Andrew Wright, Ph.D.Assistant Professor of CIS

andrew.wright@louisville.edu

louisville.edu/faculty/alwrig01(find under Presentations)

College of Business Teaching and Learning Initiative

August 26, 2011

Student Engagement: Using Social Media to Reach Beyond the Classroom

Student Engagement: Using Social Media to Reach Beyond the Classroom

Objectives

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Participants will:discuss different types of social media tools

that can be used to engage students in learning and dialogue

apply these ideas to their teaching context and practice

examine the advantages and challenges these technologies present

As we go through the presentation, feel free to share your own experiences using these (and other technologies)

At the end of our session, I’ll ask you to share which techniques you think you’d like to try and why

Student Engagement: Using Social Media to Reach Beyond the Classroom

OverviewStudent EngagementClickers 2.0YouTubeFacebookGoogle+TwitterPrivacyBlackboardPurdueYour Turn!

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Student Engagement: Using Social Media to Reach Beyond the Classroom

Student engagement

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“Student engagement is perhaps the key element for almost any learning context. When engaged, learners are enthusiastic and excited about the subject. Their work is informed by the enjoyment of discovery. Engaged learners work willingly, instead of by coercion, and approach their assignments as something that matters to them personally. The spirit engendered by engaged learners in a course is infectious, spreading among and sustaining all participants. It follows that devising techniques, supported by technology, to capture, retain, and sustain student engagement should be at the forefront of course design.”

Brown, Malcolm, et al. A Dialogue for Engagement. EDUCAUSE Review, vol. 45, no. 5 (September/October 2010).

Student Engagement: Using Social Media to Reach Beyond the Classroom

Student engagement

5

“Student engagement is perhaps the key element for almost any learning context. When engaged, learners are enthusiastic and excited about the subject. Their work is informed by the enjoyment of discovery. Engaged learners work willingly, instead of by coercion, and approach their assignments as something that matters to them personally. The spirit engendered by engaged learners in a course is infectious, spreading among and sustaining all participants. It follows that devising techniques, supported by technology, to capture, retain, and sustain student engagement should be at the forefront of course design.”

Brown, Malcolm, et al. A Dialogue for Engagement. EDUCAUSE Review, vol. 45, no. 5 (September/October 2010).

Student Engagement: Using Social Media to Reach Beyond the Classroom

Student engagement

6

“Student engagement is perhaps the key element for almost any learning context. When engaged, learners are enthusiastic and excited about the subject. Their work is informed by the enjoyment of discovery. Engaged learners work willingly, instead of by coercion, and approach their assignments as something that matters to them personally. The spirit engendered by engaged learners in a course is infectious, spreading among and sustaining all participants. It follows that devising techniques, supported by technology, to capture, retain, and sustain student engagement should be at the forefront of course design.”

Brown, Malcolm, et al. A Dialogue for Engagement. EDUCAUSE Review, vol. 45, no. 5 (September/October 2010).

Student Engagement: Using Social Media to Reach Beyond the Classroom

Student engagement

7

“Student engagement is perhaps the key element for almost any learning context. When engaged, learners are enthusiastic and excited about the subject. Their work is informed by the enjoyment of discovery. Engaged learners work willingly, instead of by coercion, and approach their assignments as something that matters to them personally. The spirit engendered by engaged learners in a course is infectious, spreading among and sustaining all participants. It follows that devising techniques, supported by technology, to capture, retain, and sustain student engagement should be at the forefront of course design.”

Brown, Malcolm, et al. A Dialogue for Engagement. EDUCAUSE Review, vol. 45, no. 5 (September/October 2010).

Student Engagement: Using Social Media to Reach Beyond the Classroom

Student engagement

8

“Student engagement is perhaps the key element for almost any learning context. When engaged, learners are enthusiastic and excited about the subject. Their work is informed by the enjoyment of discovery. Engaged learners work willingly, instead of by coercion, and approach their assignments as something that matters to them personally. The spirit engendered by engaged learners in a course is infectious, spreading among and sustaining all participants. It follows that devising techniques, supported by technology, to capture, retain, and sustain student engagement should be at the forefront of course design.”

Brown, Malcolm, et al. A Dialogue for Engagement. EDUCAUSE Review, vol. 45, no. 5 (September/October 2010).

