Transcript Communicating with Students - Study Net

Communicating with
students
social media vs email vs VLE?
Guy Saward, University of
Hertfordshire
Agenda
• How do we flexibly engage with students
• Current media usage + trends
• What (some) students want
• Issues with social media
Engagement #1
• How do YOU prefer to communicate / engage with
students outside the lab/lecture/seminar room?
– by web based / StudyNet news
– by email
– by text
– by social media (Facebook/Twitter/blog/wiki)
– by some other means
– I don’t
Engagement #2
• How do YOUR STUDENTS prefer to communicate /
engage outside the lab/lecture/seminar room?
– by web based / StudyNet news
– by email
– by text
– by social media (Facebook/Twitter/blog/wiki)
– by some other means
– I don’t
Characterisation of Comms Media
• Can look at different channels of engagement in
number of different dimensions, including:
– content amount / type (text, image, audio)
– push (user has to look for updates)
vs pull (user notified of updates)
– personalisation of message or same for all
– persistance of message
– searchability or ability to retrieve
• Can use characteristics to analyse utility /
affordance of particular comms approach
Current Comms Media Usage
• Lastest Ofcom report shows
– 78% internet take up by UK population
– 46% of people engaged in social networking
– 28% of UK have mobile internet (1/3 of users)
– email beats web in user numbers
– for mobiles: txt (85%) > email (30%) > SM (25%)
• But smart phones are changing picture
– increasing in device+internet share
– shifting email use from PC/laptop to mobile
– social media preferred over web based email
• 18-24 year olds highest mobile users (55% vs 31%
for all ages) and social networkers (69% vs 46%)
Social media / StudyNet integration
• CS pilot project trying multi-channel comms
strategy, adding social media push to StudyNet
• So far (as module based project) we have
– surveyed three cohorts of student (level 6/m)
– implemented bridges from StudyNet to
=> 3 Facebook pages + 2 Twitter accounts
– followed two cohorts with post-module survey
• Have also supported student-led project in PAM
– initial survey of 4 cohorts (levels 4/5/6)
• Awaiting results of £5K bid to JISC
Social Media Updates: Consuming RSS
news
mail
feed
staff
publish
notify
student
Social Media Updates: Consuming RSS
discuss
RSS
feed
student
facebook.com/
uh6com0265
RSS
Graffiti
Twitterfeed
publish
notify
student / staff
twitter.com/
uh6com0265
StudyNet
Twitter
Facebook
VLE-SM Integration: Key Principles
•
•
•
•
StudyNet as prime originator / repository
Reuse don’t reinvent
Present professional image
Privacy is paramount
– staff do not need to share any personal info
– students only share identity info
– minimal post info => main content in StudyNet
• Social media is opt-in for students (and staff?)
• Driven by student desire / benefit
=> 60% want SM integration vs 17% who don’t
Discussion
• Would like to share / understand …
– What works for you in comms with students
– How things could be improved
– Why tech does/doesn’t get used
– Where are challenges for professional use
• Can do this on technology or issue focus
News
• Characterised by HTML web content, pull
(multi)media, with push added by RSS feeds
Quick fire – 3 key words
• Pros?
• Cons?
Email
• Characterised by HTML web content,
targetted / personalised(?), push (multi?)media
Quick fire – 3 key words
• Pros?
• Cons?
Social Media
• Characterised by short (microblogging),
personalised(?), push (multi)media
Quick fire – 3 key words
• Pros?
• Cons?
Social Media Fatigue
• Issues from Guardian live web chat, 27th April
Personal
vs
Professional
Private
vs
Public
Inside VLE
vs
Outside VLE
Message
vs
Medium
Digital literacy
vs
Just another tech
Compulsory
vs
Opt-in
Marketing
vs
Academic
‘Guide on the side’ vs
‘Sage on the stage’
Competance in Comms
• Model build model on different competancy,
e.g. for Twitter
1. operational => this is how you use it, e.g.
tweet
2. linguistic => this is the syntax of it, e.g.
learning to communicate in 140 characters
3. social => who can you share with, who are
they, e.g. followers and followings
4. strategic => why are you doing it? what else
can you do, e.g. with analytics, reach etc
• Latest JISC mobile report seems more 1) than 4)
Our take on issues
• Our approach favours …
Personal
vs
Professional
Private (content)
vs Public (notification)
Inside VLE
vs
Outside VLE
Message
vs
Medium
Digital literacy
vs
Just another tech
Compulsory
vs
Opt-in
Marketing
vs
Academic
‘Guide on the side’ vs
‘Sage on the stage’
• Next issues are scalability and moving beyond
comms to public dialogue / engagement
“Social media should be the means, not the end.
If the students still had a successful learning
experience without the lecturer using social
media, then there wouldn't be a problem.
The professional responsibility, I guess, is for the
lecturer to explore if social media (and anything
else) would improve it”
Paul Bradshaw, City / Birmingham
City University, Online journalist
… and for institutions to work out
how they can support it effectively