Presentation for the RAISE conference 2014

1. Student Engagement and
Collaboration in the Use of
Social Media
Moira McLoughlin, Wendy Sinclair, Neil Withnell
&
3rd year students
Rachel Roberts & Paula Evans
From the School of Nursing, Midwifery, Social Work &
Social Sciences

2. • March 2013 setting up a School of Nursing Twitter account.
• One academic & one student made a good start but limited
momentum – a good idea that needed revisiting
• January 2014 – a more focused attempt with 3 academics and
clearer aims for the future
• Collaboration between staff and students was key
• Promote the work of the School locally, nationally & globally
• Development of students professional identity
• Twitter account and blog via www.wordpress.com

3. Statistics
• Since January 2014 there have been more student curators
than academics (15 students, 11 academics)
• The account has grown exponentially and in 8 months is now at
over 2k followers
• 475 replies to tweets in last 28 days (average 16 replies per day
demonstrating engagement)
• Average of between 5-10k impressions each day
• Almost 4k views of
http://salforduniversitynursing.wordpress.com/ to date
• 4 x Facebook pages now up and running for each field of
practice

4. Student
experiences
• Confidence building
• Digital professionalism to go beyond
university
• Engaging with new contacts in areas of
nursing specialism
• Sharing best practice
• Breaks down lecturer/student hierarchy
• Enjoyable and positive experience!

5. Staff experiences
it has shown me the
true value of twitter as
a professional
learning and
connecting tool
I was immediately
struck by the power of
SoMe and its impact on
learning and driving
change
instead of being wary
and suspicious of social
media in a professional
context we need to
nurture it and help it
flourish

6. What next…?
• Guest curators – field specific and wider (including
service users)
• Tweetchats in partnership with @wenurses and also in
house
• Increase staff and student numbers for curation this
second year

7. Any Questions?