Student Engagement: Using Social Media to Reach Beyond the Classroom

Student engagement

9

“Student engagement is perhaps the key element for almost any learning context. When engaged, learners are enthusiastic and excited about the subject. Their work is informed by the enjoyment of discovery. Engaged learners work willingly, instead of by coercion, and approach their assignments as something that matters to them personally. The spirit engendered by engaged learners in a course is infectious, spreading among and sustaining all participants. It follows that devising techniques, supported by technology, to capture, retain, and sustain student engagement should be at the forefront of course design.”

Brown, Malcolm, et al. A Dialogue for Engagement. EDUCAUSE Review, vol. 45, no. 5 (September/October 2010).

Student Engagement: Using Social Media to Reach Beyond the Classroom

Student engagement

10

“Student engagement is perhaps the key element for almost any learning context. When engaged, learners are enthusiastic and excited about the subject. Their work is informed by the enjoyment of discovery. Engaged learners work willingly, instead of by coercion, and approach their assignments as something that matters to them personally. The spirit engendered by engaged learners in a course is infectious, spreading among and sustaining all participants. It follows that devising techniques, supported by technology, to capture, retain, and sustain student engagement should be at the forefront of course design.”

Brown, Malcolm, et al. A Dialogue for Engagement. EDUCAUSE Review, vol. 45, no. 5 (September/October 2010).

Student Engagement: Using Social Media to Reach Beyond the Classroom

Student engagement

11

“Student engagement is perhaps the key element for almost any learning context. When engaged, learners are enthusiastic and excited about the subject. Their work is informed by the enjoyment of discovery. Engaged learners work willingly, instead of by coercion, and approach their assignments as something that matters to them personally. The spirit engendered by engaged learners in a course is infectious, spreading among and sustaining all participants. It follows that devising techniques, supported by technology, to capture, retain, and sustain student engagement should be at the forefront of course design.”

Brown, Malcolm, et al. A Dialogue for Engagement. EDUCAUSE Review, vol. 45, no. 5 (September/October 2010).

Student Engagement: Using Social Media to Reach Beyond the Classroom

Student engagement

12

“Student engagement is perhaps the key element for almost any learning context. When engaged, learners are enthusiastic and excited about the subject. Their work is informed by the enjoyment of discovery. Engaged learners work willingly, instead of by coercion, and approach their assignments as something that matters to them personally. The spirit engendered by engaged learners in a course is infectious, spreading among and sustaining all participants. It follows that devising techniques, supported by technology, to capture, retain, and sustain student engagement should be at the forefront of course design.”

Brown, Malcolm, et al. A Dialogue for Engagement. EDUCAUSE Review, vol. 45, no. 5 (September/October 2010).

Student Engagement: Using Social Media to Reach Beyond the Classroom

Student engagement

13

“Student engagement is perhaps the key element for almost any learning context. When engaged, learners are enthusiastic and excited about the subject. Their work is informed by the enjoyment of discovery. Engaged learners work willingly, instead of by coercion, and approach their assignments as something that matters to them personally. The spirit engendered by engaged learners in a course is infectious, spreading among and sustaining all participants. It follows that devising techniques, supported by technology, to capture, retain, and sustain student engagement should be at the forefront of course design.”

Brown, Malcolm, et al. A Dialogue for Engagement. EDUCAUSE Review, vol. 45, no. 5 (September/October 2010).

Student Engagement: Using Social Media to Reach Beyond the Classroom

Student engagement

14

Students are more engaged when:they are knowledge creators and not just knowledge

receiversthere is a feeling of producing work for a wider audiencethere are alternative venues for expressionthere is a sense of a learning community

Technology can help with all of these!Digital media project that gets put on YouTubeFacebook group where students in your class may connect

with one another (and you) beyond classroom interactionUsing a blog for journaling about their studies and

discoveriesAnd many more!

Brown, Malcolm, et al. A Dialogue for Engagement. EDUCAUSE Review, vol. 45, no. 5 (September/October 2010).

Student Engagement: Using Social Media to Reach Beyond the Classroom

Clickers can add engagement but…

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Students have to buy them, and remember to bring them to class, and have a working battery, etc.

They all seem to have cell phones with them at all times…

And they seem quite adept at texting on them…So, why don’t we let them use their cell phones to

participate in polls in class?We can!!!And we will in this session!

There are many tools available online that allow you to set up polls that use text messaging but I’m going to use PollEverywhere

How To Vote via Texting

1. Standard texting rates only (worst case US $0.20)2. We have no access to your phone number3. Capitalization doesn’t matter, but spaces and spelling do

TIPS

EXAMPLE

How To Vote via pollev.com

Capitalization doesn’t matter, but spaces and spelling doTIP

EXAMPLE

Student Engagement: Using Social Media to Reach Beyond the Classroom

Poll Everywhere Plans

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Student Engagement: Using Social Media to Reach Beyond the Classroom

What about YouTube?

