Posts Tagged ‘Social media’
Colleges Try to Find the Best Online Communication Tools
Photo: ehow.com
Imagine that your university president has an important announcement about the graduation ceremony this Saturday – two days away. If you don’t get this message, you may not be able to walk across the stage! What is the best way for the president to contact all potential graduates? Should he or she send an email or a Facebook post? What about text messages? Or can he or she simply tweet it?
At many universities across the country, academic communication problems like these have called into question the best ways to reach the student population en masse. According to a recent article in The Chronicle, students are using such a wide variety of social media and online communication technologies that schools are having a hard time keeping up. Since the industry changes constantly, administrators find it difficult to choose the best means by which to reach all of their students quickly and effectively.
When you enrolled in school, you were given an email address. While this is typically the primary method of contact between you and your professors, what happens if an important email (about graduation, keeping with the above example) goes unnoticed or is sent to a spam folder? The article mentions administrators fear students only check university emails once per week, as opposed to checking Facebook multiple times per day. However, not every college student has Facebook. Amy Ratliff, program coordinator for cooperative education at the University of Alabama, says that she sends out campus emails in the evening to increase the likelihood that students will read them. She also is more selective about information she sends out so the school doesn’t bombard students with information. Does your school send out too many campus-wide emails? How often do you read them?
Some schools list important information in more than one place to increase the number of people who see it. However, students grow weary of stock paragraphs and impersonal posting. Boston University dean Kenneth Elmore posts all of his own blogs, tweets, and Facebook updates. While The Chronicle article doesn’t state whether or not he has more success with this method, students may follow him with greater loyalty or look to his posts for information because it’s not an automated, mass email. Do you follow your school or professors on Twitter or Facebook, or do you prefer to keep these social sites separate from school?
There are no easy answers in the age of online communication. Share your thoughts with your school! Student feedback is necessary for universities to improve.
In addition, if you have not yet declared a major, you may want to look into social media for higher education administration. It looks like your perspective could make a big difference!
How to Use Social Media Effectively
Photo: blog.socialmaximizer.com
Social Media: web and mobile technologies that promote interactive communication between communities, companies, groups, and individuals. Social media sites include everything from Facebook to Twitter, LinkedIn to YouTube, Flickr to Pinterest, and many more.
As a college student, you may use social media sites for fun and entertainment at first. Facebook is an extremely popular way to get to know fellow students you meet around campus.
However, you are also entering a new stage in your life. What you say, do, type, and post online carries weight and can follow you for years down the road. It is important to be savvy as you navigate the online world of social media.
Remember that you may be a college freshman now, but in four years you will be a college graduate competing with the rest of the world for a job. Before graduation, you will probably apply for internships. Employers are not strangers to social media and can easily look up your online profiles if they so choose. Stay one step ahead and protect yourself from potential pitfalls of social media.
DO NOT
- Don’t hide behind your computer. When you type comments or blog personal feelings from the safety of your living room, make sure they are things you’d say in real life, too.
- Don’t post questionable photos. Photos of students partying or making crude poses might be funny in the moment, but if they go up on your Facebook timeline, they will reflect on who you are and how you spend your time.
- Don’t go overboard. This applies to any student currently internship or job hunting. If you post too frequently or bombard your contacts with information, this may turn them off to the prospect of being connected to you.
DO
- Be yourself! Just because you are wary of what you post doesn’t mean you have to turn into a drone. Maintain your personality on your online profiles! People use social media to get to know you as much as they can before they meet you. Keep that concept in mind when interacting online. Use it to your advantage.
- Watch the time. Use social media, then take a break. The world outside awaits! Also, when contacting potential employers, be mindful of the time of day. Sending an email at 2am might give off the impression that you are a night owl. This is not necessarily good or bad – just be mindful that they may interpret it one way or the other.
- Take your time. If you are about to post something in the heat of an intense moment, save it as a draft or come back later. Again, once it’s out there, it’s out there!
Social media can definitely be harnessed to help you find work and meet amazing people. Use it to your benefit, not to destroy your stellar reputation.
