Social Media for Colleges

One of the previous post I had written on how its imperative for colleges or to say education institutes to adopt Social Media. While the earlier post talked from perspectives of student & teachers, these one shall look from the institution perspective.

Photo Courtesy: www.sxc.hu

1. Be Responsive

As as institution, you could have launched a page on Facebook or shall have a twitter handle, but how responsive is the institution to the constant chatter happening.

- Do you respond to admission queries?
- Do you respond to issues within the campus?
- Do you track alums (they are the best people to comment on the institution)?

Quite often, the institutions tend to forget to respond to these basic situation & concentrate on one-way communication. If yours is one amongst these, CHANGE the monologue to dialogue.

Frequent conversations shall help in building a strong brand & recognition.

2. Strategize

For institutions to succeed in the current era of Social Media and with plethora of channels to cover, building a clear strategy is the first step to success.

Take example of Syracuse University, which can also boast of a case study for FourSquare presence, it strategised to engage students & alumni even while they were not on campus.

While students are the biggest group of users on social media having ability to drive discussions, compel future students, teachers/Head of Departments should not be left behind. They need to be part of the institute's strategy with as many of them driving or heading discussion & also sharing the latest information in their areas of expertise using blogs or Twitter.

How will it help?? The online presence of an institute shall receive a great Filip owing to the knowledge streams generated. Prospective students shall be receptive of the numerous communication channels whereas the alumna's shall be keen to share the openess & innovativeness of the institute.

Lets face it, Social Media is not going away & its best to harness the capabilities of the free world. Though I am not an expert on the subject and there could be other benefits, but with the conversations that I have generated on this topic, it would be safe to assume that there are quite a few colleges/institutes wanting to adopt Social Media. With effective filtering, policies & technology am sure your strategies for adoption will be successful.

What do you think?? Do drop in your comments & will be glad to know your thoughts.

As an end note, here are 20 colleges that made the best use of Social Media.

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Social Media in Classroom - Part 2

After my earlier post on "Social Media in Classroom", few of the readers asked how they can effectively use Social Media. Am putting a succinct post & would like to divide this discussion in 2 parts & stick to the classroom only -

1. Students
2. Teachers

I shall also share the operational advantage of Social Media in Education some time later.

Students

Accept it or not, these is Generation C (connected, communicating, content-centric, computerized, community-oriented, always clicking). News, views etc travel much faster within the generation than we had ever imagined. Over to Advantage Students...

1. Connected Learning
It has often observed that the best and deepest way student learn is when they are amongst themselves. Students can leverage on social media to connect within the student community in the non-traditional hours of study sharing their views, notes & keeping pace with other happenings.

2. On-demand learning
Share notes in form of Word, PDF, Podcast, E-learning modules can help students to learn on-demand. We all know that not all student have equal capabilities. Sharing notes via Social Media can help students to drive the course at their own pace.

3. Increase Passion
As human being we all nurture certain passions - photography, music, games, etc. For students, if these passion as given a wind, their learning on the subject acquires a great fillip. Social Media facilitates  students will similar interests are connected therby ensuring spread of knowledge.

Teachers

Sadly, teachers have been perceived "anti social-media" due to various reason. Clearly, few of them are right, but when used effectively, social media does enhance teaching.

1. Communication
Yes, teacher usually do not belong to the Generation C. But teachers can improve interactions with students over the online social media beyond the school walls. Connecting to student personally will ensure assistance & feedback.

2. Improve Education
Effective usage of social media within teachers, connecting with stakeholder in the world of education can also ensure adoption of best practices with diverse set of students.

Remember, in today's age, information is everywhere. How we handle the information and embrace the change has a direct impact on the future of next generation.


Please keep sharing your views & comments. They are very much appreciated.

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Social Media in Classrooms...Enabler??

I was inclined to write on this as there were couple of tweets where the discussion revolved around the usage of Social Media in Classroom and how its assists the students & teachers alike. And here I present my take on it...

Though overwhelming majority are still unsure about the usage of SM in classrooms but it seems that the pros clearly outweight the risks associated with it.

Imagine, the classroom discussion spans to Twitter, where the students share a # tag & we could see participation from outside the school too...And so there is a message which was limited to a small stream of thoughts & now it being discussed over a wider platform, imagine the result...This is a great enabler!!!

We have always known that the internet has penetrated quite deep & you like it or not, the students are using it at much bigger scale than what we can imagine. And now with the trends of smartphones, they are seamlessly connected. Then why not adopt the new technology & ensure that the schools get in sync with its students.

Here are my ideas for school to utilize Social Media:

1. Promote usage - Simply put, you cannot stop the usage, better ride the wave & promote usage, but yes I am all for moderation & having restrictions (undoubtedly)

2. Engage students - Interactivity amongst students fosters learning, so ensure various activities are published on the Social Media where students can participate

A school page on Facebook

 

Example:

Here's the Facebook page of NC State University Graduate School.  A student asking for materials & so on..The students will surely engage, when relevant collateral - notes, assignments, videos, events are shared.

3. Ensure Participation

We many a time mistake engagement with participation. Taking a holistic view of the type of students in the class. This medium might help students who would otherwise be reluctant to raise their doubts. Behind the veil of technology, the schools can as well encourage participation from these student community.

Honestly, this might not replace the existing system of education, but my view is, it can help both the student + teacher community in their desired goals. Its certainly is an enabler!!

Your views??