3 Ways to Inform Your Students About the Benefits & Dangers of Social Media

1. Give Them a Reading List

Perhaps you teach a first year seminar course or maybe you just send out a welcome email to your incoming students. Anytime that you have an opportunity to share information about the appropriate use of social networks, I believe that you should do it. Students are not receiving this information from high schools or parents yet so academic advisors (and other student affairs professionals) need to fill this role.

Some suggested articles to get you started:

50 Social Networking Rules for College Students

6 Ways to Connect with Millennials About Social Networking


2. Friend Them

I have no problem accepting a friend request of a student who sends one. It seems to facilitate communication between us; especially with those students who do not respond to regular email. Sensitive or confidential information is never discussed via this medium and really is more of a way for my students to reach out to me and ask questions about appointment scheduling. In addition, being able to see them on my "student" friend list helps me to keep track of them and contact each of them more frequently than if I only could see their name and email address in an excel file. For some reason, the pictures really help.

By accepting these friend requests, we are again being given an opportunity to "teach" our students about the proper use of social networks. We don't even need to troll through their profiles to do this. I simply send out links to all of my student "friends" on facebook about using LinkedIn for professional networking or relevant news articles on the uses and abuses of social networking. This way I am providing them with information while at the same time allowing them to engage with me in a way that they are comfortable and familiar with.

3. Search Them

Some of the students in my first year experience told me about a peer mentor (student assistant) in another section who was allowed to go onto Facebook and unearth inappropriate material on the first year student profile pages. While I wouldn't advocate going this far in most classrooms, I do think that it might be helpful to surf through some profile pages to get a sense of what the general student populous at your institution is putting online.

Are the benefits of social networking being emphasized on your campus? Do students seem to understand the privacy settings that are available to them? Perhaps you'll stumble across a really great profile which can help you speak to other students about what to do to create a successful and appropriate profile.

If you know a student particularly well or perhaps are working with the student in a mentor/mentee relationship it might be entirely appropriate to go over the profile pages together to ensure that everything is on the up and up. This alleviates the issue of breaching a students trust while also providing the opportunity for a "teachable moment".

Podcasting in Academic Advising

Did you know that NACADA has a listing of podcasts for academic advising professionals?

I didn't either until I went to Google and searched for them. Unfortunately it doesn't seem as though the page has been updated recently.

One of the podcasts that I found particularly intriguing is The Role of Silence in Academic Advising by Sarah May Clarkson of Juanita College. I haven't yet had a chance to listen to the actual audio of the podcast, but I think that silence is an important component of an advising session. Within my own practice, I'm not sure how well I actually do at working in this notion. Hopefully after listening to this podcast I will gain some insight into how to do it better.

I have recently tried to incorporate some podcasts into my Facebook fan page for my advising center. Currently, these podcasts are merely the reading of some of our most popular handouts. My intent with this practice is to assist students in obtaining advising information who might be more comfortable listening to information than reading it.

Even though in theory podcasting sounds like a great idea, I'm not sure how many students are actually utilizing this technology. Most ipods only contain popular music; most definitely not podcasts on choosing an academic major or planning for a career. My question at this point is whether or not I should continue to add podcasts to my site (and create them) or perhaps abandon this practice since students simply aren't using them.

Thoughts?

Additional links to information on podcasting in academic advisement:

Institutional Podcasts, Webcasts, and Audio Downloads

Lessons in Podcasting: A One Year Retrospective

LectureCasting: Podcasting Best Practices

Podcasting in Higher Education: An Annotated Bibliography

A Twitter Revolution: Explosion in users, media mentions

Is it just me or has twitter EXPLODED? Within the last 2 weeks I have heard more and more about it on television, in print, and in my inbox. Friends from high school are now starting to follow me on my professional account and the advisors whom I presented to in Saratoga Springs, NY were eager to learn more about it. I am envisioning a twitter session in my future...

I was definitely skeptical of its power and usage, but once I saw the power at the NACADA Technology Seminar I was hooked. Twitter almost does itself a disservice with its "What are you doing?" tag line. This gives the impression that the material being shared isn't very meaningful. Some of the skeptics that I talked to mentioned that it was a waste of their time to read tweets about what flavor of ice cream people are eating at any given moment.

Their opinion of the tool is one that I can fully understand given the way that twitter is marketed in most circles. I'm not sure how the new Facebook update will impact this new twitter revolution but I'm thinking it might actually fuel the fire in some respects.

