Social Networking for Student Engagement

UPeers allows admits, current students, and alumni to learn more about their peers, share interests, build relationships, form study groups and communicate with mentors.

UPeers enables admitted students to begin interacting from the moment of acceptance, building relationships and forming a dynamic that can woo students who are “on the fence” on their decision to enroll at a particular school.

Wartman points out "Facebook is their directory. It's the first place they go to find social information. You can think of a student union and how it acts as the hub of student activity and connection. Well, there's a new student union, and it's online."

Rachel Reuben, director of web communication and strategic projects at SUNY New Paltz, recommends, "Just focus on a couple of tools. Focus on where your audience is. For us, that's Facebook."

Menck says Twitter has increased the amount of communication she has with students. She gets direct messages from students about the industry or the course. She also "listens" to the conversations students have with each other on Twitter to gauge what they're interested in or what questions they have.

Twitter also allows faculty members to post links to what they're reading. Students who "follow" a professor's tweets can get a look at the news stories that help inform their professor's lectures or connect with the experts their teachers are following.

But others, particularly those who teach in communications fields, are finding that Twitter and other social media are key devices for students and faculty to include in their professional toolbox.

John Jordan, an associate professor in UWM's communication department, teaches students about social media but doesn't use Facebook or Twitter with students, opting for more formal channels of communication. "Not all of yourself can be public," he said. "There are notions of professionalism. Just the little back and forth that you have with your friends - you may not want your students to ask you about that."