Using Facebook to support Induction for new undergraduates Ruth Page School of English Birmingham City University

Aims To improve social cohesion between new undergraduate students and so ease their transition into higher education –Goddard and Beard (2007) To capitalise on existing use of social networking sites –JISC report ‘Great Expectations of ICT’

What we did… Set up the ‘School of English Fresher’s Facebook’ ‘Open’ status (anyone could join) Information sent with joining instructions and linked from our web pages Seeded by the course director Assisted by student mentors Led by student interaction

Participation 60 / 120 joined pre-induction (50%) 80 / 120 joined by the end of induction (66%) Of those who joined the group: –50% wrote on the wall –20% wrote on discussion threads –Reading information –Adding others as friends Interaction is not just verbal

What the group was ‘good for’ Additional information about the reading lists (e.g. where to buy the books, which to read first, which to bring with them) Discussing that literature Finding out where each other with living Introducing themselves Finding out about the timetable

Perceived benefits Meeting people on the course before it started (51%) Knowing what to expect before you start Friendly answers to initial questions ‘Talking to people makes it more real.. Makes you feel more settled.. It helped in building up rather that suddenly being an adult.’

Perceived benefits (staff) Identify pre-induction ‘glitches’ quickly Get to know the students before they started Additional layer of communication

Issues Not everyone uses Facebook, nor will they want to Open access raises privacy issues Facebook is best used as a social space, not good for academic content How much should staff intervene? The group use stopped after Induction week

What next? Facebook groups to support open days in addition to a pre-induction group –Include more visual and audio-visual content Enhance the content of pre-induction information, both in print and online Recognise that it is one piece in the jigsaw and try to strengthen the overall picture

Afternoon workshop: ‘Advanced’ wikis and blogs (Matt) Baker 609 ‘Beginner’ wikis (Ruth) Edge 626