In a highly competitive market for students, colleges are turning to online social networking sites to connect to past and future graduates. Now, Ontario’s Centennial College has gone a step further, reports the Globe and Mail of Toronto: The school has launched a Facebook-inspired web site as a key marketing tool to raise its profile and stand out in a crowded market. Last summer, in a $500,000 advertising campaign aimed at attracting prospective students, Centennial posed a provocative question on its new web site, humanracebook.com: "The world needs you. Will you accept or ignore this fact?" In ads that appeared online and on billboards, movie house screens, and buses, the question plays off Facebook’s prompt for someone to "accept" or "ignore" a request to become a "friend." Pressing the "accept" button guides the user to Centennial’s web site and its Signature Learning Experience, whose central component is a semester-long course on global citizenship that is mandatory for all students. "The Signature Learning Experience reflects our commitment to creating an inclusive, collaborative learning environment that enables students to apply the knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary to be socially responsible in a diverse world," Centennial College president Ann Buller said at the launch of the program last June. The campaign, designed to showcase an education program unique to Centennial, has a bigger purpose: to raise the school’s profile…
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