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Social media gives leg up to students looking for work

When Bill, a 40-something displaced worker taking classes at Milwaukee Area Technical College, was told he would be required to engage in several forms of social media throughout a course, he balked at the idea.

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Seven in 10 professors use social media for personal purposes.

“His arms were folded, and he said politely but firmly that he didn’t think social media was ‘worth’ using,” said Larry Domine, an instructor for the course. Domine told Bill to just follow his instructions, anyway.

“Just do everything I tell you,” he recalled telling the student. After one semester on the professional social network LinkedIn [2], Bill was hired at a major company.

It sounds like an eye-rolling before-and-after scenario from an infomercial, but Domine said that Bill, whose last name has been omitted for student confidentiality reasons, is one of several students who have managed to find work using the lessons learned in his “Social Networking and Business Communications” course.

“I can repeat this story every semester,” Domine said.

There was the Iraq War veteran who knew network computing in-and-out, but not how to network with people. Now, he has a full time IT job.

This semester, a student got up in the middle of class to answer a phone call. Domine wasn’t offended – the student had just landed a job interview because of the course.

This student, too, started out as a social media skeptic. That’s a trait, Domine said, older learners share with too many instructors.

“Most instructors or professors aren’t really engaging well enough,” he said. “They have a fear of technology and what it’s doing. The fact that most instructors need to understand is, if you just start using social media, you’ll see the benefits.”

See page 2 for why educators are becoming more engaged in social media…

Many professions are becoming more “social,” Domine said, and professors who turn their back on social media are not doing their students any favors. That’s why he and another instructor named Tony Stanislawski created their social media course.

And it’s not just about leading by example. Social media can help improve engagement between students and instructors, he said.

“For professors who are lacking in social media, think about what you do for a living,” Domine said. “You are there to share what you know and engage their students, have discussions, and share ideas. Social media provides tools for that.”

Faculty members are increasingly using social media in their professional and personal lives, but they remain wary of implementing its use in the classroom.

A study conducted by Babson Survey Research Group and Pearson [3] found that more than half of faculty [4] use social media — websites like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn — in a professional context, a 10 percent jump from last year’s 45 percent.

Slightly more than 70 percent use social media for personal purposes.

Only four out of 10 faculty members reported using social media in the classroom.

Domine said he doesn’t expect faculty to be social media connoisseurs right away, but that just making a Twitter or LinkedIn account and exploring the sites can be an eye opening experience. He came up with a system that he calls “The Three Ls.”

First, he recommends just “lurking,” setting up an account and checking out what people do on the sites. The next step is to “listen” to what users are saying.

The last step then almost comes naturally: you begin to “learn” the techniques behind what everyone is doing.

“I’m such a believer that you have to just do it,” Domine said.

Follow Jake New on Twitter at @eCN_Jake [5].