Faculty Members and Academic Technology
Services Professionals:
Paula Dagnon, Peter Agras, Kevin Dixey
and Karen Hoelscher
How Can Social Media Be
Used Effectively in Higher
Education?
First a bit of background…
3
Social media growth from 2006 to 2012
These seven social media sites combine for
an estimated 2 billion accounts in 2012
The average compound annual growth
rate of these social media sites was
900% between 2006 and 2012
Facebook alone has 1 billion registered
users and accounts for 11.5% of the
global population
Population 7.125 Billion
But all the knowledge is just sitting
on the internet just waiting to be found!
Right?
10
No
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There is a new culture
of learning
The old ways of learning are unable to keep
up with our rapidly changing world.
(Thomas & Seeley Brown, 2011,location 577)
New media forms are making peer-to-peer
learning easier and more natural.
(Thomas & Seeley Brown, 2011,location 577)
Peer-to-peer learning is amplified by
emerging technologies that shape
the collective nature of participation with
those new media
(Thomas & Seeley Brown, 2011,location 577)
According to Vygotsky, “Every function
in the child's cultural development
appears twice:
first, on the social level and, later on,
on the individual level…
…first, between people
(interpsychological) and then inside
the child (intrapsychological).”
Change Theory
NEED DEFINITION!!
Three themes from paper
Increase in collaboration from
social media
Increase in interaction
Rethink pedagogy
Mostly quantitative Survey sent to
all faculty and students using Canvas
17 questions; 5 Likert-type items
Asked about the use of socially
oriented tools in Canvas
Demographics
Faculty
Students
•
n=75
•
45.3% from
Humanities and
Social Sciences
•
54.7% of
respondents using
Canvas for the first
time in Spring 13
•
n=113
•
79% from
Humanities and
Social Sciences
•
54.1% using Canvas
for the first time in
Spring 13
Using Canvas for all levels of courses 100 Level-Graduate
Use of Social Media
Faculty
•
YouTube or other
video sharing tools
53%
•
Personal
networking, such
as Facebook
48%
•
•
Don’t use social
media
30%
Use social media
daily
63%
Students
•
Personal networking,
such as Facebook
90.3%
•
YouTube or other video
sharing tools 74%
•
Pinterest or other
content sharing tools
52%
•
Wordpress
34.5%
•
Twitter
28%
•
Don’t use social media
2.7%
•
Use social media daily
87%
I adopted more socially oriented tools and
incorporated more interactive activities in my
Canvas course than I did in my
previous courses.
7%
15%
Strongly Disagree
Disagree
31%
17%
Neither Disagree nor
Agree
Agree
30%
Strongly Agree
More socially oriented tools and activities were
incorporated into my courses using Canvas than in
previous courses.
3.1%
6.3%
13.5%
Strongly Disagree
Disagree
Neither Disagree nor
Agree
43.8%
33.3%
Agree
Strongly Agree
When working in Canvas,
did you reconsider your pedagogical
approaches to include social
media tools?
Explain.
“YES.
I have been thinking about including elements from
Canvas to better facilitate teaching-learning process.”
“YES.
I have been thinking about including elements from
Canvas to better facilitate teaching-learning process.”
“YES.
Attempting to get students to work more collaboratively
using online tools. Teaching one another, etc.”
“YES.
I have been thinking about including elements from
Canvas to better facilitate teaching-learning process.”
“YES.
Attempting to get students to work more collaboratively
using online tools. Teaching one another, etc.”
“NOT YET. I WILL THOUGH.
My students already use Google Docs and Facebook
to collaborate and communicate, especially for
group projects.”
When working in Canvas,
did you reconsider your pedagogical
approaches to include social
media tools?
Explain.
“NO.
It's a strange line between professional and personal,
and I lean toward keeping them separate. I do have a
"professional" account on Facebook, but I haven't seen any
pedagogical reason to use it in the classroom.”
“NO.
It's a strange line between professional and personal,
and I lean toward keeping them separate. I do have a
"professional" account on Facebook, but I haven't seen any
pedagogical reason to use it in the classroom.”
“NO.
I don't feel the need for additional technological tools
that would invariably displace low-tech techniques
I regularly use.”
“NO.
It's a strange line between professional and personal,
and I lean toward keeping them separate. I do have a
"professional" account on Facebook, but I haven't seen any
pedagogical reason to use it in the classroom.”
“NO.
I don't feel the need for additional technological tools
that would invariably displace low-tech techniques
I regularly use.”
“I have considered using social media tools but have
thus far shied away from it. I feel that using such tools
would put students who do not use them in
a difficult position.”
Implications
What’s next?