Social Media in Academic Settings

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Social Media and Education Class Objectives

• To provide an overview of the use of social media in educational institutions • To explore how social media is used to advance education

Introduction The internet has opened up spaces for individuals from different parts of the world, generations, class, gender and race to gain access to higher education. These forms of “borderless” learning platforms allow professors to facilitate linear interactions with students as students take charge of their learning by posing questions and posting content virtually. The popularity of online courses is demonstrated by a study conducted by the learningSloan Foundation study consisting of more than 2,500 colleges and universities. The study findings indicated that online enrolments were growing substantially faster than overall higher education enrolment, and the 17% growth rate in online enrolments far exceeds the 1.2% growth rate in the overall higher education population (Allen & Seaman, 2010, cited in LeNoue, Hall, Eighmy, 2011, pp. 4-5). Allen and Seaman classified an online course as one in which more than 80% of content is delivered online and reported that over 4.6 million students were taking such courses during the fall 2008 term (p.5). Clearly, online courses are becoming a preferred means of learning mainly because of their convenience—students are able to navigate, full time employment, family responsibilities and other commitments. Many online instructional settings utilize content management systems that allow for a two way communication between students and the professor. The forums deviate from lecture structures and professors in the online context as seen as facilitators of knowledge encouraging active and experiential learning and teamwork to enhance cooperation and collaboration. Would you categorize the online classes provided by UCW as a social media forum? Beyond online classrooms, universities use social media mainly for marketing, communication and alumni relations. Universities now combine the use of social media with their own homepages as a recruitment tools (For example, last year UCW’s homepage provided access to Facebook, Twitter and YouTube). Universities are also using social media to reach out to their alumni. A 2012 survey by the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (an association of university and college professionals in development, alumni affairs and communications) shows that 83 percent of U.S. colleges and universities are using social media to engage alumni, with 96 percent on Facebook, 80 percent on Twitter, 73 percent on YouTube, and 68 percent on LinkedIn (Frank, 2013). These statistics give an illustration of how social media are used for communication between universities and the public.

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Social media has also gained currency in the classroom, as a teaching and learning tool and as a means of communication between professors as students as well as the academic community in general. Teaching and Learning

www.dailymail.co.uk The current generation of students often referred to as “net generation (Net Gen)” or “Digital Natives” are already familiar with social media use. The introduction of the media into classroom settings not only provides diversity through the use of multimedia channels but is seen as natural transition for students to engage with social tools in the academic environs. The use of social media presents a number of benefits in classroom setting. First social media provides instant connectivity. Students do not have to wait for the next class meeting to convey their thoughts or ideas or to pose questions. Through social media like twitter or Facebook information can be disseminated to the class within a matter of minutes. Second, social media forums also facilitate co-creation of knowledge by allowing for students as well as professors to engage with each other through discussion forums. The forums can be open to the public or could be limited to the class. Opening up the discussion to the public facilitates the involvement of external people including scholars, experts and other interested parties to participate in the forums, thereby providing divergent ideas and enriching the learning experience as a whole. For example, Bill Fischer a professor of Innovation and Management in Switzerland tweets and retweets everything that is connected to his classes (Clark, 2013).

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http://lakelanier.com/ Similarly, Gerald Bergtrom, a biology professor at the University of Wisconsin tends to use twitter principles in his classroom by requiring his students to use 140 characters of text when they are formulating hypotheses and conclusions (Tinti- Kane, 2013). This aims to build conciseness and forces students to gather their thoughts and state clearly a hypothesis or a conclusion. This approach could also be useful in assisting students to develop thesis statements for their essays. Third the use of multiple channels including visual and audio provides variety in the learning experience. Students who are more visually inclined are catered for in the forums. YouTube video clips are now popular in many classroom settings. Some professors use the sites to deliver lectures via YouTube video clips that students can access at home. Others integrate video and vine, a mobile app by Twitter that enables its users to create and post short video clips (Clark, 2013). Lastly, some instructors require students to post their activities on YouTube. Examples of such activities include creating an advert for a marketing class or developing a news feature or documentary for a journalism assignment.

Another visual medium that could be useful for classes is Wordle.net, which generates "word clouds" from text that you provide. Word clouds visually display words, with their size indicating usage frequency. See an example of a cloud below from S O C I A L B2P, a team within the Marketing organization of SAP AG that is chartered with helping our company connect with audiences to assist them in their decision making processes.

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http://socialb2p.com/

Students can use Wordle.net to create graphs or to analyze their writing by pasting in their drafts to see if they have used certain words or phrases too often.

Pinterest, a free, virtual bulletin board also allows users to pin videos and images captured from around the web and arrange them into different categories. Pins are also shared and searchable, making it a great content-curation tool for instructors. Faculty can pin together images, links, lesson plans, podcasts, and videos into visually appealing boards. They can create resource boards for themselves, other instructors, or their own students, and use the boards for classroom assignments.

http://pinterest.com/

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In addition to the social usage abilities to provide multiple channels for instruction, instant messaging and opening up participatory avenues for learner and instructor interactions, social media is affordable and with current educational budget cuts. Blogs like wordpress are useful for journal entries especially for students undertaking field trips. Blogs enhance writing as well as reflective skills. Further, information submitted on blogs can be reviewed by both students and professors allowing them to trace the students’ academic growth. Lastly, the use of social media increases technological familiarity that is useful for the professional world beyond the classroom. Many social media platforms generate linkages with similar tools. Google-owned YouTube, for instance, is compatible with twitter, Facebook, Google+, blogging, and all forms of electronic media. This kind of seamless integration allows an impressive convergence with other similar tools which has the potential of exposing students to a variety of media. Social media can also enhance digital citizenship as students get exposed to various guidelines of interactions and expected and acceptable language when engaging in social media forums for academic purposes.

The use of social media in classrooms certainly provides interesting and useful dimensions to the learning experience. The use of social media tools also presents a number of challenges to the learning environment. The next section outlines some of these limitations. Challenges

Integrity of Student Submissions

It is difficult to determine the authenticity of the work presented or if students are solely responsible for their submissions. In 2008, a first-year student at Ryerson University in Toronto was accused of cheating after running a Facebook study group. The student argued that the group was a place “on the internet where students could ask questions about homework assignments” (CBS, 2008). The university differed with this perspective alleging academic misconduct.

In a different case, Steve Joordens, an University of Toronto professor, urged the 1,900 students in his introductory psychology class to start adding content to relevant Wikipedia pages. The assignment was voluntary, and Joordens’s goal was to both enhance Wikipedia's body of work on psychology while teaching students about the scientist's responsibility to share knowledge.

However, volunteer editors who curate Wikipedia website content raised concerns with the sheer number of contributions pouring in from people who were not necessarily well-versed in the topic or adept at citing their research. Some community members called for widespread bans on university IP addresses and

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decried the professor's assignment as a needless burden on the community.

Privacy

Social Media’s (lack of) accountability to the University is an issue of concern. The reliance on a third party to host student material (which will be graded) is unsettling. The information could be removed without warning. Additionally, students as well as professors might not be familiar with social media privacy policies which could lead to legal issues.

Lack of Institutional Policies on Social Media

Many institutions also lack clear social media guidelines. In recent years, a number of universities have implemented social media guidelines. Examples include: the University of Manitoba (http://umanitoba.ca/admin/mco/socialmedia_guidelines.html) and Brock University (http://www.brocku.ca/marketing-communications/social- media/guidelines.

The University of Alberta also commissioned a subcommittee in 2009 to examine the use of social media at the university and to develop guidelines and recommendations for formal and informal use of social media at the institutions. The report is available on the university’s website

Other challenges include the fact that the inclusion of social media in educational settings is a fairly new area and more time is required to conduct empirical research on its effectiveness in comparison to traditional media. The other important consideration in academic settings is integrating the use of social media into the system, for example, should tweets or YouTube clips be referenced in the APA style? Moreover, there are constant changes to social media platforms which require students and instructors to keep updating their knowledge on the media. Lastly, filtering information on noise emerging from contributions on social media forums especially those that grant access to members of the public can be a daunting task.

Additional issues to think about

Is it right to insist on mandatory involvement of students with social media assignments if they are not interested in social media accounts e.g. having a Facebook account?

What is the effect of friending/unfriending component on student-teacher interactions?

What is the impact of changing social media from a social/friendly tool to academic or professional contexts? Does it encroach on students social spaces?

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References CBC News (2008 March 6). Ryerson student fighting cheating charges for Facebook study group. Retrieved November 3, 2010 from http://www.cbc.ca/canada/toronto/story/2008/03/06/facebook-study.html Clark, C. (2013). Social media expands the classroom. Financial Times. Retrieved May 4, 2013 from http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/11bd8910-8010-11e2-96ba- 00144feabdc0.html#axzz2T8zFRNEy Frank, T. (2013). Reaching out to university alumni through social media. University Affairs. Retrieved May 5, 2013 from http://www.universityaffairs.ca/reaching-out- to-university-alumni-through-social-media.aspx Daveny, L . (2013). The benefits of using social media in the classroom, eschool News. Retrieved May 1, 2013 from http://www.eschoolnews.com/2013/01/23/the-benefits-of-using-social-media-in- the-classroom/ Tinti-Kane, H. (2013). Overcoming hurdles to social media in education, Educause Review Online. Retrieved May 1, 2013 from http://www.educause.edu/ero/article/overcoming-hurdles-social-media-education Required Readings Greenwood, G. (2012). Examining the presence of social media on universities websites. Journal of College Admission, summer, pp. 25-28. Retrieved April 25, 2013 from http://eds.b.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.myucw.ca:2048/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid =597ba240-b0e1-4e8a-a329-c48f2591665a%40sessionmgr113&vid=3&hid=102 Kelm, O. (2011). Social Media, it’s what students do. Business Communication Quarterly, 74 (4), 5005-520. Retrieved April 25, 2013 from http://eds.b.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.myucw.ca:2048/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid =91c37c17-d332-448d-aeb0-c8e1680d1720%40sessionmgr115&vid=3&hid=102 LeNoue, M, Hall, T, Eighmy, M. (2011). Adult education and the social media revolution. Adult Learning 22 (2), pp. 4-12. Retrieved May 5, 2013 from http://eds.b.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.myucw.ca:2048/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid =2&sid=6693b856-6b89-4eac-99ab-6c50a988b547%40sessionmgr115&hid=102