Podcast Series: Innovations in Education

Explore the full series of eCampus News podcasts hosted by Kevin Hogan—created to keep you on the cutting edge of innovations in education.

Number of college applications affected by social media triples

In 2008, only 10 percent of colleges checked applicants’ Facebook pages; now, one in four do.

College applicants shouldn’t shut down their various social media accounts, experts said, but they should heavily edit their online comments, photos, and videos, as thousands of applications were marred last year by scandalous Facebook and Twitter activity.

It’s no secret that college and university admissions officers run semi-frequent social media checks of prospective students, but the practice has turned increasingly dismal for students who failed, in one way or another, to exercise Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and YouTube caution.

Admissions officers who responded to a national survey this fall said the percentage of applications that had been negatively affected by social media searches had nearly tripled, from 12 percent in 2010 to 35 percent in 2011.…Read More

Facebook returns to its roots with Groups for Schools

Facebook will alert students when their college joins Student Groups.

Facebook has a peace offering for every college student who resents the social media giant for opening the site to their parents: new pages known as Student Groups that will only be accessible for Facebook members with official “.edu” eMail addresses.

In a throwback to the nascent days of the world’s most popular social networking website, Facebook announced April 11 that its newest feature, Student Groups, would create specific pages that could only be joined by students or faculty members from that campus.

Students will be able to share files—including lecture notes, schedules, assignments, and photos—on their university Facebook page. Students who register on their college or university Student Groups page can communicate with group members without being their friend on Facebook.…Read More

Colleges laud Google+ age restriction change, safety features

An ed-tech expert says Google is erring on the side of caution.

Campus technology officials said they are more likely to create an official Google+ presence after the nascent social network announced Jan. 26 that the former Google+ age requirement of 18 has been lowered to 13.

Google’s age restriction had prevented at least one university from expanding its social media reach into Google+, because some of its students come to campus while they’re still 17, and until Jan. 26, were not eligible for a Google+ account.

Along with the lowering of its age requirement–which could help Google+ compete with Facebook–Google detailed a series of safety measures that would be included for its youngest social network members.…Read More

Higher ed fundraising jumps amid recovering economy, social media use

Universities expect the fundraising increase to continue through 2011.

Seven in 10 colleges and universities have recorded an uptick in donations this year after historic decreases in 2009-10, and experts said Facebook and Twitter adoption could be a driving force behind the optimism among campus fundraisers.

Ten percent of campuses reported “significant increases” over the past six months and 35 percent reported “moderate increases” in a survey released April 7. Twenty-two percent of colleges recorded a “little increase” in donations.

Read more on fundraising in higher education……Read More