Rethinking Education via Social Media

What does social media use teach our students? More importantly, what is it teaching us about how we help students develop? It might be time to rethink our approach.

At our most recent meeting of the Associated Twin Cities College Housing Administrators (ATCCHA), we had an interesting conversation about the use of social media use in professional development. (Check out the Slideshare link - the result of a fun collaboration with Erica Thompson). Prior to the meeting we conducted a brief survey to assess social media use among group members, and respondents were asked to cite concerns they had with student social media use on their campuses. Most focused on the perceived deterioration of skills.

A few examples of our concerns with student use of social media:
"[Students] constantly looking at phones - in and out of class."
"Addiction of quantity over quality of relationships."
"Trying to solve issues passively (being passive-aggressive)."
"Deterioration of in-person skills."
"Lack of professionalism [online]."
"Not understanding 'it's out there forever.'"
"Blurring boundaries with administrators/staff."

Valid questions all. But as I was sharing these survey comments with the group, I began to think more deeply about how these comments - and the approach many of us take to social media use - creates a negative framing of the impact of social media.

We take the adult normative perspective when analyzing our students' social media use. Rey Junco outlines this idea in his book, Engaging Students Through Social Media (a great read - highly recommended), and this view of social media use is problematic because it limits our understanding of how students are processing what they are learning and developing while using these tools.

We need to re-frame our perspective and do what we do in most other aspects of our jobs - find the learning moments and center our ideas of development on the students in front of us. The seven items listed above are all concerns that can be addressed. Rather than looking at the things from our adult normative perspective, we need to be open to the pedagogical potential of social media use. 

• "Deterioration of in-person skills"? Perhaps we should focus on the soft skills and how students can integrate networking tools into real-life situations.
• "Lack of professionalism online"? Let's demonstrate what professionalism on social media looks like and encourage students to take steps to professionalize accounts before a job search.
• "Blurring boundaries with administrators/staff"? Have the tough conversation about the significance and importance of boundaries and how you can hold each other accountable.
• "Students constantly looking at phones - in and out of class"? Give them a reason to connect with your department while they are doing it. Put educational info on their screens. Or even create opportunities to "unplug" and promote aspects of wellbeing that encourage other forms of interaction.

We're educators. As a profession, we spent years and years and years teaching these skills before the creation of social media. Social media is not an imposition, it's just another layer of student identity that informs our approach to assisting in their development.

Reframe. Refocus. Rethink. Instead of assuming social media use is a distraction to daily life for students, grab the positive aspects of it and create opportunities to teach skills that integrate social media use. Shift your thinking about the power of social media use for students and incorporate it into the things you already do so well.