Live@MC:
Utilizing Social Media in our
Community
Live@MC: Utilizing Social Media in our Community
2012
2012 StudentAffairs.com
StudentAffairs.com Virtual
Virtual Case
Case Study
Study
Dana Behuniak, Mayerlis Bustos, Ashley Malenfant & Emma Montague
Dana Behuniak, Mayerlis Bustos, Ashley Malenfant & Emma Montague
University of Rhode Island
University of Rhode Island
Today’s Agenda
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Defining Social Media
Effectively Utilizing Technology
Drawbacks of Social Media
Benefits of Social Media
Benchmarking
Social Media Guidelines
Live@MC
Future Needs
Social Media Is…
A collection of internet websites, services, and practices
that support:
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Collaboration
Community Building
Participation
Sharing
The technology allows us to engage and motivate our
students to be active learners.
(Junco & Chickering, 2010)
Effectively Utilizing Facebook
What is it?
A social networking site where users create personal profiles, add other
users as friends, and join various fan pages related to their interests. Users
have conversations through Facebook comments, polls, using the ‘Like’
button, and private messaging.
Why are we paying attention?
• 483 million people use Facebook daily (Facebook, n.d.)
• 85-99% of college students use Facebook (Junco, 2011)
How are we utilizing it?
Many MC departments have fan pages to share updates with their “fans”,
including our very own President Hooley, the Admissions Office, and Brown
Library!
Instructors have developed pages for their courses to continue discussions
with their students outside of class and continuing to build that community.
Effectively Utilizing Twitter
What is it?
Twitter is a microblogging and social networking site where users tweet 140
character long messages to their followers and follow other users who can range
from President Obama to their roommate.
Why are we paying attention?
• Twitter has over 100 million active users (Twitter, September 8, 2011)
• Twitter averages 140 million tweets per day (Twitter, March 14, 2011)
How are we utilizing it?
In First Year Seminar instructors have used Twitter for
• Continuing class discussions
• Informally answering student questions
• Sending campus event reminders
• Organizing group projects and study groups
(Junco, Heibergert, & Loken, 2010)
Business students are also utilizing Twitter to access a steady stream of
information on current topics (Kupetz, 2010).
Effectively Utilizing Google+
What is it?
Google’s social networking site has its users create profiles and group
their friends, families, and any other people into Circles to help people
share information and connect with certain groups.
Why are we paying attention?
• Launched in June 2011
• Over 100 million Google+ users at the end of 2011 (Google
Investor Relations, 2012)
How are we utilizing it?
While still a new technology, Google+ has started to be used to put
classes into Circles and hold virtual office hours where professors meet
with students using the Hangout feature. (Cabellon, 2011).
Effectively Utilizing LinkedIn
What is it?
A professional networking site where users build a profile of their
academic and career achievements. Users then add professional
connections, join affiliated groups, and search for jobs.
Why are we paying attention?
• LinkedIn has over 150 million members in over 200 countries.
• Membership includes executives from all 2011 Fortune 500
companies (LinkedIn Press Center, n.d.).
How are we utilizing it?
MC Career Services can use LinkedIn to assist students in
the job search by helping them build their professional profile and
apply for jobs through the system.
Alumni Relations has also built a LinkedIn group to connect with MC
alumni and provide those connections for our current students in their
job and internship search.
Effectively Utilizing Skype
What is it?
Skype is an application where users can connect with others by voice,
video, and messaging over the internet. Skype is a free way to connect with
people around the world in a face to face interaction.
Why are we paying attention?
• At peak times, there are 30 million people on Skype (Skype).
• 12-18% of interviews are now being conducted over the internet
(Winzenberg, 2011).
How can we utilize it?
Professors can now bring in guest lecturers from around the world by
“Skyping” them into the classroom to speak with their students, this opens
a great number of opportunities for MC.
What better way for our students to learn a foreign language than through
speaking with a native speaker? Skype makes that possible for more of our
students!
The Opportunities are Endless!
o Blogs: Faculty, staff, and whole departments utilize blogging to spread information to its
readers and encourage conversations. Many instructors have had success with
developing a blog with course notes, and videos for their students (Kupetz, 2010).
o Wikis: Course specific wikis allow students and instructors to develop a collaborative
document for group projects which develops “participatory communities” (Kupetz, 2010,
Hazari & North, 2009).
o Second Life: Professors of online courses can create a virtual environment and their
students acquire personal avatars so the class can interact and learn together, without
ever meeting in person (Wang & Braman, 2009).
o Youtube: Admissions videos, the Career Services professional dress fashion show,
course lectures, and more are all available for current and perspective students to view
and comment on via the MC YouTube channel.
The Drawbacks of Social Media:
MC recognizes the need for a Social Media Policy
Incivility
Professional Consequences
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Students need to be educated
on what to upload to public
forums.
There needs to be an
awareness of the risks of
posting unprofessional
pictures of themselves and
how they may be perceived by
future employers if these
pictures and/or comments
were viewed.
Employers will be looking for
students to have a clean “net
record” (Junco & Chickering,
2010).
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It is important to be educated on
the potential harms of social
media. Cyber bullying,
harassment and even stalking can
occur if students are not properly
informed about how to correctly
use public forums (Willard, 2007).
“Communicating online can
benefit both learning and
psychosocial development but can
also cause negative psychosocial
and interpersonal effects” (Junco
& Chickering, 2010).
"In order to effectively introduce social media at a university there needs to be a set of policies or guidelines that
outline the evolving legal and ethical issues that have emerged" (Coleman, Little, Lester, 2006).
The Benefits of Social Media:
Student Involvement
Social
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Time on Facebook is
positively related to time
spent participating in cocurricular activities (Junco,
2012)
High users of social
networking sites spent
more time in campus
organizations than low
users (Higher Education
Research Institute, 2007)
Academic
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When used in a seminar
course, Twitter usage had
a positive effect on student
GPA (Junco et al., 2010)
When used academically,
social media meets the
student in their comfort
zone and develops unique
dialogues and learning
opportunities
Benchmarking Guidelines
Other Business Programs’ Social Media Guidelines:
Bentley University, Massachusetts
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“…do so with the understanding…”  Accountability
“…identity theft, stalking…”  Recognizing Inappropriate Behaviors
“…violating institutional policy…”  Link to Established Student Policies
(Bentley University, 2012)
Bryant University, Rhode Island
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“…are essential resources…”  Highlighting the Benefits of Social Media
“…managed responsibly…”  Responsibility of the User
“…effective, efficient, and responsible manner…”  Urging Thoughtful Use
(Bryant University, 2012)
MC Social Media Guidelines
As a member of the Middle College community, in accordance with the Student Handbook, and in an
effort to uphold a positive presence on the Internet, I agree to the following guidelines:
1) Be Respectful
I acknowledge the diverse use of social networking and the value of sharing information. I respect
that others may have differing opinions or thoughts and will respect and pursue a civil discourse
in my various online interactions.
2) Be Thoughtful
I will consider my potential audience before posting harmful information via my social
networking sites. I recognize that what I write online is widely available and will make an effort
to portray myself in the most positive light online.
3) Be Accountable
Despite the ambiguity of social media, I will hold myself responsible for the presence I create for
myself online. I also understand that I will be held accountable for any inappropriate use of social
media that is harmful to others.
We encourage you to connect and engage through social media and applaud the innovative use of the
medium. However, online behaviors that are inconsistent with the Student Handbook (i.e. cyber bullying,
plagiarism of online works, interfering with teaching, learning, or other campus activities) are subject to
appropriate sanctions if reported to the Middle College administration. Consequences may include
conduct meetings through the Office of Judicial Affairs or dismissal from the Institution.
Welcome to Live@MC
70% of prospective college students check social media
websites once a day or more (The College Board and Art &
Sciences Group, 2009); Live@MC would provide students with a
centralized space to view Middle College information.
