Film scripts are gone. Blackboards are in decline. Things are not what they used to be.
Today, professors are leading the charge to implement social media into their courses.
Jessica Phillips, a graduate with a 2011 business degree from Tech, arrived at Tech with little knowledge about social media. She mainly used Facebook but not much else.
“I was kind of an outsider when I arrived at Tech,” Phillips said, “and I quickly realized that my friends were using these different sites to keep up with what was happening around campus.”
Phillips referenced Twitter as one of the first social-networking sites she learned to use.
“Once I learned Twitter, I broke out of a cave and learned so much more about the world,” Phillips said.
Phillips believes Tech is headed in the right direction by using technology as a resource, and by using technology, Tech will appeal more to prospective students.
“Using social media has helped me in college and has continued to help me in the professional world,” Phillips said. “It’s faster and easier to use.”
Phillips advises students to try to learn as much as they can while in college and remember to balance social media use for private time and professional time.
A CDW-G research report revealed that more than 70 percent of students and faculty today say they use more classroom technology than they did two years ago — proof that educators are recognizing the importance of engaging students with interactive, multimedia-rich lessons and activities.
“There has been a dramatic shift in the last seven years since I have been here with Texas Tech — using technology and teaching students how to use social media,” said Trent Seltzer, Ph.D., and chairman of the Department of Public Relations. “We want (students) to learn the certain elements of social media use.”
Seltzer used Tech’s Outpost Social Media Lab as one example of the university growing to accept social media as a resource.
In the facility, undergraduate and graduate students can conduct live monitoring of news and events to provide real-time analysis of public sentiment and reaction across the social Web, as well as engage with audiences and curate content, The Outpost’s website reported.
The Outpost offers workshops for students and campus groups that will teach them how to present themselves online as well as how to keep their privacy, according to The Outpost’s website.
Seltzer said professors are also aware that students may use social networking sites in class when it is not relevant to the classwork.
“We want students to learn how to balance social media use between private and professional use,” Seltzer said.
Robert Romero, a senior media strategies major from Austin, Texas, is one student who believes issues may arise when it comes to converging social media with the classroom.
“I feel that social media is harming society because there’s no privacy,” Romero said, “and why would you just give away a lot of information about yourself?”
He said it does not surprise him to know that professors are implementing social media into their classes because professors are always looking for ways to reach students.
Tech’s College of Media and Communication offers a course specifically designed to examine the use of online, mobile, and social media tools in public relations practice, The Outpost’s website reported.
“We want to teach students how to use social media and how to use it for potential clients,” Seltzer said. “Students would be in a better position to do their jobs if they knew exactly how to use social media in a professional way.”
Students may find many different social media sites that could be a useful tool to complete a class project.
Shawna White, a Tech advertising graduate student, said she did not know some sites existed before she arrived at Tech, and once she learned how to use these tools, monitoring social media has become easier for her.
“I would advise students to be familiar with social media,” White said, “and to know all types of social media, and to stay with the times.”
About Jeremy Borum