What say you?

Do you have room for some delicious feedback?

Before I start reflecting on my presentation I wanted to post the general feedback...meditate on it and then comment. I think that the general sense is that more people want to get involved with technology and just need a forum to get more information. Stay tuned for more ruminations to come.

Comments on my presentation:

Enthusiastic...very informative
Keep going and present more sessions at future conferences
Facebook, website, wiki presentations...showing how you link delicious to other sites lost me a little because i am not internet savvy in that sense. Great job!
A publication would be easier to understand
Very lively!
Very engaging and informative. I plan to go back and set up an account.
Present at an indepth seminar, regional or national conference
Copy of presentation (@ least an outline) would have been helpful in order to follow along and see what's coming next
Spontaniety and freedom from powerpoint. Jillian was motivational.
Work on voice; deeper for increased maturity and credibility
Real time demo of how to set up and use these sites was helpful.
Don't jump around so much-topic to topic-Hard to follow, especially when terms are unfamiliar
Thank you very interesting.
Please present at another regional conference.
Pertinent technical information-Great to learn from; present at NACADA National Conference
Good information, tools...More presentations!
In-depth institute or seminar
Jillian is a star. She will go far in whatever she does.
Present at NACADA National Conference
Energetic. Good presentation. Relevant.
Interesting and lively.
Keep having fun with this.
New technology was presented. Yah!
Good enthusiasm, but lower your voice and slow down a bit. Great job!
Great job. I clearly need to learn much more about this!
I now realize that there is a lot of technology to be used.
Slow down, talk more slowly.
Try to limit mention of all the technology. Bring handout with definitions of language; technology.
Introduction of resources to play with later.
New tool, great enthusiasm.
Take questions when asked, rather than saying you'll go over later because listeners don't know when/if you finally answered the question.
She did a very good job, high energy and communicated effectively.

Vlog: Saratoga Springs NY Region 1 Conference Day 1

Vlog: NACADA Region 1 Conference Saratoga Springs, NY

NACADA Region 1 Conference Homepage

Oh No! I Have to Tell my Boss about Social Media

Social media is really starting to go viral. How many of us now have long lost friends requesting us to join  services like Facebook or  Twitter to keep in touch with each other? How many times have you heard of "twitter polls" or "facebook discussions" referenced on mainstream media channels? Everyone is jumping on the social media band wagon. And you think your advising center should too!

But...how do you pitch the idea to your boss/supervisor? These technologies are not exactly simple to understand at the surface level. Here are some tips to pitch and sell social media to your superiors.

1. Use Lee LeFever's "Plain English" Series

This series can prime your supervisor for what you are about to discuss. Be sure to share these links (or point to this blog) before your meeting. Most people have heard of social media and some of the applications included in it, but most people are just now starting to latch onto the idea. These videos are easy to understand and really drive home the key concepts of almost all of the social media applications. 

• Twitter in Plain English
• Social Bookmarking in Plain English
• Wiki's in Plain English
• Social Media in Plain English
• RSS in Plain English
• Social Networking in Plain English
• Blogs in Plain English
• Podcasting in Plain English
• Online Photosharing in Plain English

2. Come in with some examples of others work

Find others who have already implemented social media into their advising practice successfully. 

Twitter

• Columbia University Center for Student Advising
• University at Buffalo- Student Advising Services
• University of Wisconsin Green Bay Academic Advising
• Bismark State College Academic Advisement 

Facebook (Social Networking)

• University at Buffalo-Student Advising Services
• Revelle College Academic Advising
• Dyson College Academic Advising

Social Bookmarking

• University at Buffalo-Student Advising Services
• University at Buffalo-Student Advising Services Tag Cloud

Wikis

• University of Memphis- Academic Advising Handbook
• Utah Valley College- Advising Handbook

Blogs

• University at Buffalo- Be Advised Newsletter
• John Carroll University Academic Advising Blog
• ASA Tutor Blog

3. Have "mock ups" of your own work

Facebook allows you to create a "fan page" without actually publishing it. This makes it very easy to show your supervisor and make any changes that he or she suggests before actually making it public. It's always easier to sell an idea when the ideas are tangible. 

4. Show that you've done the research

What information do you have to back up the assertation that social media is something you should invest time and money into? What are students looking? What are the most cost effective ways to start? How much of your time will be involved? Have answers to these and other questions before going into the meeting. A good way to do this is start a social bookmarking account and keep track of all the articles you read. This is also a great way to find others who are researching social media in advising and share information. You can take a look at the resarch that I've done and then navigate through my network (other advisors who are interested in technology) to find the most current research. Add your own and help us grow!

