3 ways HE lecturers can use social media as a learning tool

Using social media as a learning tool has being a running theme for me this semester. As a marketer and market researcher, I find Twitter to be a valuable depository of links to white papers, conference papers, research findings and best practice guidance. LinkedIn helps me to build contacts and relationships as I grow my network as well as highlighting useful collateral I may have missed on Twitter. And of course, there are many other social media platforms that have value to the marketer too. I was guilty of assuming that the digital natives I teach are tuned into social media in the same way, but I was wrong; certainly, social media for social purposes but that professional angle wasn't as clear to them.

There is a clear rationale for using social media with business students - employability is of course key to that but I've found that they are often so focused on using text books and journal articles as references in their assignments that they forget that professional practice is just as important to business people as the founding principles.

Here are 3 ways I've used social media as a learning tool this term:

1. Students were asked to create a student-led creative campaign to promote the business school to potential undergraduates or postgraduates using social media with the message that 'learning has never been so much fun'. Key learning outcomes were for them to understand the importance of a creative idea, how promotional tools and media need to be integrated to work effectively, and the importance of marketing metrics. This was a quick and dirty one week activity but students developed a range of great ideas including a Facebook page with mini-blogs from international students; a fun set of images adopting the 'keep calm and carry on' theme; and a video for sharing featuring student life in the style of a cartoon strip. This learning by doing exercise gave students the chance to understand the limitations of their approach and the challenge of developing good content that is shareable and genuinely 'fun'.
2. Getting students to set up a Twitter profile and find 25 people or companies to follow in their field of interest. Concentrating their efforts to select useful contacts was a challenge but this helped them to understand how they could build an effective network and start to see relevant content.
3. Free blogging tools such as WordPress, Google Blogger or Weebly were used to set up an e-portfolio. Students were asked to select a marketing topic of their choice and challenged to discover 'what is best professional practice in this area?' by using social media. This taught them how to critically evaluate the quality of professional sources, how to search for the right kinds of material and how to direct their information search by setting clear objectives. This was an activity that took place over the semester partly in-class and also through self-directed learning. It required motivation, dedication, and a curiosity in the marketing topic to succeed. The jury is still out on the results but formative feedback told me that this was an activity and an alternative assessment method that they really enjoyed.

Student-centred learning and applying the theory to practice work really well for me when helping students to understand the value of social media to the marketer and to every business. What has worked for you?

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