The Role of Social Media within Higher Education in an Age of

Openness and Publicness 12th Annual Durham Blackboard Users Conference

Durham University

Sue BeckinghamSheffield Hallam University

Isn't it just a mechanism for timewasting or at its best a space for

informal social chatter?

http://www.socialnomics.net/2011/12/28/infographic-every-60-seconds-on-the-web/

“Social Media gives more people a voice and provides a powerful tool for value creation and competitive differentiation”

Why networks matter

“Power does not reside ininstitutions, not even the state or

large corporations. It is located in thenetworks that structure society . . .”

Manuel Castells, DEMOS

“Social Media gives more people a voice and provides a powerful tool for value creation and competitive differentiation”

“Social Media gives more people a voice and provides

a powerful tool for value creation and competitive

differentiation”

Advanced Human Technologies 2010

Drivers of Change

• Extreme longevity - Increasing global lifespans change the nature of careers and learning.

• Rise of smart machines and systems - Workplace automation nudges human workers out of rote, repetitive tasks.

• Computational world - Massive increases in sensors and processing power make the world a programmable system.

• New media ecology - New communication tools require new media literacies beyond text.

• Superstructured organizations - Social technologies drive new forms of production and value creation.

• Globally connected world - Increased global interconnectivity puts diversity and adaptability at the centre of organisational operations.

The Institute for the Future, University of Phoenix

RearWriteWed 2011

The Institute for the Future, University of Phoenix

New Skills

Virtual collaboration - Ability to work productively, drive engagement and demonstrate presence as a member of a virtual team.

Future Work Skills 2020

New-media literacy - Ability to critically assess and develop content that uses new media forms, and to leverage these media for persuasive communications.

!will find

you!

“Your brand isn’t what you say, it is,

it’s what Google says it is…

It has the power to influence people to invest

(or divest) in you.”(Joel 2009)

(Anderson 2007)

“Social Media gives more people a voice and provides a powerful tool for value creation and competitive differentiation”

The Ages of Publicness

“We bring our private identities to our public acts - we decide in private where we stand on an issue, and making

that public is what allows us to join with like thinkers, share our ideas and organisation. At the same time our public lives

amid other people - hearing their ideas, arguments, and evidence - informs our private decisions.

Publicness depends on privacy.

...only today, technology brings new choices, risks and opportunities”

Jeff Jarvis, 2011

http://blog.rezscore.com/2011/09/the-500-year-evolution-of-the-resume/

LinkedIn Apply Button

https://developer.linkedin.com/apply

“Social Media gives more people a voice and provides a powerful tool for value creation and competitive differentiation”

We live in a world of mobile, social, and always-on media

“More than ever before, humans need to teach and learn from each other about human-centric

ways to use new tools.One important step that people can take is to

become more adept at five essential literacies: attention, crap detection, participation, collaboration, and network know-how.”

Howard Rheingold, 2011

Who will prepare our students?

The importance of

• developing an online brand• making professional connections• engaging with a wider audience• listening, producing and sharing• using the most relevant social media tool for

the task in hand

LinkedIn AppsLinkedIn Applications enable you to enrich your profile,

openly share and collaborate with your network.

LinkedIn Apps

Created using: http://resume.linkedinlabs.com/

A resume creates from LinkedIn profile

LinkedIn Apps

Created using: http://vizualize.me/

A visualisation of your LinkedIn profile

LinkedIn Apps

LinkedIn Apps

Created using: http://www.cardmunch.com/

Turns business cards into LinkedIn contacts

LinkedIn Apps

Created using: http://inmaps.linkedinlabs.com/

An interactive visualisation of your LinkedIn connections

http://www.linkedin.com/studentjobs

LinkedIn Apps

http://careers.guardian.co.uk/

http://careers.guardian.co.uk/careers-blog/jobs-applications-and-cvs

Live Q&A: CV and job applications clinicWhat are the big no-nos for CVs? And how can

you improve your job applications?Ask the experts

Engage with free expert

advice

Tweet Alerts

Secure your name

Differentiation

Standing out from the crowd

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Hire-Me-Krispy-Kreme-Philly/173261036031235

@HireMeKrspyKrme

http://googlepleasehire.me/

Michael Warshafsky

Work experience

Blogs as collaborative portfolios

http://misssilhouette.wordpress.com

Blogs for collaborative work

http://quadblogging.net/

“A splendidly simple scheme created by @deputymitchell that provides a willing audience for new bloggers by grouping together four schools with similar blogging requirements. During week 1 the pupils in school A take responsibility for writing a series of posts on their blog, whilst the pupils in schools B, C and D concentrate their efforts on reading these posts and commenting on them. On week 2 school B takes over responsibility for writing the posts whilst the pupils in the other three schools develop their commenting skills. And so it continues until an agreed deadline. Ingenious!” http://www.scoop.it/t/quadblogging

That's not to say the safety of the walled garden does not have a valuable place

Consider a scaffolded approach to build confidence and experience

Private spaces are important too

Twitter Widget

>>> embed in Blackboard

http://www.twitterfountain.com/

Raising awareness - social media can be very open and public

Sue BeckinghamEducational DeveloperFaculty of ACESSheffield Hallam Uni

@suebeckshttp://uk.linkedin.com/in/suebeckinghamhttp://gplus.to/suebecks