Information and communication technologies (ICT), social media in education, project-based learning, school project, enterprise social network (ESN)

Social networks have become a phenomenon of our time and they have a place also in the learning environment. Universities already use social networks and they even build their own social networks, which are often inspired by enterprise social networks. However, social networks are rarely used at lower level schools. Our research was aimed at Social Media in Classroom Education and dealt with an implementation of social media into schools. A survey on whether or not to integrate social media into education was conducted in more than 500 elementary schools in the Czech Republic. The results showed that schools are interested in the use of social media in instruction but they are also aware of potential risks. Safety of pupils on social networks is one of the main reasons why schools are afraid to implement social media into instruction. We intend to propose appropriate teaching methods and organizational forms of instruction supported by social media. The possibility to use some of the proven safety tools such as eTwinning has been examined. We chose a different approach ? to develop a flexible social network according to the needs of schools and other participants to solve a specific problem, e.g. a common project. In this paper we present some of the practical rules for users, how to develop tailor-made social networks; what a school should do to use social networks successfully.