Joy D. Britt MPH Graduate Student Center for Community Engagement & Learning Diane Hirshberg

1. Student and Faculty Knowledge of Social Media Joy D. Britt MPH Graduate Student Center for Community Engagement & Learning Diane Hirshberg Associate Professor of Education Policy Institute of Social and Economic Research

2. Setting the Context • Student-led initiative exploring the use of social media (SM) tools to facilitate civic, educational and political engagement in undergraduate and graduate students • Paper and online survey of UAA Faculty & Students on knowledge, opinions and use of SM tools • Survey findings will guide next steps toward promoting use of SM for engagement and learning around a specific focus topic (to be determined by student leaders)

3. About • Open access institution, AA to Masters degrees • Students (Fall 2009) • Headcount 15,662 • Full-time 6,494 • Part-time 9,168 • Distance Education 6,260 • Faculty (Fall 2009) • Regular Faculty 536 • Adjunct Faculty 447

4. Survey Demographics

5. Top Ten most familiar SM tools Students

6. Top Ten most familiar SM tools Faculty

7. How often are SM tools used? Students Faculty

8. “If you do not use SM tools described above, why not?”

9. If you do not use social media tools, would you be interested in learning how? Students Faculty

10. Have your professors used or are they presently using social media tools in the classroom? Yes: 78% No: 22% Have you used or are you presently using social media tools in the classroom? Yes: 66% No: 36% Students Faculty

11. Tools faculty use: Top 8 Faculty responses

12. With the use of social media, was the class environment: More Engaging Somewhat Engaging Students More Engaging Somewhat Engaging Faculty

13. How important do you think SM tools are to the future? Students 3% 50% 20% 30% Faculty 6% 42% 21% 31%

14. How beneficial do you think SM tools are to the future of education? Students 49% 31% 18% 3% 31% 31% 35% Faculty 6%

15. “Would you prefer the use of more social media tools incorporated into classes?” 65% 61% 41% 37%

16. Would you feel more connected to: through the use of SM tools.. Students Faculty Students

17. “Do you feel more informed / aware of news because of social media?” 47% 53% 17% 85%

18. “Do you think social media tools allow you to become more engaged in community, nation and worldly issues?” 78% 52% 49% 22%

19. Summary & Next Steps • Faculty and students generally favorable toward using SM tools • Training on SM tools needed on campus • Next steps: • Experiment with SM to engage students in upcoming elections • Led by eCitizenship Student Council, with support from eCitizenship Faculty Council • Identify topic area for project post-election • Identify Community Partners for project • Collaborate with the UAA Faculty Technology Center (FTC) & the Center for Advancing Faculty Excellence (CAFE) to: • Have faculty demonstrate how they use SM in the classroom • Provide technical training for faculty on using SM tools in the classroom (Student led)

20. Thank You! Joy Britt Center for Community Engagement and Learning joybritt@uaa.alaska.edu 907-786-4011 Diane Hirshberg Institute of Social and Economic Research Hirshberg@uaa.alaska.edu 907-786-5413 www.uaa.alaska.edu/engage/