ENGAGING STUDENTS THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA

Computers in Libraries 2014

Engaging Students through Social Media

Beth McGough, ProQuest

elizabeth.mcgough@proquest.com @BethMcGough79

2

Agenda

• Introduction• Use of social media• Social media for study and research• Training in the use of social media• Recommendations

#CILDC

3

Introduction

4

Overall findings

Students use social media to seek out, collaborate and obtain information from classmates and academic peers

Even if they are not interacting with the library they are open to doing so

Enabling and fostering the use of social media for organizing and sharing research is an ideal role for libraries

However, the study revealed students do not consider social media an appropriate information source for research

USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA

Among graduate and undergraduate students

6

Use of social media

7

Use of social media for specific tasks

SOCIAL MEDIA FOR STUDY AND RESEARCH

9

Social media for study and research

10

Students are using social media for study and research

11

Training in the use of social media

12

Interest in library services through social media

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR LIBRARIES

14

Recommendations: Use of social media

1

• Consider establishing a presence on Facebook and Twitter if you have not already

• Consider other site such as Instagram, Pinterest, or Tumblr

2• Post regular library-related updates

3

• “Follow” or “Like” prominent individuals and academic/student organizations, encourage them to share library posts with their networks

15

Recommendations: Current and likely use of social media

1

• Set up LinkedIn groups or point students toward Groups specific to academic disciplines for graduate students in particular

• Secondarily, establish a page on Google+ and create groups specific to academic disciplines

• Consider creative uses of other sites such as Pinterest

2

• Create community pages or sites for specific academic disciplines, hosted by the library

• Provide widgets for faculty or students to embed in blogs or class web pages

3

• Provide online tools for organizing research, managing citations, sharing and collaboration, such as RefWorks, ProQuest Flow or Mendeley

16

Recommendations: Training in the use of social media

1

• Expand information-literacy instruction to include social media for research

• Teach students about the social media features of online databases and research tools

2

• Show students how to connect with librarians through Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and LinkedIn

• Teach students to connect with researchers in their discipline through social media, such as how to participate in a Twitter chat or how to find researchers with similar interests on Twitter or Reddit

3

• Introduce and inform graduate students about other sites with discipline-specific communities, such as ResearchGate, Quora and the editing side of Wikipedia

4

• Consider including Cloud-based tools such as Dropbox, Google Drive, and school services such as an intranet or Blackboard/Moodle in information-literacy efforts

QUESTIONS

Whitepaper, Student Use of Social Media, http://prq.st/1ca9AcB

Infographic, Student Use of Social Media, http://prq.st/1b8pgYw

http://www.slideshare.com/ProQuest

elizabeth.mcgough@proquest.com

@BethMcGough79

Further Reading

• Dudenhoffer, C. (2012). Pin it!: Pinterest as a library marketing and information literacy tool. College & Research Libraries News, 73(6), 328-332.

• Witek, D., & Grettano, T. (2012). Information literacy on facebook: An analysis. Reference Services Review, 40(2), 242-257.

• Hicks, A., & Graber, A. (2010). Shifting paradigms: Teaching, learning and web 2.0. Reference Services Review, 38(4), 621-633.

• Kelly, B. (2013). Using Social Media to Enhance Your Research Activities. In: Social Media in Social Research 2013 conference, 2013-06-24 – 2013-06-24, London.