Tuesday, March 11, 2014

SOCIAL MEDIA SPECIAL.......................... Social media, messaging apps are the new study tools


Social media, messaging apps are the new study tools 
 
GOING DIGITAL
 Students are creating online groups to share notes, clear doubt

 MUMBAI: With smart phones in every other student’s hands, the popularity of messaging applications such as WhatsApp and Facebook have reached a new high –the online mediums have become a platform for studying and sharing notes.

WhatsApp’s popularity is mainly owing to its feature of allowing the forming of groups with 50 members, on which messages, pictures, videos etc. can be easily shared.
“We have a WhatsApp group with the entire class on it, where we routinely share notes and study tips. During exams, the group is very helpful for instant doubt clearing because almost all students are on it at the same time,” said Shaunak Thakkar, a third year engineering student from KJ Somaiya College of Engineering, Kurla.
Documents and pictures available on social networking sites have done away with the need for riffling through several books to find relevant material.
“Almost all the study material we have received from teachers or other sources has been put up on our Facebook group. It is much better than sending e-mails or sifting through physical notes,” said Tejal Joshi, a second year mass media student from a city college.
Some students also upload academic reference material on publicly accessible blogs while online forums such as Bmmbox. com have notes sourced from students across mass media colleges, accessible to registered members of the forum.
“We encourage students to be in touch with each other and with us through e-mail groups as it they are an easy way of communication and can be monitored by us. However, Facebook groups are not encouraged since they often lead to unwarranted material,” said Kavita Shetty, who runs online French and German lectures in Thane.
Academicians believe that such means of studying are not harmful, but students should not misuse them or become addicted to them.
“Use of such platfor ms becomes a habit, interfering with the academics. Also, they can be used to cheat during exams, because no matter how much we try, some students manage to sneak in phones into the exam hall and cheat using t hese g roups,” said Dinesh Panjwani, principal, RD National College, Bandra.  
HT 140310

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