Legal Research

Social Media in Higher Education

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Picked up from Kate Worlock on the Outsell blog.

Professors Get Social

“A new survey from Pearson, ?Social Media in Higher Education? (embedded below), suggests that the use of social media by US higher education faculty is higher than has previously been thought. The survey also indicates that age is a poor indicator of likelihood to use social media ? this confirms Outsell?s earlier finding in our January 2010 report, End-User Generational Analysis: How Age Relates to Information Habits.

Other findings from the new survey include:

1. Nearly 25% of the 1000 respondents had accounts on four or more social networks;
2. A reasonably high number, more than 30% communicate with students using social networks (this is likely to be far lower in a K-12 setting)
3. Just over half use video, podcasts, blogs and wikis as part of their classes.
4. Social media use is higher among faculty in the Humanities and Social Sciences than those in Mathematics, Science, Business and Economics.
5. Facebook was the most widely used social media service, with more than 60% of respondents having a Facebook account. However, YouTube was most commonly used for communicating with students.
6. Despite the high take-up, 25% of respondents disagreed or strongly disagreed with the statement that social networks are valuable for communicating with students.

All of this indicates that reaching faculty through social media is becoming much easier, and that providing tools via social media platforms for them to use with their students is an increasingly valuable service. However, it is also clear that not all educators are convinced at this stage of the game.”

Stephen

Full post as published by Stephen's Lighthouse on May 08, 2010 (boomark / email).