5. Have a plan

You absolutely MUST read How to Sell Social Media... before your meeting. 

Additionally, most supervisors want to know all of the specifics about how you are going to execute your project before you actually do it. Think about the time involved, what could go wrong, the long-term and short-term goals etc. 

6. Stay current

The business of social media is changing ever day. Be sure to continously read blogs on education and technology, develop a way to communicate with other professionals who are interested in the same things that you are, and always try to be a bit ahead of the curve. 

My Lament Over Fan Pages

I wanted to give myself a few days to check out the facebook fan pages before I posted about it. Honestly... I have to say I dislike the new design. Perhaps with time it will grow on me but I truly liked the way it "used to be" when all the pertinent information was on the front page for all to see. Now vistors have to click on "boxes" to get to all of the "important" information.

I use the term important loosely because anything REALLY important probably shouldn't be posted on Facebook to begin with. The new "stream" is a positive update but again I just feel like that's all students will look at and never see the really "meat" of the page. 

However, fan pages do now look more like profiles so if users are  used to clicking on all those boxes in order to obtain information on profiles, perhaps they will do the same with fan pages. We shall see. 

I am interested in others reactions to the new roll out. The status updates are great though! Can't thank the FB team for those enough. 

Maybe its time to rethink the love affair with Facebook... I keep thinking that twitter is about to break out into the mainstream. Hearing more and more about it in the mainstream media which always means more "followers". 

To Tech or Not to Tech: That is the Advising Question

At a recent NACADA seminar I attended a pre-conference survey was sent out to participants and asked the following questions. I thought that they were pretty thought-provoking and wanted to share my answers here.

I would love to hear others answers to them as well.

Are there some aspects of advising/student services which cannot be facilitated by technology?

I think that there are. Even though I am a huge proponent of technology in advising (i.e., web camera advising, skypeing with students, use of Facebook) I still think that students want a real person that they can spill their guts to at certain points. There is something about establishing relationships with students that simply can't be done online...there is no substitute for a friendly smile or a personal "keep going" note to encourage someone.

It's my position that advisors use technology to make their jobs easier and to assist our students in learning 21st century skills. When the world is going completely online, they have to be able to navigate it. The use of social networking and other online applications helps us to do that because students are already living in those spaces.

Are there aspects of advising/student services which are diminished (or lost) by facilitation with technology?

I do think that as we move more towards having resources available online exclusively (e.g., undergraduate catalogs, course notes) there are some things to be concerned with. There are issues of responsibility that come into play. Students must understand that checking email and responding to them is required, not optional. They also must understand that even though they aren't receiveing printed course descriptions and policy information theat they are still responsible for that material. Again, I will go back to the sentiment that its our responsibility to teach students how to fish for this information rather than spoon feeding it to them without acknowleding how we know it or where we found it.

Are there aspects of our work that are enhanced by using technology in advising/student services?

Yes yes yes!!!! The enhancements are endless. Take for example this blog... it would be difficult for me to interact with as many of you as I do without technology. We have formed professional development groups to share knowledge that previously would have required travel and money that our institutions just do not have right now.

In terms of students, we now have the ability (whether we like it or not) to help students at any time of the day or night...to point them to internet resources and video clips about majors/careers...we can put them in touch with people across the nation who are interested in doing what they wish to do with their lives... the possibilities are truly endless.

The ultimate goal should not be to abandon the "old" ways of advising but to supplement or streamline the process with the "new" ways.

Are there students we are not assisting well by using technology in advising/student services? This is an area of concern for me right now. I wonder how the migration of so much information to online resource centers is affecting students with disabilities. Some applications are better than their predecessors because they have accessibility options built right into them, but others are not that far advanced yet. We are seeing an upswing in the number of accessible options on websites (think about those bot protectors where you have to enter characters to ensure that you are a real person...many of those are now coming with audible options). We tend not to think of this group however when discussing technology and "all it can do for us" but we definitely should. I would love to hear more from anyone who is using web 2.0 applications with students with disabilities.

NACADA Tech Seminar: Day 1

Clearwater isn’t everything that I thought it would be… I was expecting more “things to do” but really this is a one-trick pony town…the beach. Not that that’s bad but I somehow have already managed to get a sunburn… Had lunch @ a fantastic place called the Clear Sky Café…brie BLT sandwich. Then spent some time on the beach and eventually wandered over to the Faculty/Team Leaders meeting.