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One way to use YouTube is simply by linking to relevant videos on the siteSometimes, can make a point far more effectively with

a videoThe Machine is Us/ing Us, Did You Know 3.0, Did You Know 4.0Selective Attention Test

There is an EDU area in YouTube: youtube.com/eduDon’t forget the Research Channel

Another way is as an outlet for student projectsInstead of always having students write a term paper, I

let them choose more creative outlets including digital media projects

Security Video Contest Winners – my students participated but didn’t win

Student Engagement: Using Social Media to Reach Beyond the Classroom

With PowerPoint 2010

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You can embed YouTube and other web videos directly onto slide

YouTube Poll

Student Engagement: Using Social Media to Reach Beyond the Classroom

Why is everyone talking about Facebook?

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Students (and everyone else, it seems) spend a lot of time using FacebookAccording to the

Pearson Social Media Survey 2010, just over 80% of surveyed faculty are social media users and 30% use social media to connect to students (with FB leading the way)

LinkedIn is for professional networking but far fewer use it

Facebook reports more than 750 million users, with 50% of active users logging in dailyOver 200 million users access through mobile

devices70% of Facebook users are outside the United StatesMore than one million developers and entrepreneurs

from more than 190 countries

Student Engagement: Using Social Media to Reach Beyond the Classroom

How can I use Facebook for class?

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Break down barriers between you and your students and get to know each other (virtually)

Need to have an account first!Should I use a separate profile? Probably

Unless you are a FB privacy ninja, it can be hard to keep track of which group/list can see what items… Oops, I just let my students see my drunken Vegas pics!

That said, I don’t use a separate profileStudents that friend me (I don’t initiate friending of

students) get to see some of my personality I don’t mind them seeing that I like obscure Japanese

anime or the Louisville AIDS Walk or a random post about my parents’ health

Student Engagement: Using Social Media to Reach Beyond the Classroom

How can I use Facebook for class?

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Set up separate groups for each of your classesThe new Group settings make it easy to

selectively share information with a set of peopleSupports group chat, docs (a shared notepad), and

mailing list notificationsEasy to add new group from FB left

navigation barI set up a

FB group for a Dine and Discover sessionI’ve added some resources already and I hope you

all will join me and add some moreAt start of semester, publish URL and invite

students to join upRemind them about FB’s ever-changing

privacy settings!

Schaffhauser, Diane. The Super-Secret, Never-Before-Revealed Guide to Web 2.0 in the Classroom. Campus Technology, vol. 44, no. 2 (October 2010).

Student Engagement: Using Social Media to Reach Beyond the Classroom

How can I use Facebook for class?

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Set up an icebreaker in your class’ FB groupGive them a format with specific questions

you want to see but also let them share their personality

Study group organizerSuggest that students post to the class FB

group page when they are looking for some help

Reflections on learningInformal reflections, not for assessment

(don’t confuse with Blackboard!)Virtual office hoursShout-outs!

Schaffhauser, Diane. The Super-Secret, Never-Before-Revealed Guide to Web 2.0 in the Classroom. Campus Technology, vol. 44, no. 2 (October 2010).

Facebook Poll

Student Engagement: Using Social Media to Reach Beyond the Classroom

What about Google+ ?

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Google+ is one of the fastest growing social networking sites in historyInteresting features include Circles, Hangouts, and SparksCircles make it easy to create groups among your friends

and colleagues and share information selectivelyHangouts lets you easily create a group video chat

“Reactions in higher education circles to Google's latest foray into social media have been mixed. There's a skepticism out there engendered by Google's earlier failures in the social media arena, as well as concerns about how the search giant will use the personal information collected on the network. But there's also a real enthusiasm for the social network's potential.” – John K. Waters http://campustechnology.com/articles/2011/08/24/google-inspires-excitement-hesitation-in-instructors.aspx

Google+ Poll

Student Engagement: Using Social Media to Reach Beyond the Classroom

What is Twitter?

