Social services and their use in the computer sciences education

Abstract

Virtual social networks emerged relatively recently, but have become a medium for mass communication among teenagers, which gives rise to the idea of using such social networks for educational purposes. The authors of the article touch on the problem of using social networks to support computer science education. The peculiarities of the influence of information technologies on the functioning and development of the education system are highlighted, and social networks and their potential for the educational sector are characterized. A brief review of networks as platforms for supporting the educational process was conducted, and based on a survey of computer science teachers, the state of use by social networks in professional activities was revealed.

 Studies of the content of social networks and people's reactions to various content have shown that: for a user of a social network, the opinion of his "friends" on the network is important: if an individual has had a positive experience on a certain issue, then there is a high probability that this opinion will be taken into account by her "friends" on the network; the desire to share opinions in not one, but in several networks is widespread, which expands the audience of communication and the opportunity to collect the opinions of users with different worldviews, ages, and preferences; social networks make it possible to quickly and cheaply inform users about something, for example, to organize "draws", which, thanks to the belief in winning, contribute to the rapid spread of information among people of more than one community; in social networks, it is possible to track feedback through likes, reposts, comments, as well as the activities and reactions to these activities of others in order to improve your own.

The main conclusion of the study was the use of virtual social networks by teachers for educational purposes. Already today, teachers use virtual social networks for the following purposes: communication with students, parents, and colleagues on work issues (within this item, it is worth noting communication with students, during which homework is transferred, sources of information for the study, results of tasks are accepted, consultations are held ); search for additional materials for lessons; distance learning during additional consultations; using social networks as additional tools during interactive lessons.