Mission
To produce a centralized media portal for MC students to be able to
access their personalized media outlets, Middle
College information, key information about the effective use of social
media, and the MC Social Media Guidelines which students are
expected to adhere to.
New Visitors to Live@MC
Once entering the
Live@MC website,
the Middle College
Social Media
Guidelines will pop
up encouraging
students to review
our policies.
Highlights:
• Shows prospective student
MC’s value in technology
• Keeps the institution
competitive with our
benchmark institutions.
• MC Twitter feed and
Facebook Fan page will be
displayed to keep students
connected and to model
appropriate usage of social
media.
• Anyone that goes to the
website will be able to take
advantage of the social
media educational material.
Current Students Features
Students will need to sign in to the portal in
order to access live plug in features. These
features will need to be attached to their
Middle College email. Middle College will not
have access to the content of their social
media information.
Here students
will have
immediate
access to their
Middle College
email inbox. This
will make for
efficient, official
communication.
MC ALERTS!
Will display
alerts that need
to be sent to the
MC community
such as;
weather alerts
or campus
safety notices.
At the top of
Live@MC
students will be
connected to the
classroom with
their Sakai (an
online academic
message board)
updates from
their instructors.
The live feed
plugins
featured on
Live @MC are
Twitter,
Facebook,
YouTube,
Linkedin,
foursquare
and Google+.
The MC Social Media Base
This is a campus
wide event
calendar that
will keep
students up to
date on the
latest academic,
and campus life
initiatives.
In order for students to feel
directly connected to what is
going on in specific departments
we have provided a list of MC
endorsed social media venues.
We encourage the President to
work with Kim Brown, Director
of Communications to create a
presence on these social media
sites to become familiar and
connected to this initiative.
Here students will
find Social Media
Feeds for the MC
Facebook and
Twitter pages.
This MC campus
wide feed will assist
in increasing
attendance and
communication of
campus activities .
Effectively Using Social Media
Live@MC provides videos at
visitors fingertips. These videos
are based on how to effectively
search for jobs through social
networking, safety measures
and privacy settings along with
the effectiveness of social
media tools in the classroom.
When students, faculty and staff click on
“Making Social Media Work for You” they
will find educational tools on how to best
utilize social media networks. This page
lists websites and videos on privacy,
networking, how-tos and best practices of
the most popular social media networks.
Social Media in the Curriculum
Classroom Spotlight is a part of Live@MC that appreciates and
highlights the use of social media in the classroom. The purpose of
this page is to:
•Demonstrate MC’s competency and appreciation for
technology
•Highlight campus leaders that support Live@MC’s mission
•Give community members ideas on how they can expand and
approaches the learning goals in their classroom
Future of Live@MC
Roadblocks
Recommendations
Staffing
• The website would undoubtedly develop over
time and we would need to employ a
technical team.
• We would need to find tech-savvy individuals
to ensure that the MC reputation was not
being discredited by the community.
Staffing
• The website gives a fantastic opportunity for internships for
business students.
• Future plans would be to recruit a Social Media Graduate
Assistant, a team of MC student bloggers, and a voluntary
web-design team.
• Student Organization Presidents would be provided with
training in order to use the MC name in their advertisements.
Accessibility
• We cannot assume that everyone will have
equal access to technology.
• We cannot assume that everyone will have an
interest in various social media outlets.
Financial
• The website is currently free and has already
been designed by the student team however
to add additional features there would be
costs involved.
Accessibility
• The opening hours of the computer center are clearly
advertised on the website. We would encourage students to
log in to Live@MC while they are on campus.
• Future plans would be to have visual screens/projectors of
the MC website in different building across campuses,
increasing awareness and accessibility to the website.
• Tutorials on setting up social media portals, or a social media
101 component to curriculum at MC would enhance
accessibility and community engagement in MC media.
Financial
• With 1500 students logging onto our site there would be
potential for companies to pay for advertisements.
