How Administrators Can Avoid Social Media Landmines

Rather than shutting social media out of academic life, many institutions and individual faculty members are embracing these interactive tools … or at least striving to “peacefully coexist” with them.

Social media has created some exciting and innovative learning opportunities … but it’s also brought along potential risk. Colleges and universities entering the world of social media put themselves in danger of problems ranging from defamation and cyber-bullying to privacy violations and safety concerns.

It’s important to know the risks … and how to manage them. This seminar will show you how.

In How Administrators Can Avoid Social Media Landmines, you’ll discover how to capitalize on the opportunities social media tools provide, while protecting your institution, its faculty and its staff from possible pitfalls.

During this 90-minute audio presentation, you’ll learn:

• What faculty and staff need to know about the pervasiveness of social media on campus.
• How social media heighten the risk of problems relating to privacy, defamation, safety, cyber-bullying, plagiarism and more.
• What the law says about social-media transgressions.
• Recommended ”do’s and don’ts” of social media for all members of the campus community.
• How to build a comprehensive risk-management strategy for your institution.
• And more.

Order the CD + Transcript package

The seminar is led by Deborah Gonzalez, Esq., founder of Law2sm, LLC, a legal consulting firm specializing in digital and social media, and Rob Jenkins, M.A., an associate professor of English and a columnist for The Chronicle of Higher Education. Together, they bring a wealth of experience in navigating the treacherous waters of social media use in academia.

When you order the recording on CD, you also receive a copy of the transcript, all for the same price as attending the seminar live.

An optional Campus Access License is available for an additional $200. It allows the purchasing institution to upload the CD of the seminar onto the institution’s password-protected internal web site for unlimited access by members of the campus community.

This seminar is intended for:

• Instructors (face-to-face and online)
• Academic department chairs
• Associate deans
• Deans
• Academic VPs
• Chief academic officers
• And other social media users

Social media hold great promise as teaching tools … but they also present substantial risks. Learn how to use them effectively and safely on your campus. Get your copy of this timely seminar today!

Order the CD + Transcript package

All seminars include a discussion guide for facilitators
Participating in a Magna Online Seminar as a team can help leverage unique insights, foster collaboration, and build momentum for change. Each seminar now includes a Discussion Guide for Facilitators which provides step-by-step instructions for generating productive discussions and thoughtful reflection. You’ll also get guidelines for continuing the conversation after the event, implementing the strategies discussed, and creating a feedback loop for sharing best practices and challenges.

New research from the University of New Hampshire finds that students who heavily engage in social networking do just as well academically as students who are less interested in keeping in touch with the medium.

A summary of “Social Networking Usage and Grades Among College Students” is available for download here.

“The study indicates that social media is being integrated with rather than interfering with students’ academic lives,” said UNH adjunct professor Chuck Martin, whose marketing research class conducted the study. “College students have grown up with social networks, and the study shows they are now simply part of how students interact with each other with no apparent impact on grades.”

Students at the UNH Whittemore School of Business surveyed 1,127 UNH students from a range of majors. The research shows that there is no correlation between the amount of time students spend using social media and their grades. Grades followed similar distributions for all colleges, with the majority of students having A’s and B’s.

Researchers defined light users of social media as usage fewer than 31 minutes per day. Heavy usage was defined as usage exceeding 61 minutes per day. Researchers defined high grades as A’s and A’s and B’s, and lower grades as B’s and lower. For the purpose of the study, social media was defined as Facebook, YouTube, blogs, Twitter, MySpace or LinkedIn.

Sixty-three percent of heavy users received high grades, compared to 65 percent of light users. Researchers found similar results with lower grades. While 37 percent of heavy users of social media received what were defined as lower grades, 35 percent of light users received fell into that same category.

Ninety-six percent of UNH students use Facebook
The study also showed that Facebook and YouTube are the most popular social media platforms with college students. An astounding 96 percent of students said they use Facebook on a typical day and 84 percent use YouTube. Only 20 percent said they use blogs, 14 percent use Twitter, 12 percent use MySpace and 10 percent use LinkedIn.

In addition, 43 percent of those surveyed said they have increased their usage of social media from a year ago, eight percent of them significantly. Thirty-nine percent of students said they have not changed their use of social media, while 18 percent said their use has decreased, including three percent who said it had significantly decreased.

The majority of students said they use social networks for social reasons (89 percent) and entertainment (79 percent). About a quarter of students said they use social media for educational reasons (26 percent), and 16 percent for professional reasons.