Some great benefits of using these sites is discussions boards for students who have questions they may need help with right away. Another benefit is, if a student misses class, he or she can check and see what assignments were discussed in class that day and get some insight on the teacher's lecture they may have missed. Not all teachers are using the sites yet because it's not a traditional teaching method for most; but in the near future many will. Emily Listfield says, "most teachers have little or no training using social sites to as an educational tool, it is still a growing number adapting their methods to better reach kids through computer technology.".
Smartphones and handheld computers have changed education in a good and bad way. Anya Kamenetez and Joan Caplin, authors of "'A' is for App," discuss how "American students spend 7.5 hours a day interacting with handheld and networked technology." Students at all ages use these devices, and the great benefit is they're learning from it. I have been taking a developmental math class. My class is strictly self-paced, where I learn from a program called Hawkes Learning. When I first started, I thought the class would definitely be hard because of the self-learning structure, but the program has its advantages. Every module starts off with a learning exercise, then moves on to practice questions, and before moving to the next section in the module, I take a quiz to be certified in that particular section of the module. The great effect to taking the certify quiz is that I have to make at least an 85 on the quiz, which insures that I have gained the proper knowledge in that section and I am ready to move on to the next one. I am even able to make my own practice quizzes. For instance, if I take a practice quiz and I do well on it except for certain problems, I can go make a practice test with only those problems on the test and as many questions as I want.