• Businesses could target graduate students for future
employment opportunities, benefiting both the business and
our students.
Presenting Live@MC
We have provided you with a prototype of Live@MC. Feel free to
explore, but please recognize that the plugins will not be live until
the website is fully endorsed by Middle College.
https://sites.google.com/site/livemiddl
ecollege/
We welcome your feedback as we continue to develop Live@MC.
References
Bentley University. (2012). Computing and network policy. Retrieved from http://www.bentley.edu/offices/policies/computing-and-networkpolicy
Bryant University. (2012). Information technology policy. Retrieved from http://web.bryant.edu/~commtech/it_policy.html
Cabellon, E. (2011). Google Plus: The evolved online network. Retrieved from http://edcabellon.com/tech/googleplus/
Facebook. (n.d.). Fact sheet. Retrieved from http://newsroom.fb.com/content/default.aspx?NewsAreaId=22
Google Investor Relations. (2012). Google announces fourth quarter and fiscal year 2011 results. Retrieved from http://investor.google.com/
earnings/2011/Q4_google_earnings.html
Grajak, S., & Arroway, P. (2012, January). The EDUCAUSE 2011 Core Data Service Report: Highlights and Insights into Higher Education Information
Technology.EDUCause. Retrieved from http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/PUB8008.pdf
Hazari, S. & North, A. (2009). Investigating pedagogical value of wiki technology. Journal of Information Systems Education, 20 (2), 187-198.
Higher Education Research Institute. (2007) College Freshmen and Online Social Networking Sites. HERI Research Brief.
Junco, R. (2011). The need for student social media policies. Educause Review. Retrieved from http://www.educause.edu/EDUCAUSE+Review/
EDUCAUSEReviewMagazineVolume46/TheNeedforStudentSocialMediaPo/222666
Junco, R. (2012). The relationship between frequency of Facebook use, participation in Facebook activities, and student engagement. Computers
and Education, 58 (1), 162-171.
Junco, R. & Chickering, A.W. (2010). Civil discourse in the age of social media. About Campus, 12-18.
References
Junco, R., Heibergert, G., & Loken, E. (2010). The effect of Twitter on college student engagement and grades. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning.
Retrieved from http://blog.reyjunco.com/pdf JuncoHeibergerLokenTwitterEngagement Grades.pdf
Kupetz, A.H. (2010). Social media and the business professor. BizEd, 9 (6), 44-48.
LinkedIn Press Center (n.d.). About us. Retrieved from http://press.linkedin.com/about
Nicholson, S. (2010). Inviting the world into the online classroom: Teaching a gaming in libraries course via youtube. Journal of Education for Library
and Information Science, 51 (4), 233-240.
Pew Internet. (2011). Demographics of internet users. Retrieved from http://www.pewinternet.org/Trend-Date/Whos-Online.aspx
Skype. About Skype. Retrieved from http://about.skype.com/
The College Board and Art & Science Group (2009). Social Networking Sites and College-Bound Students . studentPOLL, 7(2). Retrieved from http://
professionals.collegeboard.com/data-reports-research/trends/studentpoll/social-networking
Twitter. (2011, March 14). #numbers. Retrieved from http://blog.twitter.com/2011/03/numbers.html
Twitter. (2011, September 8). One hundred million voices. Retrieved from http://blog.twitter.com/2011/09/onehundred-million-voices.html
Wang, Y. & Braman, J. (2009). Extending the classroom through second life. Journal of Information Systems Education, 20 (2), 235-247.
Willard, N. E. (2007). Cyberbullying and Cyberthreats. (pp. 1-313). USA: Research Press.
Winzenburg, S. (2011). How skype is changing the interview process. Cronicle of Higher Education, 58(18). Retrieved from
http://chronicle.com/article/How-Skype-Is-Changing-the/126529/
Any Questions?
Director of Communications: Kimberly Brown
Email: kbrownmiddlecollege@gmail.com
Twitter: @KCKimBrown