Say what?

I know, the Social Media contributor telling you to be anti-social!? What is this all about?!

It’s easy.  While there’s tons out there to support the idea that social media increases productivity and learning, sometimes it’s important to tune out the noise (especially if you’re easily distracted) and focus on the task at hand.

It’s tough to buckle down and get schoolwork done when you have family, work, life in general going on in the background. Sometimes the addition of Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, chat, etc. just complicates things too much.

Try unplugging for an hour or two a day to give yourself some time to really tune into your studies.  This way, when you plug back in, it serves as a nice reward!

Are you on Twitter?  Have you considered building your social sphere in a way that can benefit you?

Twitter can help you, not just socially, but scholastically.  When tweeting and building your network, keep in mind the classes you’re taking, the degree program you are pursuing, and build around that.  Find and network with other professionals in the field, other students, and other Twitter users who simply share the same interests.

This way, when you’re stumped with your school work,  you always have a wide, interested, and relevant network to fall back on for a bit of help!

Read Next: Staying engaged, both socially and scholastically

I get so excited when I see others sharing my same feelings toward social media — particularly, social media and education.  So many people out there think it’s a waste of time, a waste of energy.  How do people not “get” that social media encourages engagement and conversation and communication… all things that are paramount in education.

It was music to my ears (well, eyes) when I stumbled upon Rey Junco’s blog post.  Rey thought it would be interesting to conduct an experiment to test Twitter’s use in higher ed.  Based on my excitement, I’ll give you three guesses as to what he found (the first two guesses don’t count).

I don’t want to spoil the video, it’s actually quite good, but the study concluded that students who used Twitter as an engagement tool to further classroom discussion achieved higher GPAs.

[Learn about a tool that will help you converse, communicate and collaborate with your peers effortlessly]

Check out the video below; and if you want to read the journal summarizing the study and findings, you can find it here.

Thanks and kudos to Rey and his students – this is an awesome piece!

What do you think? Would you ever use Twitter as part of your studies? How?

Read Next: A Couple of Social Media Do’s and Do Not’s

Our very own J. Mason interviewed me to get my opinion on Social Media and its uses in Education… what do you think?

Social Media in Online Education – OnlineLearningTips.com from American Public University on Vimeo.