Social media and new educational practices

The paper analyzes the potential of modern social media and its use in educational practice. An example is the research in Herzen University. Training in the use of IT and social media is the basic condition of professional education: means of improving the quality of specialist training; prospects for the development of a specialist. The authors distinguish the basis for the use of social media in educational practices, which contribute to the growth and development of competences in the field of media technology in the information society. The essence and content of the educational module "Social Media and the modern educational practices" is described. The article explains the importance of the problem of using social media in solving various classes of problems: development of students’ communicative culture; critical attitude towards media texts, their full perception and analysis; creativity and self-expression skills with the help of social media. Ways of development skills for education specialists are shown on the examples of master's studies of different aspects of Internet, television, radio, press, cinema and video.