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How Social Media and Game Mechanics Can Motivate Students
Students rejoice! According to this Mashable.com article, social media and game mechanics could actually positively affect you. So next time your mom tells you to get off the video games and set the table–well, you should probably listen to your mother.
But, you can explain to your mother later that social media and online games can teach skills that can be difficult to teach in normal school curricula–like time managements, teamwork and creative problem solving.
Here’s how Mashable breaks down how social media and gaming mechanics can have a positive affect on education:
Status Update and Checkins
Whether high school students or college students send a tweet or a Facebook status to their entire network about a goal they have, it becomes more real, especially if people comment on it and provide feedback. As with the status updates, checkins make people feel like they’re not alone–they’re traveling with someone else. Plus, it also adds a bit of a healthy competitive edge. Both of these things are factors that could motivate students to work harder to reach their goals.
Leaderboards
Today in school, everybody is a winner; there are no losers. Leaderboards bring back that competitive edge to school in a way that’s completely powered by students’ own desire to do better. By comparing progress with each other’s peers, students are driven to move up the leaderboard. This tactic can give mundane school assignments a bit of a makeover.
Move Up the Levels
A little positive feedback never hurt nobody. Offering levels for students to move up in is a great motivator. Take the Cappex Cap Challenge (log in and start playing now!), for example. Not only do you get further in your college search, but the more you do for your college search, the more you move up levels and are rewarded virtual caps and real prizes.
What’s your take on social media and gaming in school? Comment and share!
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New Study: 6 Trends in Digital and Mobile Communications for College Admissions in 2011
With the pervasiveness of social media, location-based tools, and mobile communications, it can sometimes be a challenge for admissions professionals to keep up.
The new white paper provides insights into 2011 and 2012 high school grads’ college search preferences and where colleges are actually focusing their resources.
Findings show that mobile and video are on the rise, though traditional channels such as mail and e-mail remain the cornerstone of admissions communications. Above all, getting it right in the mobile space will be of utmost importance in 2011.
View the white paper to find out about the 6 trends.
A picture’s worth a thousand words!
View these trends in our new infographic.
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Can Facebook Affect Your Grades?
How many hours a day would you say you spend on Facebook? If you actually logged your hours Facebook-ing, you might be frightened to realize the amount of time you spend on the social networking site. But it’s not just Facebook. There’s Twitter, Reddit, Foursquare, that kid in your history class’s obscure blog about stingrays. You’ve got places to be, people to see! At least, online you do.
So what’s the effect that social media has on students?
According to OnlineEducation.net, there are some negative effects of students who pair studying with Facebook. In fact, students who do this specific type of multitasking earned 20% lower grades than their peers who were able to focus on their homework without the distraction.
If being online so frequently can affect grades, who knows what effect it may have on other things, like your relationships, your health and getting down to business on that college search or job search!
Do you think Facebook or other social media are affecting your study habits or grades? Comment and share your thoughts!
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Does Updating Your Facebook Status Make You a Happier College Student?
That’s a ridiculous question…but does it?
Considering how often college students–or college-bound students, or middle schoolers or even toddlers–are on Facebook or other social networks, most people would assume time spent surfing the waves of the World Wide Web would have a negative effect on a person. That’s not necessarily the case.
According to eCampus News, a recent study at Cornell University demonstrated that of three groups of students–one group with a blank computer screen, one group with a mirror in the place of a computer screen, and one with access to Facebook, the college students who were able to log in to Facebook and update their status provided significantly more positive feedback about themselves later on during the study.
Researchers believe these findings to come from the possibility that the students who were able to log in to Facebook were able to put their best face forward. After all, we have control over whatever status we type in. On the contrary, the students who had to look into the mirror were forced to look at their actual selves, no masks.
The ability to edit your profile to make it say exactly what you want and a choose a profile picture to reflect exactly how you wish to express yourself makes people feel better about themselves because they get to show the people on their social network the image they purposefully construct.
Does updating your status make you happier? What would you think makes college students happier?
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80% of College Admissions Search Your Facebook Profile
You might want to rethink your Facebook privacy settings because according to a Kaplan survey of college admissions officers, more than 80 percent of college admissions officers consider social media presence when recruiting students.
