Middle College and Social MediaThe University of North DakotaJohn ReichertJessica CoombsDoug Wagner

Social Media at Middle College

Timeline of Social Media 1978 - Computerized bulletin board system (BBS) 1993 - Univ. of Illinois Urbana-Champaign students develop Mosaic browser

making the world wide web available to public & Beverly Hills Internet launches GeoCities

1994 – Internet referred to as the Information Superhighway 1997 – GeoCities surpasses one million members, AOL instant Messenger

lets users chat, blogging begins, and Google launches 1998 – GeoCities goes public, Friends Reunited (first social network founded

in Great Britain), Blogging service Blogger launches, dotcom bubble bursts and future of internet is uncertain

2000 – Friendster launches and grows to three million users in three months 2002 – AOL has 34 million members, MySpace launches 2003 – Google buys Blogger, Linden lab introduces the virtual world Second

Life, LinkedIn a social networking site for professionals launches, Facebook launches

2004 – MySpace outperforms Friendster in page views, Digg launches as a social news site, Bebo (blog early, blog often) launches

Timeline of Social Media cont. 2005 – News Corp buys MySpace, Facebook launches for high school students,

Friends Reunited is sold to a British television company, YouTube begins storing/retrieving videos, MySpace is the most popular social networking site

2006 – Viacom and Yahoo offer to buy Facebook but both offers are declined, Twitter is born

2007 – Facebook outperforms MySpace, Beacon an advertising system that exposes user purchasing activity is launched by myspace, Apple releases the iPhone.

2008 – Facebook is ranked the most used social network, Bebo is purchased by AOL, Tumblr launches

2009 – Twitter breaks the news story about a plane landing in the Hudson River, Microsoft launches Bing

2010 – Google launches Buzz to compete with Facebook, Apple releases iPad, Internet surpasses newspapers

2011 – Apple introduces music-based social network Ping, 550 million people on Facebook, 65 million tweets sent through Twitter, 2 billion video views per day on YouTube, LinkedIn has 90 million professional users and goes public, Tumblr hits 1 billion page views per month 2 million posts per day, Pinterest launches, Google+ launches, Snip.It launches as a competitor to Pinterest

2012 – Facebook files for an IPO, Twitter reaches 12,233 tweets per second during the Super Bowl

Our College Students, Digital Natives “Our students have changed radically. Today’s

students are no longer the people our educational system was designed to teach” (Prensky, 2001).

Personal computers, iPads, internet, cell phones, and much more are integral parts of their lives.

Today’s students spent their entire lives surrounded by and using computers, videogames, cell phones, and all other toys and tools of the digital age (Prensky, 2001).

Faculty, Digital Immigrants As digital immigrants learn, they always retain

their “accent” (Prensky, 2001). “Digital immigrant instructors, who speak an

outdated language (that of the pre-digital age), are struggling to teach a population that speaks an entirely new language” (Prensky, 2001).

Digital immigrants print out an email, print out a document written on the computer to edit it, and bring people to their office to see a website instead of sending the URL via email or text.

Interacting with Digital Natives “Digital Natives can’t pay attention, or

that they choose not to? Often from the Natives’ point of view their Digital Immigrant instructors make their education not worth paying attention to compared to everything else they experience – and then they blame them for not paying attention!” (Prensky, 2001).

Finding a Balance “Many have lost the art of maintaining eye

contact while speaking in person; instead they continually consult their phone for updates, text messages, emails, Facebook posts, and Twitter tweets. While faculty on campuses of higher education struggle to identify how digital students learn differently, higher education professionals struggle to identify their preferred methods for communication” (Ratliff, 2011).

“Participation is no longer an option as Social Media isn’t a spectator sport” (Solis, 2008).

Types of social media schools use Facebook – 98 % Twitter – 84 % LinkedIn – 47 % Blogging – 47 % Message Boards – 37 % Schools also use YouTube and Flickr

Types of social media schools use Facebook

A social utility that connects people with friends and others who work, study and live around them

YouTube Leader in online video, way to share original videos worldwide, virtual tours,

recruitment videos Flickr

Online photo site used to upload photos, sharing photos with students, alumni, faculty and staff

Twitter Instant messaging and blogging, that keeps students connected

Linked In Professional networking site

Blogging Online journaling

Message Boards

How schools use social media Classroom

Twitter, blogs/networking sites School pride

Facebook pages, free swag and materials online Potential students

Virtual tours, Twitter, school blogs Professional development

Networking General outreach

Social sites, contacting parents, alumni groups

How well are schools using social media?

Successes Making safe

communities Collaboration is

encouraged Invitation to

produce content

ChallengesLack of

knowledgeLack of featuresMore than a

presence

Best Practices Syracuse

Integrated Twitter into the classroom. Students tweet about different topics in

class which allows for community members to take part in in class discussion

Held a seminar for middle school students, talking about appropriate social media use. “How do you want your story to be

perceived by others”

The Rotolo Blog- Syracuse University

Best Practices cont. Cornell University

Started a social media lab, studying how people interact and use social media. Gives undergraduate students the

opportunity to study something they are already passionate about.

Best Practices cont. North Carolina State University

Uses Facebook to plug into a larger fan base. Keeps students, alumni, prospective

students, and community connected to the institution in one centralized location.

Uses Twitter as a centralized hub for many different organizations on campus Sports teams, clubs, etc.

Actions based on Best Practices We will integrate Twitter into some classes in order

to expose students to ideas outside the classroom. We will implement a program at our first-year

orientation that will require students to learn about how they view on their social media pages.

We will encourage our faculty to do some research with aspects of social media to become experts in the field.

Finally, we will develop and create a Twitter page, in order to have a one stop shop for all of our organizations on campus.

Social Media Awareness 101 This would be a 45 min to hour long seminar. The subject would be social media, and its

pros and cons. We would be able to instruct students on the

college’s policies, about harassment, e-bullying, etc.

We would be able to teach students healthy ways to tell their stories online. Would help address how employers can view their

pages, etc.

Facebook in the Workplace

Social Media in the Workplace Social media is can be a

useful tool to connect with co-workers

Inappropriate postings can result in termination of employment Snyder v. Millersville

University (2008)- student was removed from student teaching after inappropriate MySpace posts (Simpson, 2010).

The First Amendment and Social Media

ReferencesPrensky, M. (2001). Digital natives, digital immigrants. On the Horizon. 9

(5). Ratliff, A. (2011). Are they listening? Social media on campuses of

higher education. The Journal of Technology in Student Affairs. Retrieved from http://studentaffairs.com/ejournal/Summer_2011/AreTheyListening.html

Silverman, Matt. "How Higher Education Uses Social Media [INFOGRAPHIC]." Social Media News and Web Tips – Mashable – The Social Media Guide. N.p., 3 Feb. 2012. Web. 23 Feb. 2012. <http://mashable.com/2012/02/03/higher-education-social-media/>.

Simpson, Mike. "NEA - Social Networking Nightmares." NEA - NEA Home. N.p., 2010. Web. 23 Feb. 2012. <http://www.nea.org/home/38324.htm>.

Solis, B. (2008). The Essential Guide to Social Media.