Using Social Networks

for Non-Trad Participation and Retention

Theory and Research

Alexander Astin’s Theory of Student Involvement Involvement Requires Physical and Psychological

Energy Involvement Occurs Along a Continuum Involvement Has Both Qualitative & Quantitative

Features Development is Proportional to Quantity and Quality

of Involvement Educational Effectiveness Is Related to Capacity to

Increase Involvement

http://www.insidefacebook.com/2009/02/02/fastest-growing-demographic-on-facebook-women-over-55/

Facebook

Key Highlights

Facebook reporting nearly 45.3 million active US users in the last 30 days

Facebook growing in every age/gender demographic. Fastest growing segment: Women over 55, up 175.3% in the last 120 days.

Facebook growing faster with women than men in almost every age group. Women comprise 56.2% of Facebook’s audience, up from 54.3% late last year.

45% of Facebook’s US audience is now 26 years old or older.

What is a Facebook Page?

Pages are for organizations, businesses, celebrities, and bands to broadcast great information to fans in an official, public manner.

Like profiles, they can be enhanced with applications that help the entity communicate with and engage their fans, and capture new audiences virally through their fans' recommendations to their friends.

You can create and manage a Facebook Page for your organization from your personal account. Only the official representative of an organization, business, celebrity, or band is permitted to create a Page.

How are Pages different from personal profiles?

Profiles represent individuals and must be held under an individual name, while Pages allow an organization, business, celebrity, or band to maintain a professional presence on Facebook.

Fans of your Page won't be able to see that you are the Page admin or have any access to your personal account.

How are Pages different from groups?

Pages can only be created to represent a real organization, business, celebrity, or band, and may only be created by an official representative of that entity.

Groups can be created by any user and about any topic, as a space for users to share their opinions and interest in that subject. Groups can be kept closed or secret, whereas Pages are intended to help an entity communicate publicly.

Pages also allow people to maintain a personal-professional distinction on Facebook. If you're a group admin, your name will appear on that group, while Pages will never display their admins' names. Additionally, when you take actions on your group, such as posting on your group's wall, these actions will appear to come from you as an individual. However, if you post or take other actions on a Page you own, it will appear to come from the Page.

Blogger

A free Google tool Easy to set up Can be stored on your college domain

if desired

Google Groups

Groups can be used to communicate, share calendar events, files, etc.

Yahoo also has a popular group service

LinkedIn

Ning…an alternative to Facebook

"Ning, a social networking site offers teachers K-12 free and secure (no ads!) social networking for their classrooms. Much more user friendly and yet high tech than other networking sites, it can be used by students to share and make a learning community. Great discussion features, embedding, videos, flexible and personal design. This is the future of learning! FREE" David Deubelbeiss

"simple and you can define the rules you need !" Florence Meichel

"We achieved more with Ning in 3 months than we could achieve in 2 years with Moodle. It has helped us bring about a genuine learning community among our students and has enriched their experience considerably.   Jonathan Lecun

Twitter… a microblogging tool

http://cooper-taylor.com/blog/2008/08/50-ideas-on-using-twitter-for-education/

Discussion“These are just technologies. Using them does not make youmodern, smart, moral, wise, fair, or decent. It just makes you ableto communicate, compete, and collaborate farther and faster.”— Thomas L. Friedman, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist