How to use social media platforms as teaching tools?

Social media pedagogy

Dr. Ai ZhangAn Associate Professor of PR at

Stockton University, NJ

@aiaddysonzhang on Twitter and Snapchat

@aiaddysonzhang

What do you think are some prominent problems

in higher ed?

To engage our students, we need to meet

them where they are; not where we think

they should be.

@aiaddysonzhang

How I’m using social media platforms to...

1.Better engage students

2.Assist students with career preparation and connect them with the broader community

3.Help bridge the gap between the industry & academia

@aiaddysonzhang

Social Media

Pedagogy

Teens spend about ____ hours

a day on social media in 2015

College students spend an

average of _____ hours a day on

cellphones in 2014

How much time do young people spend on average on social media

and their smartphones?

●What is Snapchat? ●What do you use Snapchat for?●1.55 billion monthly active users ●100 million daily active users ●8 billion daily video views

DMR Stats

@aiaddysonzhang

1. Humanize the teacher

✖ Break down the power-distance between teacher and students

✖ Sharing myself in my “natural environment” helps build a rapport with students.

@aiaddysonzhang

✖ Answer students questions via Snapchat

✖ Offer students tailored personal responses → which can blow a student away

✖ A simple Q&A → extended discussions about class

✖ A nice break from emails

2. Snapchat Q&A

@aiaddysonzhang

3. Coaching via Snapchat ✖ #RockYourCareer

@aiaddysonzhang

4. Create class-related geofilters

@aiaddysonzhang

5. Use Snapchat to enhance one’s digital protofolio

Note: This idea was developed with Drs. Kyung-Hyan Yoo and Gina Marcello during the NJ Social Media Summit, 2016

✖Create “Hire Me” Snapchat stories to highlight students’ professional and personal accomplishments targeted toward their dream jobs ✖Use the hashtag “#HireMe16” to share

their Snapchat stories on other platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, blogs, personal websites, etc.✖Invite other schools to join the activity and

conduct peer critique✖Students’ Hire-Me stories will be evaluated

by the number of clicks, comments, shares, and engagements.

@aiaddysonzhang

6. Brand the students and the class

✖Feature super students

○ Snapchat “heros”

○Give students shout outs

✖Highlight students’ accomplishments

✖Other examples hereand here

@aiaddysonzhang

6. Branding, Cont’d

✖Account takeover○ Current students;

○ Invite alumni/professionals: a day in the life videos

✖Feature guest speakers, celebrations/parties, or other interesting events in the class

Students start to 1)Give me shout outs,2)Share special moments with me (eg, internship

applications & career related events), 3) Interact with the broader professional

community

Twitter

@aiaddysonzhang

✖ Class Hashtag: #AZSM #AZAdvanced #AZEthics

✖ Join live twitter chats and do storify ○#HootChat; #MeasurePR; #PRStudChat;

#BufferChat; #SproutChat

✖ Invite industry professionals to do live Twitter chats with the class ○ Carrie Morgan: #PRProChat

○ Connect with guest speakers and the larger community

✖ Cross institutional twitter chat

Using Twitter as a teaching tool

@aiaddysonzhang

Cross-institutional twitter chat

✖#TXC16: A cross-institutional hashtag○ Rutgers University (School of Communication

and Information); William Paterson University; Stockton University

✖Three-week twitter activity○Week 1: Describe your “personal

identity/brand” with a pic included

○Week 2: Describe your “professional identity/brand” with a pic included

○Week 3: Two take-away tweets

✖A reflection paper based on the experience

@aiaddysonzhang

Blab is a live streaming platforms that allows public viewable video chats featuring up to

four people Periscope/Meerkat + Google Hangouts

✖ Focus Group

✖ Chat with group members/class

✖ Invite industry professionals to do guest talks

✖ Interact with the broader academic and/or professional community

The important role of educators

✖ Be a role model for students as most students don’t know how to use SM strategically and

professionally

✖ Get actively involved on social platforms, networking with professionals in the industry,

and never stop learning

@aiaddysonzhang

The important role of educators: Case study

✖Influencer Marketing with Brian Fanzo

✖Guest blog: Five ways of using Snapchat as a teaching tool

✖Do a live Q&A session with my students on career development and offering advice

Not so much what we know than

whom we know. Nowadays, it is who

knows you.

--Carlos Gil (@CarlosGil83)