Politics on Facebook

In case there was still doubt over whether or not online social networks were infiltrating society, the two articles here and here should put those doubts to rest.

ABC News and Facebook are collaborating for the New Hampshire debates on January 5. Much like the CNN-YouTube debates of a few months ago, this appears to be a well-intentioned plan to get younger voters to actually show up to the polls. Well-intentioned because the Internet is already so mainstream in the lives of young voters, and specifically, online social networking.

Topics that surface from discussions on Facebook political groups and pages before the debate itself will be woven in to questions. Facebook hasn't released all details yet, but it would make sense that there would be live discussions or threads on Facebook from those viewing the debate, and follow-up discussion after.

Keep an eye on this, for it's a growing trend. If you follow the example CNN and ABC have set, these online communities can be tools for your campus as well.
Student government elections, feedback/response about campus issues, campus/civic engagement, and much more.

What's Your Digital Footprint?

How much information is out on the Web about you? Check out this article
about how student's are not as concerned about personal information available on the Web. People are getting comfortable. Are they getting too comfortable?

A second look at Second Life

I've been putting a lot of thought into ays to take better advantage of technology in terms of interacting with students, and it struck me that we need to think about our connections to each other as colleagues, professionals, etc. as well.

I would venture to guess that each of us has participated in a conference call, teleconference, video conference, web chat, etc. at least once, or know someone who has.

Why not an entire virtual conference. Second Life may provide an ample opportunity for National and Regional professional associations to host conferences where larger numbers of members may participate (no travel, lodging and per diem expenses to the individual or university). A little bit of release time, and maybe a conference registration fee, and professionals can network even more regularly than before, just through a different media. I bet that there are countless professionals who would jump at the chance to do something in this vein.

As for our students, there are even more applications for functions such as this. Entire social networks, or online spheres of interaction can be structured around: 1) Grass Roots Organizing, 2) Student government training, 3) Transitioning in and out of college life, etc.

It doesn't have to only be through Second Life.. There are multiple systems that can be used for various, similar purposes. A university specific college graph (i.e. the campus-wide equivalent to the "social graph that is Facebook.com) such as TAG may enable students to connect to cohorts of alums that wre involved in similar activities. It could even provide an opportunity for faculty and staff to connect to students on the non-academic level. The faculty/staff who were members of the chess club or debate teams when they were in college can share their experience or become advisors to the current student group...mentoring relationships can be set up, etc.

What are ways that you're using online social networks to connect to colleagues on campus or across the country, and what are the ways you are using them to connect to students?

Vlogging At Its Best

hello everyone,

Todd Sanders at University of Wisconsin has one of the best vlogs I have seen regarding student life on campus. He presented at an Innovative Educators conference and he is sharing his presentation with everyone through You Tube. There are two parts. So make sure you check out both Part 1 and Part2.

He's combining video with wiki. Students share what they want him to do or talk about in his vlog in a wiki. It keeps students logging in and posting to the wiki and then logging in again to see what his latest vlog will be about and if their opinion or request is featured it. One student wanted to know how to make a chocolate egg - and he did! That's what it is about! Engaging students and delivering information to them in an entertaining way.

Take care,
Traci

Does Collegiate Networking Fit in a Social Networking Environment?

hello everyone:
A very interesting article came out in Wired Campus today. It is about professors that are beginning to set up profiles in Facebook to connect with students. However, there are times where it doesn't seem appropriate to be "poking" a student that is in their class.

And that is why we have developed TAG. It is built for collegiate networks to be built and foster student success keeping key constituencies engaged from the time a student is thinking about attending a university in 8th or 9th grade, until they accept, attend, graduate and start giving back either through gifts of time or money.

This article shows EXACTLY the reason why we have developed TAG for prospective students, current students, alumni, faculty, advisors, business professionals and other key groups to come together in a collegiate environment. We also have our other community "Universe" for international students. I am thrilled as the founder of the company that we are providing a solution that will help professors connect with students...in a comfortable, collegiate environment.