What does your Facebook profile, or MySpace, or your social media footprint in general, say about you?
More often than not, student Facebook pages are meant to be social, not academic. But, according a recent Huffington Post article, sharing your Facebook information could both be potential harmful to your application or helpful:
StudentAdvisor.com editor Dean Tsouvalas wrote in a blog post that “in at least one case an admissions counselor told us they rejected a potential student based on their social networking profile.”
But applicants can turn their social media presence into an advantage. Tsouvalas says that by following a school on Twitter or “liking” it on Facebook, using a personal blog as a space to demonstrate talent or making a video application for your school of choice, students can stand out in an increasingly competitive candidate pool.
Would you want admissions officers checking out your Facebook profile?
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5 Things Every College-Bound Senior Needs to Do Before Spring Break Ends
With some quality time off of school, make sure you take advantage of this low-stress period to accomplish some big priorities, like, COLLEGE.
Here are 5 things every college-bound senior needs to do before Spring Break ends:
1. Visit Your Schools in Question: If you’re unsure about which college or university is the right match for you, you might to avoid simply flipping a coin. “Heads? Okay, State it is!” Make an informed decision, not a random one. If the schools in question are in close proximity to you, take a mini trip during Spring Break to remind yourself why you liked them in the first place, or even, why one school might actually be a better fit.
2. Contact Current College Students: By Spring Break your senior year, you’ve probably done considerable college research already. But since the deadline to making a decision is approaching, finding out about nitty gritty stuff might help your decision-making. Send an email or a Facebook message to a friend, or a friend of a friend, or person you had gym class with junior year who’s already enrolled and attending a school you’re interested in. Ask questions about the social life, how much homework they have, where they like to hang out on campus. For many, college is a passion and they’d be more than willing to chat with you about it.
3. Find Scholarships!!!!: A break from a school gives you the perfect opportunity to dig up as many scholarships as you can. If you’ve already received your financial aid award letter, you’ll know how much more of your tuition you’ll have to cover. Finding scholarships is a great way to cover a big portion, if not all, of your tuition. There are easy-to apply-to-scholarships out there, especially on Cappex.com, so get going!
4. Talk with Your Family or Guidance Counselor: Flesh out your college or university options with people who are looking out for your best interest and education. Go over your choices, the different tuitions, locations, and find out what your biggest advocates think about your college choices. Since higher education is such a big and important decision, and a costly one, listening to input from people who want to see you succeed can help you make the right choice.
5. Avoid Going Crazy Waiting for an Acceptance Letter: The final word of wisdom we hope to instill in you is to avoid mental breakdowns over an acceptance letter. Many acceptance letters arrive over Spring Break, so try to avoid biting your nails off or freaking out your friends with your anxiety. Getting into a school or not will not make or break you. No matter where you land, you are in charge of making your college career what it is. So relax ,and enjoy your Spring Break.
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Cappex.com Announces New 2011 Scholarships for Innovators and Volunteers
Two $5,000 scholarships recognize high school students who lead with their hearts and minds.
Chicago, IL – February 1, 2011– Cappex.com, a comprehensive college search and scholarship portal, is proud to announce the ‘’High School Innovator of the Year’’ and ‘’Lead With Your Heart’’ Scholarships, each worth $5,000.
The scholarships recognize students who have put significant work into their passions and have made strides in advancing the greater good.
The ‘High School Innovator of the Year’’ Scholarship is for high school students who have invented something noteworthy or improved a process that affects their fellow students, city, or town during their high school careers.
“We know that innovation is not just driven by businesses. It’s driven by people,” said Chris Long, president of Cappex. “This scholarship recognizes the next generation of innovators.”
The ‘’Lead With Your Heart’’ Scholarship is for students who have dedicated their time to working for the greater good.
“This award is about selfless service that has made a big impact on your community or beyond,” said Long. “If you are dedicated to volunteering, this is your opportunity to be recognized for it.”
Students can apply to the scholarships during 2011 at www.cappex.com/scholarships.
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