Faculty ForumNovember 10, 2010

The Gap Between…

Purposes of Our Presentation

To inform you about how students and professors use 21st century communication methods

To provide research about current methodologies involving communication and social media trends

To discuss ways Concordia students and professors view possible communication gaps

Introducing

Framing Our Presentation

Riley Crane, Presenter at PopTech’s Conference, 2010: Brilliant Accidents, Necessary Failures and Improbable Breakthroughs, Research Fellow in MIT’s Media Lab, researches hidden patterns in collective social media

Framing Our Presentation

He compares collective social media behavior to that of trailblazers in America’s settling of the West.

Framing Our Presentation

The “crowd” decides what is the most likely path. www.google.com

The “crowd” inputs what is most important and what is not.

Today, you can connect everybody. Can you solve any problems with that connection?

Framing Our Presentation

Our social media communication paradigm is in its adolescence.

Currently, we/others use social media to passively maintain weak ties.

A new class of ties is becoming more important, those with whom we require temporary, spontaneous ties.

Question Time

What communication strategies do you use with students?

What communication strategies have you observed students use with you?

Research …

Washington Post, 8 October, 2010 “In the Age of Facebook, Twitter,

and Apps, Some Candidates Adapt Better Than Others”

“. . . If the politician is where the people are, social media are going to become the new hub of campaign activity.”

What does this mean?

“If the professor is where the students are . . .”

Are social media the new hub of educational activity?

Research …

A Day Without Media Research conducted by the

International Center for Media and the Public Agenda and students at the Phillip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland, College Park

April 21, 2010

Research …

200 students asked to give up all media for 24 hours

Some findings: Media is their personal connection Even on a crowded campus, they felt

alone without media Connections are their primary source of

information No loyalty at all to traditional media

outlets

Research …

The Week (newsmagazine) October 18, 2010 92% of American babies have their full

name, picture, and mother’s name posted on a website somewhere . . .

Research …

NBC Evening News, October 18, 2010 The average 13-year old sends 3339

text messages per month

Concordia Research Shows…

Results from professors’ surveys Extremely small sample

Primary social media connections Linked In Facebook Email

“My profile makes me more approachable . . .”

Concordia Research Shows…

Value connections to students Desire approachability Wary of lack of privacy in social

media sites Careful of data there Critical thinking regarding self

disclosure to students through face-to-face interaction or through social media

Concordia Research Shows…

“College Students’ Perceptions of How Instructors Establish and Enhance Credibility Through Self-Disclosure”

Scott A. Myers, Maria Brann, and Members of Comm 600

Qualitative Research Reports in Communication 10(1), 2009

pp. 9-16

Concordia Research Shows…

“. . . primary purpose behind instructor self-disclosure often is to clarify or extend course content, although self-disclosure is also viewed by students as a way to humanize instructors, make instructors appear approachable, and create affect for both the course and the instructor” (10).

Concordia Research Shows…

“Credibility . . . is defined as the extent to which an instructor is considered to be believable and consists of three dimensions: character . . . caring . . . And competence” (11).

Your Thoughts …

Connections and discussion . . .

Concordia Student Responses . . .

What might surprise your professor about you or other students like you? “Sometimes the quiet people are the

ones who are thinking the most. There are some who legitimately don’t care, but others are answering everything in their heads.”

Concordia Student Responses . . .

What might surprise your professor about you or other students like you? “Our social lives drive us.” “I check my phone more often than my

email.” “When I sit in the back and put my

head down and act like I don’t care, it’s probably when I am paying attention the most.”

Concordia Student Responses . . .

What might surprise your professor about you or other students like you? “School isn’t really my number 1

priority sometimes.” “How easy it is for students to get

information and ‘cheat’ the learning system.”

“Some are super sheltered. Some are not.”

Concordia Student Responses . . .

What is something you wish your professors knew about you? “Our generation can be really

disrespectful, but some of us are baffled by the level of disrespect.”

“If you don’t know my name, I feel like you don’t care about me, so I don’t care about your class.”

“We are a generation of procrastinators.”

Concordia Student Responses . . .

What is something you wish your professors knew about you? “To know me and not just my work.” “I may appear not to care or listen but I

do.” “I wish I was a lot more involved in

class by my own initiative.”

Concordia Student Responses . . .

What is something you wish your professors knew about you? “Just because I may process material

and think in a different manner than what may be expected doesn’t mean that I’m lazy or not learning.”

Concordia Student Responses . . .

What is something you wish your professors knew about you? “Trying to be involved in everything at

once is hard. Professors want us to be well rounded – or maybe think we are well rounded – I wish our professors knew how hard we work, in every activity.”

Concordia Student Responses . . .

What is something you wish your professors knew about you? “You taking an interest in me and my

life makes me want to take an interest in the subject you teach.”

Concordia Student Responses . . .

What is something you wish your professors knew about you? “I have many leather bound books and

my room smells like rich mahogany.”

Question Time

What would surprise students about you?

What do you wish students knew about you?

What conclusions can we make?

In Conclusion…