The purpose of this blog is to provide resources and information to the higher education community. And while the intent is not to promote the software and services we offer, I couldn't hold back on this one. The situation described in this article demonstrates a perfect example why TAG is needed in the education space.



Take care,
Traci

The Internet - 1, Cyber-bullying - 0

Another brief follow up to the cyber-bullying piece can be found here

A signifcant and growing amount of research is showing that online social networks, despite the negative consequences/drawbacks associated with their use (the existence of which pre-dates the Internet), are positive contributors to society, and to the student experience. Yet, since this research is new, and not as robust or sensational as stories about cyber-harassment and stalking, few people are aware. This heightens the knee-jerk reaction most people have when they think about Myspace, Facebook and Internet communication in general. The cons of online social networking have appeared on skits on Saturday Night Live, MadTV, the plots of various Law and Order episodes, and spawned a series of NBC specials entitled "To Catch a Predator"

What we're missing is discussions about Thomas Friedman's work, "The WOrld is Flat", which discusses the benefits to all societies of being globally interconnected, or Mark Granovetter's "The Strength of Weak Ties", which highlights the importance of connectivity on a more micro-level. When we apply this to students at any level, and certainly when we talk to students themselves, it's clear that online social networks are as fundamental to their experiences (on the whole) as cellphones and email were for Generation X (a fine distinction by some standards), or the telephone in every residence hall room and household for earlier generations of students.

What are some interesting points of research that we feel are important to pursue in this emerging field of study?

Are new policies about cyber-bullying necessary?

I saw an article from the New York Times this week, which can be located here

It mentions how some school districts and cities have created new policies about online social networks and/or cyber-bullying. Namely, to make it a crime. I'll admit that I am not a legal scholar, but all of my research into online social networks, online communities and communicative technologies, with regards to both student development and legal implications, to name a few, indicates that creating new policies to address every specific act/behavior or means of conveying those acts/behaviors would be a mistake.

By creating a policy to make cyber-bullying a crime, a city might be implying that before the policy, cyber-bullying wasn't a crime, or not enforceable. Thus, it implies that every particular iteration of online behavior that would be a crime if done in real life (i.e. slander/libel, hate crimes/incidents, stalking) is not actionable until a policy is written for it. As you can see, this creates an infinite number of loopholes.

My suggestion, instead, is to examine existing policies for breadth, and inclusivity. Revisions to current policies should expand them to include whatever means of conveyance whatever actionable behaviors occur through. That way, we would not need to add a policy for cellphone bullying, or video game message bullying, etc.

This may not be as directly related to student success, but imagine the harm to our students, and societies, if we create a number of policies meant to address very specific things and

Amazon-Like Technology for Institutions

Inside Higher Ed has an excellent article. While it is a little long, it is worth reading all the way through. The article starts out talking about the pros and cons of using Microsoft or Google as an institution's email platform. It also gets into using third party software platforms to facilitate collaboration amongst students, faculty and other key constituencies.

While the focus is classrooms, how about extending it outside of the classroom? Student success is multi-faceted and is a part of every experience a student has in their collegiate experience. The article also mentions harnessing Amazon-like technology so student organizations or books are served online based on the student's interests and online behavior. What an amazing way to engage students where they are...online and deliver content that is specific to that student. And then hopefully the information drives them to meet with peers on campus or attend an event which is a key element of student success and persistence.

It will be interesting to see how the technology landscape evolves in the near future...

Take care,
Traci

Helicopter Parents and Online Social Networks

Millenial students, more so than any previous cohort of students in our universities, experience a larger role played by their parents in their education (and perhaps lives as a whole). Parents register their students for college orientation, monitor their tuition bills, sign them up for classes, and call university staff with every question their student may not feel comfortable asking.

With the increasing prevalence of online social networks in college students' experiences, we can reasonably assume that parents may already (or will) have influence in that area as well.

Does this mean that we should encourage parents to log on and review all of the content their students post? Or perhaps that parents should create Facebook pages and connect to all of their student's friends, classmates and instructors?
---Probably not.

