Immerse yourself in Facebook By Best Practice Models for Learnin g with Social Networks Who am I How do I use Facebook? Ni a
Dec 13, 2014
Immerse yourself in Facebook
By Best Practice Models for Learning with Social Networks
Who am I
How do I use Facebook?
Nia
Hi, I’m Nia Wearn, I’ll be helping you with navigating Facebook – Feel free to
add me as a friend
http://www.facebook.com/wormella
In fact I’m on most Social Media under ‘Wormella’
I teach Computer Games Design at Staffs Uni – I
do design documentation and
marketing, but my main concentration is on how groups work, and how you can get them to
make games.
I use Facebook a lot for this..
I also use almost all of these, on an almost daily basis, to communicate,
discover new ideas, chat, inspire, help and have fun.
I’m what you call a Digital Native
(or a geek, or a nerd, or just tragic…)
How I use Facebook #1 – Day to Day Communication
There isn’t really an average day, but in the last 24hrs I’ve used Facebook in the following ways to communicate.
Message and Saved Chats (everyone from my husband, a friend who’s leaving, some colleagues,
my editor, a student and a reminder about an event)
Instant Message
A quick chat with one of my FYP students
about his survey
Notifications
24hrs of notifications
Comment on a post
A student was asking for help on an assignment
Note the other
student chipping in too – that’s always nice
to see…
How I use Facebook #2 – Organising Friends
According to Facebook I have 636 friends – this isn’t really true
Some of them are pubs, clubs, local services, game
accounts; there’s at least one cat, a tortoise and a
megalomaniac stuffed lizard.
Mainly they’re made up of students – I made
the decision a while ago to only have 1
account
(I did try having two, one for work, one for
play but it got messy)
Other people I work with have this two account system.
My friends are organised into lists – if I could be bothered I would
make sure that only certain people could see certain stuff.
I just always keep in mind that my students, my mum, my
mother-in-law, my employers and my friends can see pretty much everything I post. This keeps me
in check…
Facebook have made the privacy settings and list sharing really easy – but it’s good practice to start putting your friends into
lists from day one.
Facebook will automatically start making some lists for you…
How I use Facebook #3 – GroupsGroups have evolved a lot since Facebook started – they are now a really useful way of keeping in touch with people – you don’t need to be friends
with everyone in a group. Groups come in 3 flavours, open, closed & secret
Closed Groups like this one for my FYP students, or a group project makes for a safe environment to swap details and ask
questions – and there’s also group
chat
Most of my students work groups are
closed – with admins & members inviting
others but it tends to keep them focussed
Open Groups are great for large
causes etc – anyone can join
Secret Groups don’t appear anywhere else, great for discussions off
radar or organising surprise parties
How I use Facebook #4 – PagesWhile you Join a Group you Like a Page – It’s a much more one sided relationship then a group – great for promoting things like bands, or brands – you can limit how people interact with a page, but they are
always public, unlike groups
Pages act a little like people, they can like things, you can send messages to all of the people that like it,
but you can’t chat with them.
All of our courses have a page with specific info
for that course on it
As a Page Admin you get all kinds of juicy metrics on the reach and
interactions of your pages.
What you use, and how you use it, will dictate how you can best use Facebook for learning…
How I use Facebook #5 – Events
Anything with a set time and place can be made into an event.
Much like Groups – they can be Public or Private (or somewhere in between) – You can RSVP yes, no or maybe to any event sent to
you.
We use them a lot to publicises events, talks, games jams etc to our student body
How I use Facebook #6 – SharingBefore you think I have too much time on my hands (although a lot of this is part
of my required duties) – a lot of content on my Facebook is shared from other things – similarly lots of links etc are shared onto other things, like pages
or groups
These have all come via something else (a blog or
checkin service)
Most other Social Networks have a share on / post to
Facebook option.
I make sure what I do share is relevant
Almost every ‘item of content’ on Facebook, a
link, a status update, or a photo is sharable – across
everything else.
You can share most things, from most things – so from
groups, or pages onto profiles and vice-versa
Most blogs and sites have a share on
Facebook button too
These are likes and
comments generated by the post from
GetGlue
So, that’s a quick round up of how I use Facebook, to interact with students, keep an eye on group work and promote our courses and
events.
I’ve got a blog
all about this
kind of thing:
http
://blogs.staffs.ac.
uk/nhw1/
I’ll be on-line all day if you need me for anything then add me as a friend – then
you can send me a message or @ mention me in a status (that way it will turn up on
my notifications)
To ‘@’ mention someone
Use the @character and start typing a name – when you see the person you
want to mention come up click on them in with the mouse. You will know it’s
worked, my name will be highlighted in blue – It makes it into a link
(you can do the same trick with pages & groups) Thanks for
reading,
Nia