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Communicating Outside the Classroom: Using Facebook for Large Projects Teachapalooza 2013, Poynter Institute Presented by Steve Fox, June 2013
Communicating Outside the Classroom:
Using Facebook for Large Projects
Teachapalooza 2013, Poynter Institute
Presented by Steve Fox, June 2013
The Challenges
Ran three major projects last three years. Partnered with: Springfield (Mass.) Republican, Boston Globe, Huffington Post
Running large projects is like running a newsroom. How do you communicate effectively?
How do you extend the classroom? 3-4 hours a week isn’t enough….
Communication Hurdles
Phone; e-mail; class blogs; Twitter – all have their benefits but students don’t respond easily.
If you’re partnering with a news organization, you need to stay in contact with editors.
Skype is good for periodic discussion.
Using Facebook
Set up a private group. Appoint one of your students to friend those in the class and invite students and others to the group.
Don’t Let it Sit. As with most social media, don’t set up the group and let it sit. As the instructor, you need to be active.
Get Student Buy-In. As questions, discoveries happen in class, have students post to the group.
Why Bother?
Students live on Facebook. You’re hitting them where they spend much of their down time.
Extend the Classroom. Not only are students messaging with you but they’re talking amongst themselvs – outside the classroom!
Teaching Continues. You’re passing along links and lessons in the group.
Reporting Tool
As semester progresses, students begin seeing value of Facebook and social media as reporting tools.
Sources create their own pages, students join those groups and get tips and information.
Social media becomes a reporting tool as well as a way to communicate with sources.
Student Buy-In
“I check my facebook at least five times for every time I check my email. If somebody asked a question I could answer or needed me to do something, I knew about it the second I went online and could respond quickly.”
“I really enjoyed having the small closed group of serious journalism students that we had in this class. It allowed all of us to trust each other, work together, bounce thoughts off of each other, and ultimately learn from one another.”
