What is Social Networking?
Social networking involves using dedicated applications to interact with others or find others with similar interests. The most popular professional sites currently include Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube(Feb 21). They allow you to set up a profile including photos and a short bio. Users build up a network of people they can chat with using synchronous instant messaging or post to their main feed (asynchronous). Social networking applications also allow a range of other media to be embedded for example videos and external website links that are viewable from inside the application. If you are going to use social networking tools within the delivery of your module please read the University’s social media policy below and comply with all the University’s GDPR policies. Please note that The University of Huddersfield does not offer support for all third party social networking applications.
Benefits and Uses of Social Networking in Education?
- Developing your own personal learning network (PLN) so you can connect, share and collaborate with educators across the world.
- Social networks can be used as a communication channel, for example, recieve feedback on students understanding of a topic – ask them to post the key points of a lesson in the comments of a post or a Twitter thread.
- Ask students to post questions on a topic or things they require further collaboration on.
- Connecting with other experts and expert content globally, for example, LinkedIn and LinkedIn Learning.
- Using social networking applications for collaboration projects, for example, monitor the learning process of groups by asking students to post updates as they work on a collaborative task.
- Increased student engagement, for example, start a Twitter book club and tweet your reactions to the book as you read.
- Provide a daily tip like a word of the day, book, useful fact or helpful resource.
Social Networking Platforms:
LinkedIn is the worlds largest professional online network. It is mainly used to connect and build professinal relationships as well as learn new industry skills to develop your career. With the University of Huddersfield you have a free LinkedIn Learning subcriptions so use this to your advance. Being a LinkedIn member allows you to showcase your skills through writing nd posting articles, photos and videos. It also has the ability to let you jojn groups for example, The Univeristy of Huddersfield.
Twitter is a free online communication tool and has often been described as filling the gap between email and instant messaging. Twitter was created in 2006;and works on a system of followers;and people using status updates of no more than 140 characters (which is the length of a normal text message) to communicate what they are doing or passon information/links to resources/blogs, etc. It is often referred to as a ‘microblogging’ tool as is works like a blog but the messages are limited in size, however you can link to pictures, websites, blog posts, resources etc.dersfield eligable.
YouTube
YouTube is a free internet based video hosting service that was developed in 2005 and is the second most vistied website (Alexa Internet Rankings) in the world. It allows users to upload, view, rate, comment and share video content. You can embedd or link YouTube content into your Brightspace Module and Panopto recordings to benefit your students.
External Case Study Links
On the websites below are a number of case studies on using social networking technology effectively in schools, colleges and higher education.
Other Web Resources
- A to Z of Social Media for academia
https://www.timeshighereducation.com/a-z-social-media - Twitter in Higher Education
http://www.scribd.com/doc/20025500/Twitter-in-Higher-Education - The Ultimate Guide to Twitter
https://www.theedublogger.com/twitter/ - LinkedIn 101
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/linkedin-beginner-all-star-8-easy-steps-clifford-wessel - Higher Education institutions and LinkedIn Learning
https://www.linkedin.com/business/learning/blog/higher-education - YouTube usage in the University Classroom
https://online-journals.org/index.php/i-jet/article/view/10475
Scholarly Articles
Albayrak, D., & Yildirim, Z. (2015). Using social networking sites for teaching and learning: Students’ involvement in and acceptance of facebook® as a course management system.Journal of Educational Computing Research, 52(2), 155-179.
Bosch, T. E. (2009). Using online social networking for teaching and learning: Facebook use at the university of cape town. Communicatio, 35(2), 185-200.
Hamid, S., Waycott, J., Kurnia, S., & Chang, S. (2015). Understanding students’ perceptions of the benefits of online social networking use for teaching and learning. Internet and Higher Education, 26, 1-9.
King, D. L., & Brown, S. W. (2009). Emerging Trends, 2.0, and Libraries. The Serials Librarian, 56(1-4), 32-43.
Milošević, I., Živković, D., Arsić, S., & Manasijević, D. (2015). Facebook as virtual classroom – social networking in learning and teaching among serbian students. Telematics and Informatics, 32(4), 576-585.
Ryberg, T., & Christiansen, E. (2008). Community and social network sites as Technology Enhanced Learning Environments. Technology, Pedagogy and Education, 17(3), 207-219.