The team leaders all seem great and come from a variety of backgrounds. It's nice to be able to interact with those who are at different types of institutions and share knowledge. The faculty members are also fantastic! NACADA is blessed to them them leading this seminar. Charlie Nutt, Executive Office NACADA, even made an appearance!

After the meeting, we all headed over to Crabby Bills for some seafood. I think I know why Bill is Crabby...the food was sub par at best. I had the chance to speak with Randy from DePaul and Ginger from Ozark Technical College extensively over dinner. Great conversation and ideas are starting to flow already.

One thing that George Steele brought up at dinner with how his center is using a FAQ's page to answer the commonly asked questions of his center. This would be a great way to reduce the email load on advisors (i.e., they don't need to reply to the same question over and over again) and provide instant answers to student questions. It seems that this type of FAQ would be ideal but I would love to hear if any other centers are using something similar to this.

That was it for today, but tomorrow is promising to be productive! 

Be sure to check out the 2009 Tech Seminar Hub for all of our information. 

Daily Advising Update :Pithy Comments Edition

Spent some time checking out the NACADA Technology in Advising Commission Page. It looks like many of the links on the resource page need to be updated. There are lots of 404 errors. It also seems as though the commission reports have gone dormant since 2003! Things clearly have changed in 6 years.

Perhaps the folks at the NACADA Tech Seminar next week will have some insight into how we can improve this commission and jump start it! At minimum we could update the resources so that others (who are interested in other areas of advising) can have the most up-to-date information regarding technology in advising when they visit our page (or the general NACADA resource page).

Speaking of the upcoming seminar, I can't wait to get out of this Buffalo cold and into some Florida sunshine. Hopefully it won't rain! There should be some time the first day that I arrive to "beach it" and then I will be attending the seminar's team leader meeting. Apparently there will also be dinner at Crabby Bill's (no... not Crabby Jill's).

My main projects today were working on the upcoming Student Advising Services Facebook Page (not yet published)! We previously had had a group for READY @ UB (Researching, Exploring, And Developing Yourself) but I really think that a page will be more effective for our purposes. We will continue to maintain the group but use the page as a springboard to get students there in the first place. Anyone have any thoughts on the pros/cons of using a page for an advising center versus a group? I know that there are a few websites out there that point you in this direction, but nothing from the advising standpoint. We are pioneers!

Do You Ning?

Technology and Academic Advising on Ning

Ning is home to a group called Technology and Academic Advising where advisors who have interest in technology can gather. This particular group looks like it has gone stagnant since there hasn't been much new activity since April 2008.

There has been much talk about Ning replacing Facebook as the social network of choice for those of us in the higher education realm. It is supposedly more secure than Facebook and allows you to customize more then the Facebook interface.

My personal take on Ning is that it isn't going to catch on. It doesn't serve any new purpose and Facebook is now able to integrate with Schools on Facebook to provide the secure access that institutions are looking for. This group would be useful if there was more collaboration going on. There are not any other academic advising Ning sites out there aimed at professional advisors.

I had also thought about starting a Ning site for my students, but again I don't know how useful it would be. Are any other advisors using Ning with their advisee's? Hopefully this topic will be addressed at the technology seminar.

Hiatus & NACADA Activities

First of all, apologies for the hiatus in posting. I was completing my comprehensive exams to get my master's degree so much of my time was occupied reading Pasacarella and Terenzini (1991, 2005). Hope everyone is still with me!

Secondly, I wanted to post a little reminder about some upcoming NACADA events that really have me excited!

Advising 2.0: Utilizing Technology Effectively for Campus-wide Advising

Being held February 12-13, 2009 in Clearwater, FL. the Technology Seminar is promising to be an exciting and informative event. I will be attending (Thanks to a NACADA Region 1 scholarship) and blogging at the event. It is my hope that readers will jump on board with comments and thoughts so that I can ask any questions you may have.

Some of the topics to be covered include: Social Networking Sites (i.e., Facebook, Ning), Wikis, Using Web Based Surveys, Blogs and Microblogs, Confidentiality, Web 2.0 and advising, Photosharing, and Making Connections Between Tools.

Faculty members include George Steele, Eric Stoller, Karen Thurmond, and Laura Pasquini.