But should we encourage parents to talk to their students about the wise usage of online social networks? Should we therefore also help parents to understand the pros and cons, as well as
---Absolutely.

Also, it may indeed be worthwhile to help parents get accustomed to online social networking themselves. For instance, many of them may already be connecting to others online about health issues, post-partem depression, people taking care of sick parents discussion groups, or a host of other issues. Imagine the benefits to student success if we can get parents of our students connecting via online social networks to help each other overcome the challenges faced by parents of college students, as well as help each other assist their students with the challenges of college life.

Some universities are already enhancing their services to parents with online communities for their Parents' Association, support groups, etc. What is your University doing? or What ideas would you like to see universities try to incorporate parents into online social networking as a support tool for our students?

Is there a new digital divide?

I saw this article in Wired Campus from The Chronicle of Higher Education.

http://chronicle.com/wiredcampus/index.php?id=2558&utm_src=wc&utm_medium=en

It poses new questions about the evolution of the digital divide, in terms of the demographics of users of Facebook versus Myspace for example. The roots of this, I feel, go back a few years when Facebook was intentionally targeting the major, big-league colleges and universities in their expansion of their system from Harvard. Most of these schools are not very diverse, students being predominantly caucasian and/or of high socio-economic status. Only within the last year, did Facebook really open up to smaller universities, community colleges, etc. and then to the world-at-large. So while the artificial divide that once existed is no more, there still seems to be an actual divide. This article poses that perhaps Myspace is more appealing to a wider audience, but I'm not sure that's the case.

In a way, this speaks to the importance of having an institutionally-driven means of technology to connect all aspects of a student's college experiences, for ease of communication, skill development and self-actualization. Not as a replacement for whatever online social networks each student may be using, but as something separate.

Is anyone trying something like this?

Measuring Student Success Through Technology

Now, you're probably wondering what magical formula I've created to determine how successful students can be through interacting with each other online...
I could tell you that there isn't one, but that's not entirely true.

What are some of the components of student success:

• interacting with individuals from different backgrounds, experiences, ethnicity, heritage, socio-economic status
• being involved in student organizations
• attending campus events
• being connected to staff/faculty, on-campus resources
  
• Check here for a decent synopsis of Astin's Student Involvement Theory: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3752/is_199707/ai_n8776622
  

There are more components to student success and satisfaction, but all of them have measures that are always being adapted and applied in new ways.

I'd like to challenge you to think about online social networking, in all its forms, and student engagement through the use of any form of technology as just another venue for applying our understanding of measurements of student success.

I'd really like to see what others think on this issue.

Death of E-mail

We all know that email is not being used by students. However, The Death of E-mail sums it up nicely.

I think the most important takeaway from this article is that these networking communities become a central communications center. They bring together different types of communication vehicles into one application. And the great part is that they become more powerful when the different communication vehicles are combined vs. managed separately.

What Made You Stick?

hello everyone:
I figured that since I have founded a company that is focused on people collaborating and sharing their experiences so others don't have to reinvent the wheel, that I should do what I am going to suggest our customers do...blog, share and exchange information about a very important topic - student success.

This blog will bring in experts in higher education to share their insights and experiences. They will share what they observe at conferences both in the workshops and informal conversations. What are students saying? What do they need in order to be successful and graduate within a six-year window? What research has been published recently? What are your questions? Post them!

Before founding The Perseverance Group, I was involved in both B-to-B and B-to-C interactive marketing. We made consumers and prospect customers "stick". Now, at The Perseverance Group, we want students to "stick"...for life and be a lifelong learner. Whether they are in a class, returning to give a lecture or mentoring a freshman...get them to stick with their college or university.

I hope you enjoy this blog and the people that will contribute to it. I am pretty excited about it. Contribute as well. Think about your experiences and how you can share your learnings with others. We all have a story. We all have been a student in one way or another. Formal or informal. What made you "stick"?