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Twitter is a microblogging site – each post (or tweet) is a maximum of 140 charactersPart blog, part social networking site, part cell

phone/IM tool“After creating an account, you can personalize

your profile page and enter tweets into a text field. Unless your tweets are protected, they appear on a “public timeline” page, which displays all public tweets in reverse chronological order, like a series of “micro-blogs.” Each tweet identifies the Twitterer, whose screen name links to that person’s profile page, showing all of her previous tweets and her friends’ tweets.”

Student Engagement: Using Social Media to Reach Beyond the Classroom

How might I use Twitter for class?

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As with Facebook, might want to have separate account to follow your students’ tweets

Learn the Twitter shorthand@username: creates a link to that user in

your postRetweet: to copy someone else's post in a

new update#hashtag: helps to organize your tweets into

categories for easier searchingYou, too, can follow me: @alwrig01

You’ll be disappointed… I tweet once every 6 months

Getting started with Twitter (video)

Student Engagement: Using Social Media to Reach Beyond the Classroom

How might I use Twitter for class?

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UT-Dallas, The Twitter Experiment – use in large lectures to engage more students in discussion

Student Engagement: Using Social Media to Reach Beyond the Classroom

How might I use Twitter for class?

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Have students tweet about things that they find related to class topicsNews items, blog posts, etc.Suggest #hashtags to organize

#InfoSec, #Database, etc.Can help create a learning community

Have students follow leaders in their discipline@BillGates, @jack_welch, @fastcompany, @timoreilly

Tweet about your experiences while at a conferenceSome conferences have setup #tags, such as #EDUCAUSE10

Teach literature?Have class tweet in character for a day

Teach a foreign language?Have students follow some native speakers to learn (see @

iVenus)

Student Engagement: Using Social Media to Reach Beyond the Classroom

How might I use Twitter for class?

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David Green summarizes his use of Twitter:“I typically send a discussion ‘tweet’ each

week, read and summarize students' responses, and begin the following class with a thirty-minute group discussion in which I incorporate the students' responses (Table 2).” – A Dialogue for Engagement

Twitter Poll

Student Engagement: Using Social Media to Reach Beyond the Classroom

Should I have privacy concerns?

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Privacy should be a real concern for users of social networking sitesFacebook founder Mark Zuckerberg – “People have really gotten

comfortable not only sharing more information and different kinds, but more openly and with more people. That social norm is just something that has evolved over time.”

We talk about privacy extensively in our first course for CIS majorsLearn the privacy settings yourself and lead by example

FERPA raises many questions“Should graded or optional work be posted on public sites? May

peers post feedback on other students’ work? Is it acceptable to leave any kind of evaluative comments on public sites containing student work? Should access to student work be limited to those in the course? The answers to these questions may vary by institution, but FERPA places the burden of ensuring the privacy of the education record on the institution.”7 Things You Should Know About Privacy in We

b 2.0 Learning Environments, EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative.

Student Engagement: Using Social Media to Reach Beyond the Classroom

Maybe I should stick to Blackboard?

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Blackboard would seem the best spot for primary course content and assessment activitiesClear boundaries between professional and personalFewer issues with privacy concerns

Blackboard does offer some tools for the Web 2.0-curious instructor within its wallsCurrently, UofL is using a third-party tool (Learning

Objects’ Campus Pack) to provide blogs and wikisNew version of Blackboard has built-in support but (as I

understand it), we are sticking with current tools until contract is up

Delphi offers Getting Started guides for using blogs and wikis

See Campus Pack’s Quick Start Guides and User Guide

Student Engagement: Using Social Media to Reach Beyond the Classroom

Maybe I should stick to Blackboard?

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Blogs in Blackboard are often used for personal reflection (private journals) and community discussionsMay set up in any content areaMay also set up a course level blog used by instructor to

communicate with classThink Announcements with student comments

ProfHacker suggests using a blog for independent studyFor more examples, see BlogsForLearningReflective writing exercises in a blog are an excellent

way to engage students in metacognitionIn simple terms, metacognition is thinking about thinking,

knowing what we know and what we don’t knowStudies indicate that increases in learning follow from

direct instruction in metacognitive strategies

Using the Latest Instructional Tools for Teaching

On metacognition

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“When students have knowledge and control of their own cognitive processes, learning is enhanced; this assertion holds regardless of the domain of learning, whether reading, writing, science, mathematics, or any other activity that involves thinking.” – Linda Baker

http://www.education.com/reference/article/metacognition/ Strategies for developing metacognitive behaviors

Ask students to identify “what you know” and “what you don't know” at the start.

Ask to students to keep a “thinking journal” in which students reflect upon their thinking and how they have dealt with difficulties throughout the process.

