Middle College Social Media CommitteeArizona State University

Team Leader: Trudy GrantsenTeam Members: Evan Saperstein and Stephanie Quintero

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Leading Higher Education into the 21st Century

CHALLENGES FACED BY MIDDLE COLLEGE

Challenges facing Middle College in leading higher education into the 21st century

1. Increasing number of diverse student population.

2. University budget reductions.

3. Reduction in faculty and staff members.

4. Disconnections to our students.

5. Lack of education and policy guidelines for social medial use.

Social Media: Innovative Sound Solution

The Social Media Committee (SMC) proposes the integration of social media technology into Middle College (MC) community in support of the following: College:

Key areas: funding resources, marketing, student diversity and engagement.

Students: Key areas: individualized learning experience,

ownership of college experience, and transition into the job market,.

3 Benefits:• Funding Resources• Marketing• Student Diversity & Engagement

Social Media Benefits for the College

Benefit 1: Funding ResourcesSocial Media is good for Middle College by: Opens access to diverse pool of funding

resources to supplement budget reductions.

Majority of social media tools are free, accessible, and easily adaptable into an existing higher education environment.

Benefit 2: MarketingSocial Media is good tool for Marketing: Allows colleges to market and brand

their institutions and programs to a diverse audience: students, communities, businesses, and governments.

Promote immediate and broader access to college bound students and parents at a global level.

Benefit 3: Student Diversity & Engagement

Social Media is good tool for recruiting, engaging, and promoting student persistence:

Expands the access to immediate information on Middle College for college bound students.

Creates opportunities for college staff, faculty, and students to take an active involvement in sharing experience and guidance to prospective and first-year students.

Promotes cross collaboration between departments, programs, faculty and students in designing the student learning and co-curricular development on campus.

Allows faculty to build curriculum that direct supports diverse learning styles and disabilities of their students.

Offers faculty innovative methods to create student development opportunities inside and outside the classroom.

Top 4 Reasons Students Use Social Network Systems

According to College Board and Arts & Science Group (2009), their online survey poll revealed the following reasons that students use SNS:

• Communicating and staying in touch with friends they rarely see in person (86 percent)

• Communicating and staying in touch with friends they see on a regular basis (80 percent)

• Communicating with friends they've met at camp, on vacation, and other places (72 percent)

• Contacting classmates in school to get class notes, help with homework assignments, and other academic purposes (61 percent)

College Board and Art & Science Group. (2009). Social Networking Sites. Student Poll, 7(2). Retrieved from http://professionals.collegeboard.com/data-reports-research/trends/studentpoll/social-networking

3 Benefits:• Individualized Learning Experience• Ownership of College Experience• Transition into the Job Market

Social Media Benefits for Students

Benefit 1: Individualized Learning Experience

Social Media is good for our students: Allows students to use free social media tools and

resources to design an individualized learning experience. Encourages students to take an proactive role in

incorporating social media to meet their individual learning and overcome any learning disabilities.

Promotes students to cross collaborate with faculty and students from a broad diverse backgrounds.

Benefit 2: Ownership of College Experience

Social Media is good for our students: Empowers students to take ownership of their college experience

in building their academic and social network on and off campus. Opens access to resources in support of persistence to graduate

with a college degree. Students would have more options and direct access to connect

and communicate with advisors, faculty, staff, and peers to be academically, socially, and professional successful.

Benefit 3: Transition into the Job Market

Social Media is good for our students in building their transition from their degree into the job market: Students have immediate access to internship, volunteer

and job opportunities at broader set of companies and organizations through social media.

Students can be their electronic portfolio/resume and having direct accessibility by recruiters.

College career services can work with students to build students’ e-portfolio/resume and offer online services such as mock interviews, resume review, and advisement to students in preparing for the job market.

Technology Safety and Best Practices• Best Practices and Policies• College President’s concerns, incivility and

professional consequences

Social Media Safety & Best Practices

Best Practices, policies, and guidelines:

As we enter a new era of higher education, our incoming college students have grown up with internet and social media. It is feasible to incorporate social media and technology into our college campus. However, we need to ensure best practices to protect our students, staff, and faculty members.

Middle CollegeSocial Media Best Practices and Policies

Policies: Protect confidential and

proprietary information on Middle College, students, employees, donors, and alumni.

Protect and respect copyright and fair use of other people’s work.

Protect and be mindful of university time and property.

Best Practices: Know your audience and protect your own

ideas and thoughts. Be honest and be ready to support your

content with facts. Acknowledge who you are and your role

when making personal statement as citizen and not as an university employee.

Consider the potential consequences before posting any content.

Be aware that your content show encourage comments or discussion of ideas without hate or provoke harm.

Review content for accuracy before posting.

Addressing the Middle College President’s Concerns

We propose the following 6 practices to build an effective social media engagement and in addressing our President’s concerns regarding incivility and professional consequences on behalf of incorporating social media into our college community:

1. Design a Social Media strategy and measureable goals.

2. Select the most appropriate Social Media Platform.

3. Promote empowerment and support to university departments and units.

4. Establish and implement Social Media guidelines.

5. Build a uniform and clear university voice.

6. Create an open communication across the college campus through Middle College technology website.

ConclusionThe Social Media Committee endorses Middle College to embrace social media to take a leadership role in bring higher education into the 21st century.

In anticipation of new incoming college students, we must be adequately prepared to meet the unique and diverse of needs of these students through academic, social, professional, and professional development.

More imperatively, we must be serve as guidance and supporters for our students in taking a leadership role in the new 21st century economy.