1. Social Media as an Educational Tool: Is there a place for this in the Community Colleges of Jamaica?  
Presented by Mardene R. Carr
Chief Librarian, University College of the Caribbean

2. Definition: Social Media
Web- based applications and services that allows users to interact and collaborate; allowing for social relations and learning between users and institutions that share common interest.

3. Introduction to Social Media
Our higher education systems are vital in ensuring long competitiveness in the knowledge economy - resisting them will not affect the revolutionary value it has.

4. Social Media vs Traditional Media
Both social media and more traditional media convey information content.

5. The difference:
social media allows the user to engage in the creation and development of content.
gather online to share knowledge, information, and opinions using web-based applications and tools

6. Higher Education in Jamaica
Over the 20 years, the education sector has expanded in terms of the types of programmes being offered and the number of participants engaged in these programmes.

7. The More Things Change…..
Delivery style is still mainly face to face
Limited online access to programs
Very slow pace when it comes to:
going beyond the traditional and expand the learning experience to incorporate practical and cost effective measures that are linked to society in today’s context.
redesigning the curricula for a competitive advantage to include social media

8. Competitive Advantage?...
The involvement of international organizations in the sector have made it more diverse and complex
The relatively slow embrace of the different technologies could damage the long-term viability and image of the higher educational sector; reducing its competitive advantage. 

9. The Learning Experience…
Irrespective of the student's main discipline of studies, they should be exposed to tools and experiences that can provide perspective, depth and breath to their learning experience in a technologically transient society

10. The Learning Experience…
Tertiary institutions seem to place much focus on the academic development of their students and not on character development and social responsibilities – social media can help with this.

11. Types of social media
These computer mediated interactive tools include:
Facebook,
Myspace,
Twitter,
Google Groups
Windows online
Blogs
Wiki
Skype
Flikr

12.    Why use it?
Anyone can register and use social media networks, no class distinction, no geographic limitations, etc.
they are popular
They present opportunities for enhancing the teaching/learning process.

13.    Why use it?
Social media has become an integral part of students’ lives and as such it is important for tertiary institutions to get social.
Leading tertiary institutions all over the world are using social media to reach students where they spend most of their time

14. Advantages
Greater student interest/potential to appeal to all learning styles
Greater student engagement/assist introverts
 Allows for creativity

15. Advantages Students have greater control of their education
Students take more responsibility for their education
Allows teachers to incorporate real life experiences into the classroom

16. Advantages Encourages collaboration Support exchange of lesson plans
Encourage teacher to teacher collaboration
Fosters global community

17. Disadvantages:
 Time consuming to manage this along with other class activities
 Distractions
 Cyberbullying

18. Disadvantages: Limits actual face to face interactions
Continual social media change

19. Disadvantages: Viruses/Phishing scams
Inappropriate content sharing or exposure
Exposing the ‘haves’ and the ‘have nots’

20. How to integrate
Encourage students to share work socially: students can share their work on a variety of platforms (Flickr, Twitter, Facebook etc).
Require students to keep a blog: will cause students to read relevant articles often.

21. How to integrate
Twitter: create accounts for the class and never use your personal account and create a unique hashtag (get feedback from the students on this. Students can be encouraged to follow current events on twitter; for example they could be asked to follow at least 2 news outlets, analyze and do a weekly report.

22. How to integrate Encourage students to share work socially
 Require students to keep a blog
Twitter
Facebook
Google Hangouts

23. Policies and Practices…
Like everything else, the use of social medial needs to be governed by standards that guard against unintended consequences…this can be done through the policy initiatives.

24. Conclusion

25. Reference
Blackenship, M. (2010). How social media can and should impact higher education. Hispanic Outlook.
Moody, M. (2010).Teaching Twitter and Beyond:Tips for Incorporating Social Media in Traditional Courses. Journal of Magazine & New Media Research, 11(2), p. 1-9
Solis, B. (2008). The essential guide to social media. Retrieved from
Straus, M. (2013). Social media in higher education: engage, share and learn. Retrieved from
Wankel, C. (2011). Educating Educators with Social Media. Bingley, UK: Emerald Group Pub.

26. Biography Mardene R. Carr
I am a trained Librarian whose interests also include Technology in Education. I have published in areas such as telecommuting, paperless environment, as customer service tool, social media, competitive intelligence, online chat, and faculty collaborations. I have been employed as the Chief Librarian for the University College of the Caribbean (UCC) since June I have also worked in USA, Cayman Islands, Bahamas and Dominica. I have been a Librarian since 1991 when I graduated from the University of the West Indies. Since then I have done graduate studies at the University of TX (Library and Information Studies), Devry University (Educational Technology) and Louisiana State University (Information Science).

27. Questions