Snap Class: More And More Teachers Are Using Social Media Tools To Help Students Study

Almost everybody is no stranger to using social media. Teachers now are doing just the same, they think of ways to incorporate it to teaching methods. Twitter was the first to become a huge learning tool specifically for professional development thanks to #EdChats. Now, there is a new social media tool that's making a name for itself in the learning department: Snapchat.

According to Education World, teachers now are trying to incorporate Snapchat to teaching. The app enables users to send a video or picture, and then it disappears 10 seconds after you open it. One New York teacher, Michael Britt, who uses the app to help students study for the exams said, "Since last fall, Britt has built Snapchat videos into his introductory psychology class. He takes 'snaps' of real-life examples of what he's teaching in class, and posts it to the app. He does this right before exams, so his students will look at them when they're studying," Britt said.

Some teachers say it works to their advantage since their students are already using it. Snapchat has approximately 100 million users worldwide and according to statistics, 77 percent of college students use it on a daily basis. This works best with students who perform better when given a more realistic example than one taken from a book, NPR reported. Britt explained that for him, the best way to learn a new material is to try to personalize it to your life.

Britt's students also said that the effort their teacher is doing may significantly help them perform better on their exams. "Salma Metwally, a freshman in Britt's class last semester, thinks that helped raise her grades. She recalls a specific snap of Britt's when she was learning about the biology of the brain. The snap featured Britt's niece in her ballerina tutu, standing on one leg. Britt used the snap as an example of how the cerebellum in the brain controls balance."