Ask students to debrief the thinking process with closure activities that focus on thinking processes to develop strategies that can be applied to other learning situations.- Elaine Blakely and Sheila Spence

http://www.education.com/reference/article/Ref_Dev_Metacognition/

Student Engagement: Using Social Media to Reach Beyond the Classroom

Maybe I should stick to Blackboard?

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Wikis in Blackboard are often used with team projectsMembers of the team collaborate to produce online siteAlso empowers the instructor with assessment details

such as student submissions and percentage of participation within the group

Exam question wikiThis semester, I’m adding a wiki to each course to let

students add and edit potential test questionsI’ll choose some from the ones that they have createdBuilt-in review!

For more examples, see The Power of Wikis in Higher Ed

Using the Latest Instructional Tools for Teaching

Assessing a blog or wiki

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The Assessment tool built into Campus Pack provides transparency into assignments

Instructors can see student contributions to blogs and wikis, as well as gain a better understanding of student progress

Click the Assessment link in a site for item statistics

Using the Latest Instructional Tools for Teaching

Assessing a blog or wiki

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Instructors can click on a student and Evaluate Participants individually

Student Engagement: Using Social Media to Reach Beyond the Classroom

Maybe I should stick to Blackboard?

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New version of Blackboard makes it easier to incorporate YouTube, Flickr, and SlideShare content into your courseFind under Build Content, MashupsCan embed video directly in content area as

below

Student Engagement: Using Social Media to Reach Beyond the Classroom

How Purdue is doing IT

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Purdue is going beyond just using tools and has started creating them

HotseatLets students to comment on a class and

then enables other participants to view those messages

Students can use their Twitter, Facebook or MySpace accounts to post the messages or use the Hotseat Web directly

MixableLets students create online study groups and

participate in them from within FacebookAlso lets users sync and share documents via

Dropbox

Student Engagement: Using Social Media to Reach Beyond the Classroom

Your turn!

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What are some ways you are using social media to increase engagement and improve upon your best teaching practices?

Which of these techniques do you think you might incorporate?

Student Engagement: Using Social Media to Reach Beyond the Classroom

References and Resources

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Brown, Malcolm, et al. A Dialogue for Engagement. EDUCAUSE Review, vol. 45, no. 5 (September/October 2010).

7 Things You Should Know About YouTube, EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative.

7 Things You Should Know About Facebook II, EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative.

Pearson Social Media Survey 2010Schaffhauser, Dian.

The Super-Secret, Never-Before-Revealed Guide to Web 2.0 in the Classroom. Campus Technology, vol. 44, no. 2 (October 2010).

7 Things You Should Know About Twitter, EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative.

Student Engagement: Using Social Media to Reach Beyond the Classroom

References and Resources

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Walsh, K. 100 Ways to Teach with Twitter, EmergingEdTech.

7 Things You Should Know About Privacy in Web 2.0 Learning Environments, EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative.

Orlando, John. Using Polling and Smartphones to Keep Students Engaged.

McCrea, Bridget. Purdue U Brings Social Networking to the Classroom. Campus Technology (November 18, 2009).

Kolowich, Steve. Mixing Work and Play on Facebook. Inside Higher Ed (October 6, 2010).

Schaffhauser, Dian. Purdue Students Hook into Facebook for Study Groups. Campus Technology (October 5, 2010).

Student Engagement: Using Social Media to Reach Beyond the Classroom

References and Resources

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Boyd, Danah. Streams of Content, Limited Attention: The Flow of Information through Social Media. EDUCAUSE Review, vol. 45, no. 5 (September/October 2010).

7 Things You Should Know About Microblogging, EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative.

Johnson, L., Levine, A., Smith, R., & Stone, S. (2010). The 2010 Horizon Report. Austin, Texas: The New Media Consortium.

Sample, Mark. A Framework for Teaching with Twitter . ProfHacker (August 16, 2010).

Student Engagement: Using Social Media to Reach Beyond the Classroom

References and Resources

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Rheingold, Howard. Attention, and Other 21st-Century Social Media Literacies. EDUCAUSE Review, vol. 45, no. 5 (September/October 2010).

Hodges, Charles. If You Twitter, Will They Come?. EDUCAUSE Quarterly, vol. 33, no. 2 (2010).

Forty-five Percent of Employers Use Social Networking Sites to Research Job Candidates, CareerBuilder Survey Finds, CareerBuilder.com (August 19, 2009).