Is it the responsibility of the University to teach Social Media to Students and Academics?
1. Is it the responsibility of the university
to teach social media to students and
academics?
Andy Tattersall
@andy_tattersall
a.tattersall@sheffield.ac.uk
3. But what about?
Data torrents
Altmetrics
Systematic review wikis
Data citation standards
Snowball metrics
Poster repositories
User generated publication databases (Mendeley)
Academic social networks
Storytelling
8. Why is teaching social media to undergrads
important?Communication skills*
Netiquette
Transferable skills* (may go on to use social media professionally)
Employment opportunities*
Critical appraisal skills*
Equality and diversity awareness
Technology skills*
9. Transferable skills
We already teach students these skills
Literature searching
Critical appraisal
Content curation
Presentation skills
Writing skills
Technology skills
But are we doing enough? Do we have the resources to go further?
10. Plus it might help them not get expelled
Tweets Get Student Expelled: A Cautionary Tale
Indiana High School Student, Expelled For Tweeting Profanity
Florida college student expelled over Yik Yak post
Student expelled from university after being tracked down by social
media campaign for tipping elderly homeless man head-first into bin
Student jailed for racist Fabrice Muamba tweets1. http://www.educationworld.com/a_admin/tweets-get-student-expelled.shtml
2. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/25/austin-carroll-indiana-hi_n_1378250.html
3. http://fusion.net/story/195454/florida-college-student-kicked-out-of-school-over-yik-yak-post/
4. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2719756/Student-expelled-university-tracked-social-media-campaign-tipping-elderly-
homeless-man-head-bin.html
5. http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2012/mar/27/student-jailed-fabrice-muamba-tweets
12. But it’s not just the students
Nottingham University lecturer forced to apologise after branding students
'idiots' and 'semi-literate' on Facebook
“Whites are disgusting” lecturer sacked
Professor fired after posting homophobic remarks on Facebook
Transgender lecturer ‘sacked over photo of penis-shaped lipstick’
University of Illinois fires professor Steven Salaita after Gaza massacre tweets
1. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2552397/University-lecturer-forced-apologise-branding-students-idiots-semi-literate-
Facebook.html
2. http://businesstech.co.za/news/general/97779/sa-university-sacks-lecturer-over-racist-statements/
3. http://www.aol.com/article/2015/07/23/professor-fired-after-posting-homophobic-remarks/21212670/
4. http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2015/10/14/transgender-lecturer-sacked-over-photo-of-penis-shaped-lipstick/
5. https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/university-illinois-fires-professor-steven-salaita-after-gaza-massacre-tweets
18. But there is a limit
Cyber bullying of staff and students
Sexism
Witch hunts
Cheating/plagiarism
Inciting religious hatred
Racism
19. How social media is being used on campus
Twitter: to share resources, reading lists, distance learning, pre and post lecture
discussion
Blogs: Reflective practice, collaboration, short assessed work
Video: Group work, presentations, visual performance, feedback
Facebook: Group cohesion, distance learning, alumni, course discussion
Video conference: Group work, seminars, one to one tuition
20. Social media and masters/PhD students
Employability
Active citizenship
Digital skills
Communication/dissemination skills (open research)
23. Undertaking a PhD.
Build a network of contacts
Gain a reputation in your field of expertise
Build an online presence
Discover supporting content for your thesis
Get your research out there - impact
All can be achieved with social media
24.
25. Social Networks are:
It’s not what you know, but who you know
+
It’s what they know as well
= Social Capital
25
33. Social Media & Dr John Holmes
“Twitter has been useful for sustaining and building relationships with
academics outside Sheffield. It provides a starting point for conversation at
conferences, a sense of the interests of potential collaborators and a way
of identifying who the people you should be talking to are.
Although trolls are generally to be avoided, those hostile to public health
perspectives are not all trolls. Engagement with those people is useful as
it exposes you to different perspectives on your work, can help you
understand how it is regarded by those outside the scientific and public
health community, identify the key criticisms of your work (and the best
way to respond to them) and lead you toward new research questions and
ideas. In short, it helps you think about public health outside of a lefty,
state intervention, received wisdom on 'what works' paradigm.”
34. Social Media & Professor Allan Pacey MBE
“See social media as part of one continuum, it is the spine
of what I do”
“Puts a human face to your professional profile, helps
public and patients see who I am, some patients follow my
updates”
Recent £750,000 MRC Grant aided by solid impact
statement backed by strong public profile - “Referee’s
comment was I cannot fault it”
“Helps me stay top of my game”
35. 849 for video
229 for Facebook
232 for Twitter
270 for ‘social media’
46. Social Media & Professor Trish Greenhalgh
“I’ve got my last two PhD students from Twitter”
“I’ve got my most recent research collaboration from
Twitter”
“I was invited to edit a major new journal article series via a
message on Twitter”
“Our paper ‘EBM – a movement in crisis’ was the most
highly cited paper in the BMJ in 2014 directly because of a
targeted twitter campaign to promote it.”
50. The dissemination and communication of
research is changing
Presentations and seminars
Funding and ethics applications
Academic books
Journal articles and posters
Term papers and essays
Meetings and conferences
Correspondence
Open access
Supplementary data
Online reference managers
Press
Post-publication peer-review
Social media
Blogs
51.
52. Development of altmetrics (alternative indicators)
To complement, not replace traditional metrics
Help people understand how research is being received and used, and by
who
Not intended as an indicator of quality
Can help provide further evidence of engagement and ‘societal impact’
Give credit for research outputs other than articles
53. Traditional metrics struggle to reflect this
- Slow to accrue
- Focus mostly on published articles
Published
June 2014: