieve. However, I found this difficult to gather file and ideas from more than two people. It usually ends up with a work full of mess and misunderstandings. On Google Doc, students are able to see where and when the file was edited by whom. The consecutiveness and logic brought by google doc are critical to give students a sense of encouragement and support when they work in a group.
YouTube is another handy tool/platform that I like to utilize when I want to learn additional knowledge. There are enormous KOLs who are actively sharing academic knowledge and building their own community to spread open topics to discuss with people who have a common interest. I am interested in geography and engineering studies so that I found a few KOLs to follow and subscribe, including Geography Now! and Engineering Explained channel. Geography Now! is a series of short video introducing countries and regions around the world. By watching this channel, I have learned a lot about different cultures and history that develop my interest in exploring corners and natural phenomena. In addition, I am keen to share my thoughts, ideas, and experiences in their comment area and community, and discuss and exchange with others. The interaction encourages us to acquire additional knowledge in a more interesting way rather than reading the textbook. I have been using YouTube to learn for a couple of years and I’m still into it.
In summary, I believe that online tools are helpful to build study communities that encourage and support students to acquire knowledge in a more efficient way. Google Doc and YouTube are good examples that showcase how modern platforms enable a group of people to be beneficial from social media when they are learning something. Google Doc allows me to share my work in my study group without the limit of time and space; YouTube provides users a place where they could learn and share in the communities. Social media is playing an important role in today’s learning methods.