The following scenario is pretty common place. A student logs onto a school computer and attempts to check one of countless internet account, but what is this? *Gasp* Trully the site is not blocked?Unfortunately for the student it is, indeed. Probably not without good reason.

However, despite the possibility it will be abused, social media offers a widely untapped resource to teachers. Some tech-savvy profs. may be running a class blog, but there not even scratching the glass ceiling. Schools are squandering a valuable teaching medium buy banning social networking. Most students will admit to spending quite a bit of time on Facebook, and some frequent other sites like Twitter. A Facebook group could be the online home of a class, facilitating discussions and allowing access to past assignments. Struggling students could tweet questions to their teacher and get immediate responses. Social media even offers practical application in art class, with sites such as Dailybooth being used to showcase photography, with its photo a day platform making it easy for the teacher to turn into an assignment. A teacher could even potentially teach a class remotely by offering lectures via the video hosting juggernaut coughyoutubecough.

If students are worried about school using these sites to monitor them, the need only adjust their privacy settings. The internet is where students ARE. Schools would be wise to join them. The web offers a way to share media content, ideas, and could even play host to online lectures.