You still have time to register! Come join us in Clearwater, FL. for some web "surfing" and sun.

NACADA Regional Conferences

Regional conferences are a fantastic way to network with your colleagues, but also stay close to your home-base. I would encourage everyone to check out their nearest Regional meeting and attend if at all possible.

I will be attending and presenting with one of my colleagues at the Region 1 Conference being held in Saratoga Springs, NY on March 11-13, 2009. My presentation is going to be on the use of social bookmarking as a tool for major and career exploration.

Many of the other Regions are still looking for proposals. I would encourage everyone to submit an abstract of something that your working on and get involved head-first with the organization. There is nothing more rewarding than sharing your work with others!

Anyone have any good presentation tips for me? I am all ears.

NACADA Annual Conference

NACADA is going deep into the heart of Texas for their next annual conference. I am looking forward to this one since I have never had the chance to go to Texas. I have submitted by Social Bookmarking proposal to the conference as well, but haven't heard anything yet about it being accepted or not.

The last Annual conference that I went to, Chicago, was amazing! There were so many great sessions and opportunities to network. All of my notes from those sessions are on the blog if anyone would like to look them over. That's actually how this blog got started--as a repository for notes and other professional development activities.

Finally, look for an upcoming post on the new 2009 Horizon Report. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the document, it presents the technologies to watch for the upcoming year in
education.

The Network is the Learning (Siemen's Theory of Connectivism)

Reading and viewing the work of George Siemens has long been on my to-do list. After having it bookmarked on my delicious account for so long, the opportunity finally presented itself to get it done. I would highly recommend that anyone interested in higher education, academic advising and technology take just 10 minutes to watch his Youtube videos. It is well worth your time. 

Brief Synopsis of George Siemens Big Ideas

Connectivism: A Learning Theory for the Digital Age

• Knowledge is changing at a high rate of speed. What a student learns today may be obsolete by the time they complete their degree. 
• To keep up with these rapid changes, educators need to help students "know-where" to find information rather than simply knowing "how or what". 
• The practice of Connectivism will expose learners to a wide variety of ideas and opinions, assist them in connecting with scholars in the field, and help them to draw connections between areas of study. This is in stark contrast to the traditional notion of learning (i.e., student reads textbook which represents one point-of-view, authority is given to the disseminator of knowledge who may not be a scholar in the field and learning is linear). 
• Siemens states that "the network is the learning" rather than the actual knowledge being presented. 

Today's students are akin to the polymaths of the Renaissance. 

Our students are now expected to be knowledgeable in a wide-variety of disciplines no matter what their field of study. It is our job as advisors (Remember: Advising is teaching!) to assist them in honing their 21st century skills and learning how to find knowledge rather than trying to learn everything in a vacuum. The greatest skill we can teach them is how to locate the knowledge that they need to be successful. We can do this by implementing connectivism into our advising practice whenever possible. Some of us have already started. 

What ways can we implement Siemen's theory of connectivism into our practice? 

3 Unconventional Ways Academic Advisors Can Use Blogs with Advisees

Exploration and Documentation

In the past, many educators have used blogs to assist students in creating portfolios of their work whether it be throughout a course or a semester. I propose that advisors have their freshman students begin blogging when initial contact is made for course scheduling the summer prior to their arrival. Advisors could send out prompts to get the student started and then periodically require posting throughout their undergraduate experience. Since I work with undecided students, perhaps this could help them work through the process of finding what they love and excel at. Criticisms that I can think of right off the bat might be that students will not follow through with the assignments or that it would be difficult for advisors to read through all of those blog entries. My response to this is to consider the type of work that we currently undergo to help students select best-fit majors and then assist them in researching them. Blogs might just allow us to do this more efficiently, create a portfolio of student work and allow us to refer other students back to these blogs in the future for reference. That seems pretty efficient to me. 

 Workshop Archive 

Blogging is a collaborative medium and as such allows for groups of students to interact with each other easily. Many centers offer workshops throughout the semester on topics such as grades, time management, choosing a major and other like topics. Perhaps if the resources that we use to put on these workshops were created within one large "workshop"  blog, students would be able to access this information anytime they wanted to. This method would also eliminate the need to reinvent the wheel everytime a new semester rolls around. Whenever possible, a simple edit of the materials would do. Students could also collaborate with each other and contribute to the discussion. 

     A Repository of Knowledge

 Create one centralized blog for all of your personal advisee's as opposed to the main blog for your center. This may seem like duplicating work that's already been done, but think of it this way... how often do you send out emails which reiterate what's already been stated many times before elsewhere? A centralized blog could keep all of your students updated with one post. Emails could be sent out everytime you update without any additional work on your part. You could also post pre-appointment assignments that you would like students to complete, add important websites, etc. 

Academic Advisors Can Use Blogs with Advisees

NACADA Winter Seminar 2009 Here I Come!

NACADA Winter Seminar 2009 Here I Come!

First of all, I want to send a big thank you to NACADA for offering me a $500 scholarship to come down to Clearwater, Fl in February and talk about technology in advising. I would encourage others who haven't yet applied for any type of scholarship from NACADA to do so. You must be a member to apply and fill out a fairly simple application. 

TheTechnology Seminar  looks to be extremely informative with presenters Laura Pasquini, Eric Stoller, George Steele, and Karen Thurmond  serving as faculty members. The seminar schedule looks really intriguing and I am most  looking forward to participating in the social network and blog/microblog concurrent sessions. It is my hope that I will be able to spread the word about this blog as well as my application of delicious at the seminar. The application that I am most unfamiliar with, Twitter, will hopefully be discussed at length and I will come back with a better understanding of its applications. 

I would also encourage those who can't attend the conference but are interested in technology within advising to visit the Technology Seminar blog and participate with us. I will of course be blogging from the seminar and keeping everyone up-to-date on what's happening. 

Is there anything that I should be sure to ask about? Questions you want answered? Fire away and I will be sure to do my best to raise them. 

To Friend or Not To Friend: That is the Question

Do you "friend" your advisee's on Facebook? How do you handle their "friend" requests? 

Inside Higher Education recently published an article  by the authors of a new book regarding social networking on campuses. In it, they outline the most important things that campus professionals should know about Facebook, some of the most worrisome practices that students are engaging in and advice on handling those tricky friend requests. 

Facebook is a "Student Space" First and Foremost

This is often very difficult for me to keep in context because I view Facebook entirely different than current students do. When Facebook was first launched back in 2004, I was a sophomore student and wasn't sure what all the fuss was with this service. As time (and the application) progressed, so did my uses for it. In primative Facebook days, there was a "Classes" feature that would allow you to see other students who were enrolled in the same classes that you were. Since Facebook  is now shifting away from a college audience to a broader one this feature has been eliminated. 

My idea of Facebook has always included a component of academia whereas those students who are experiencing it for the first time now have no sense at all of what it was like at its inception. They only know it as being a social network where you can send gifts, send Zombie invitations, and never ever have to remember a birthday. Students do not always welcome the sight of administrators and professors in "their" corner of cyberspace. 

Worrisome Practices

Facebook addiction is something that many students have expressed to me during advisement appointments. They frequently cite its use as one of the reasons they are not completeing school work as well as a source of personal issues (e.g., a friend tags a photo of them in a precarious situation and won't remove the photo) which can interfere with their academic load. 

I think its important that we as advisors DO NOT forget that addiction to anything is possible. We need to listen to our students, offer suggestions for successful time management and make referreals to counseling services when necessary. 

To Friend or Not To Friend: That is the Question

While the article doesn't take a direct position on this, I am going to. 

DO add students who send friend requests to you.

DO NOT add students who did not request the add. 

If a student requests to be a friend, you may also set up a limited profile for them when they attempt to view your profile. As always I am a big advocate of keeping your profile as professional as possible (e.g., avoiding too many apps, keeping religious views and political views off) but there is the option to limit students access even further. 

Seeking out a student on Facebook and asking them to be your friend is, in my opinion, somewhat inappropriate. If there is a good rationale for seeking the student out (e.g., want to recommend them for something) you can send them a message rather than adding them to your network. 

Advising With Facebook

I have found that Facebook can be a great tool to get advisee's to interact with one another (via groups) and tremendously helps to keep students engaged with their academic lives. Creating a relationship where a student feels comfortable sending you electronic messages (whether email or Facebook) allows for a more holistic approach to advising. Facebook also allows us to meet students where they live; email isn't that place anymore. 

I will continue to respond to messages that my advisee's send to me via Facebook and continue to send them pertinent information via Facebook groups that they voluntarily join. One application that I would like to learn more about is the Schools on Facebook app (if any of your Universities are using it please let me know what you think!). 

So...Questions for my readers... 

