RICARDO,
You are so right! I just posted about the Microsoft exec who told women not ask for a raise, to depend on Karma. He didn't finish his speech before the Tweets ensued! It was a costly mistake for him.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson:
According to the course readings, it is important for students to develop good social networking habits because "[p]rivacy does not exist in the world of social networking." Students must be "aware that a presence in the social networking world is or easily can be made available to the public at large. This includes prospective students, current students, current employers and colleagues, and peers." In fact the media is replete with examples of employees losing their jobs because of what they post on Facebook. Therefore, it is crucial more than ever that they are aware of the appropriate content and policy for Proper use of social media. Dr. Ricardo Richards
Stephanie,
I agree with you but we have to teach students to compartmentalize their lives. They need to understand the role of personal and the role of professional. The don't always do that.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
In my opinion, good social networking habits carry over into their personal networking habits. Social networking helps to enhance connections and allows opportunity to "practice" their social skills and networking abilities, learn from others and connect with individuals who may be potential employers. Additionally, in our world today, having these skills will be areas an employer could be looking for so social networking allows them to gain experience in those skills. Finally, for an online student, social networking can aid in creating the learning community and the learning process for the individual student.
Marie,
Great post. You are right, you really ave to make sure your social media persona is similar to your professional one.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Developing good social networking habits is a must in the healthcare industry. Even when working in the back office we do deal with patients, usually about finances. Right off the bat a person can get on the defensive when they owe money to a medical practice. For some reason, some people feel doctors should work for free. Having a firm, but gentle, way to manage an angry patience is part of medical billing and coding. This skill can be enhanced through good social networking habits. The definition of social......"friendly", implies that everyone should be on the same note and happy.
Thomas,
We make all of our freshmen work on professionalizing their social media sites. We do make sure they know the consequences of not cleaning the sites.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Thomas,
What a great point. Yes, there has to be etiquette just as there was in letter writing or phone usage. All new media goes through the process. we seem to forget that.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Michael,
Yes, it's very availability makes it their defacto public image.
Because it has become part of new media world and is a basic tool now used by individuals to communicate. Just as proper procedures and etiquette for using the telephone and writing letters were learned by earlier generations it important that today's generation learn good etiquette for social media.
Indeed, given the permanence and wide spread availability of social media it is especially important that students learn how to use it responsibility since their behavior on it will impact their careers and work into the future.
Kimberly,
You are so right. We can't just wait this out and hope it goes away. It will change, morph in to something else but we can't just put our head in the sand and assume we don't have to address it. Students need to prepare to use these tools.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Willie ,
I want to take your class. How interesting is your point and how interesting you use the technology. You are really connecting students to the learning. You may want to look at padlet.com as a tool to use with your students.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Willie ,
What a great post. You make a great point, we need to show students how to use the resources available and using social media is a great way to introduce students to professionals, experts etc.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
This is a new communication medium that is not going anywhere. It is expected that all companies and organizations have a website, a facebook page, a LinkedIn profile and more...
This is an opportunity for us to help students understand how these tools can be used beyond the interpersonal connections they use it for today and make sure they realize how they are presenting themselves and show them how they SHOULD present themselves, if applicable.
Phyllis, when I have used social networking in my classroom (f2f), I usually let my students pick the type of technology he/she wants to use. For example, I taught a Harlem Renaissance class last year. Students had to research Af-Am lit in other parts of the country during that time period it to Harlem. One student did a Google Trek. She was from Tennessee and read about some slayings of Af-Ams in the area during the Renaissance. One Af-Am male who was killed had ran; he left Memphis and ran to a nearby town and then to another place after he discovered the mob was on his tail. So, my student was able to pinpoint on the Google map the places where the guy ran and where he was finally caught and hang. Another student created a Tumblr page. He added video and lots of cool graphics/pictures to connect his topic to the Renaissance. I have also had my students create a scaffolded reading of one of the readings we did in my 19th century Af-Am lit class. They selected a piece (a poem, or a piece of a novel/essay, etc.) and created a scaffolded reading through a website. The website/scaffolded reading had to have at least three pages (not including the home page) and some other stuff (that eludes me at the moment).
Always a pleasure, Phyllis!
:-)
I think it is important because social media offers plenty of opportunities for learning and interactivity, and if you take a moment to think about it, it’s not too hard to see how students benefit from using social media. As younger generations use such technology in the classroom, they remake the educational landscape.
Students are experiencing the world through more than just books and assignments; they are learning and adapting to the world using a relatively new form of communication. In a world where connections are important, graduates are coming into the workplace with a lot to offer.
:-)
Simone,
That is true! I used to say "don't put anything on Facebook or an email you wouldn't want to see on the side of the road". Many of our students DON"T CARE! Then they don't understand when it works against them professionally. The work world does look at their employees Facebook!
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
To me it is important for them to develop good social networking habits for various reasons.
1) Once you post things in a virtual world and others see it, it is hard to get it back or dispute that you did not say it.
2) Not being aware of what you are posting can have a negative effect on the job that you are trying to get in the future.
3) The world is always changing and so is technology, so it is best to learn to use it for your benefit instead of posting things that can be used against you.
Sabahudin,
You make such an important point. Several discipline really use it extensively; such as hospitality.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Scott,
What a great post. We have to impress upon students their professional persona is what shows in the social media. Poor grammar and punctuation as well as poor presence speaks volumes.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