What is your take on Facebook and advisement? Are you using it in your center? Do you agree or disagree with me regarding friending students?

Is blogging a thing of the past?

I had an interesting comment to a post on the NACADA linked in group that I belong to. A poster commented that blogging is already becoming passe and perhaps is now "old news."

I'm in complete disagreement with this since blogging seems to be a phenomenon that is just now catching on and going mainsteam. Even if people didn't read my blog, I would definitely continue to write it. It's a great way to document my work, interact with others, or even to use as a portfolio.

What say you? Is blogging a thing of the past?

A Solution for MIA Students?

Have you seen the latest application of iPhone technology?

The Chronicle of Higher Education has a short news blurb today about a Stanford student who developed an application for the iPhone which lets other students track their every move and locate them while they are on campus. I haven't done much research into this, but it does present an interesting idea.

How often have we been searching for student who simply refuses to answer our phone calls, repeatedly ignores our emails, and consistently misses appointments that are made? Perhaps if students are equipped with tracking software it make our lives a lot easier.

Obviously I mean this facetiously but it does pose an interesting question... will students eventually all be carrying iPhones in their pockets and beam information to each other (and potentially us!) on a consistent basis? My initial reaction is YES YES YES! However, this transition seems unlikely in the near (Read: 5 years) future. Beyond that, who knows?

Updates on DELICIOUS

** Please note: Post was impromptu and has not yet been edited for content or grammar**

Since I received a great comment today on a recent (ok... not so recent) post regarding READY and Delicious I thought it would be good to update the blog as well as answer some questions. I have been away in Florida for the last few weeks meeting my boyfriends new twin nieces and also touring the University of Florida. I will do a separate post discussing my trip there and my opinions/thoughts but first... to the business at hand.

Delicious...

As most of my readers know DELICIOUS is a social bookmarking application where users can tag links that are relevant to them and share them with the entire world or just a select few people if they so desire. The implications for academic advising are significant when you consider how many times we are asking students to take a broad look at their career interests, do research on them, etc. Delicious allows students of many different discplines to do this (as well as advisors and professors) and compile them in the aggregate for future students (and themselves) to utilize when considering majors and careers. This is particularly important because academic advisors can't possibly be competent and well versed in every area of study. Instead we are expected to be jack of all trades when it comes to knowing what types of careers students can get with a particular major, how much the projected salary is etc.

With DELICIOUS, students can compile all of their research into one area and use it for their personal reference as well as others. For an example of how we at the University at Buffalo are being to utilize the service, please visit
my delicious account.

You will see over to the right side a bunch of tag "bundles" entitled things like career exploration, career fields, General Advisement, Prehealth, Pre law, UB Courses etc. Each bundle gathers all the tags together on a particular theme and makes them easy to navigate. In particular, I would like to attract your attention to the career fields bundle. Underneath that bundle you will find tags which reference some of the most common careers or majors that we offer at UB (some that we don't are also included for reference purposes). If you were a student who was interested in learning more about the field of nutrition, you could go ahead and click on the "nutrition" tag. Once you have done this, you will be taken to a few links which highlight the latest news in nutrition, links to possible career fields within this field of study, salary information or whatever else we may have aggregated based on students we've previously worked with who have has an interest in nutrition.

This is helpful for undecided (or decided) students because they can easily integrate their research into our main database by becoming part of the academicadvisor's network or, if they choose not to create a delicious account, can access our resources without signing up or logging in. Students frequently come into my office with preconceived notions about what a particular career entails or how a major is chosen. With these links students can sift through information at a rapid pace while also learning more about all of the career options available to them.

The social networking aspect of delicious is also important to note. You can utilize the facebook integration function to post your booksmarks on your profile as well as share your links and exploration with others. My University experience class this semester has an assignment where they will need to post ten links to a delicious account on their possible career/major choices (all students are undecided on a major). I hope that this sampling of students will be a good place to start thinking about the broader implications of this technology as well as the bugs that still need to be worked out.


Deliciouss' use in academic advising is something that I am hoping to present at the Region 1 NACADA conference being held in Saratoga Springs, NY in March 2009. If you are interested in learning more about this service and how I am using it please feel free to email or comment and I will get back to you with more details. Also, if you are advisor who is interested please continue to visit the blog and more details will be forthcoming if the proposal is accepted for presentation at the Region 1 conference. I am hoping to make it successful enough to be presented at the 2009 annual conference next year. I welcome any thoughts or criticisms you may have.