Some of the top universities in the world are embracing social media. However, these are still early days and experience is shallow. How will these new opportunties alter the landscape of higher education? Will they result in more people getting access to the knowledge and learning generated by our best universities? This presentation was made at the Symposium: Perspectives on University Performance Evaluation organized by the UNU on 15-16 March 2010 - http://www.ias.unu.edu/sub_page.aspx?catID=8&ddlID=1172

1. For more influential
higher education
use digital technology and social media
Brendan Barrett Ph.D.
United Nations University

2. We academics worry about
our contribution and impact...

3. If a tree falls in a forest and no
one is around to hear it...
Source: fatboyke
does it make a sound?
Learn more from Kyle James at .eduGuru

4. When no one can find your research
Source: San Diego Shooter
does it really matter?

5. Who are we trying to
reach?
people or peers?

6. We appear to be in a
virtual revolution

7. The web is a social
experiment

8. Web 2.0
is the future that has already happened
Source: ~Aphrodite
3 main characteristics

9. (1) Social software
(2) User driven
(3) Openness

10. 1.7 billion
Internet users
world wide (as of 9 March 2010)

11. 50%
of global population
under 25 years of age

12. 350 million
Facebook users
(bigger than the USA)

13. 200 million
YouTube videos watched
each day

14. Will this virtual revolution impact
on performance evaluation?

15. Will it result in
“inappropriate measures that...
drive the development of
higher education in
undesirable directions?”

16. What is the desirable
direction?
Depends on the mission

17. Mission of Cornell University:
“discover, preserve, and disseminate
knowledge; produce creative work; and
promote a culture of broad inquiry....”
Source: www.cornell.edu

18. Mission of Harvard University:
“to create knowledge, to open the minds
of students to that knowledge, and to
enable students to take the best
advantage of their educational
opportunities....”
Source: www.harvard.edu

19. The virtual revolution
does not run counter
to these missions...

20. but suggests
universities may have
to adapt to remain
relevant.

21. Who is adapting?
Lets look at the top 10 universities in the world.

22. Harvard
Cambridge
Yale
University College London
Imperial College
Oxford
Chicago
Princeton
MIT
Caltech
QS WU Ranking 2009 (http://www.topuniversities.com/
university-rankings)

23. Harvard
MIT
Stanford
University of California, Berkeley
Cornell
University of Washington
University of Minnesota
John Hopkins University
University of Michigan
University of Wisconsin Madison
Webometrics Ranking 2009 (http://www.webometrics.info/)
Takes account of number pages, in-bound links, rich files and
citations in Google Scholar

24. Youtube Facebook iTunes Twitter
Channel
Harvard    
Cambridge    
Yale    
University
College London   
Imperial College   
Oxford    
Chicago  
Princeton   
MIT    
Caltech 
Who is using social media?

25. Universities are embracing these new opportunities

26. No.1 on YouTube
(from QS WU Top 10)
MIT 1,523,494 views

27. No.1 on YouTube
(from QS WU Top 10)
MIT 1,523,494 views
Less than 1% of videos
viewed in one day

28. No.1 on Facebook
(from QS WU Top 10)
Oxford University 24,096 fans
(but University of Michigan has 97,739
fans)
Barack Obama has 7.8 million fans

29. No.1 on Twitter
Harvard University 14,306 followers
(Twitter rank = 18,761)
Ashton Kutcher has 4.6 million
followers (nearly = Norway)

30. So what?
How does that make you feel?

31. Be aware: As a university.....
You will be judged in comparison to
whatever competes with you on the web.
(e.g., a search will find your university
research and a blog)

32. Be aware: As a university.....
The quality of what you put on the web
will be open for all to see.
But what is quality online?

33. Be aware:
The best universities will adapt.
The challenge is clear (adapt or die
adapt and remain relevant - like some
newspapers).

34. Digital Natives/Digital Immigrants
“Our students have
changed radically.
Today’s students are no
longer the people our
educational system was
designed to teach.”
Marc Prensky, 2001

35. Who are Digital Natives?
A digital native is a person for
whom digital technologies
already existed when they were
born, and hence has grown up
with digital technology.......

36. Characteristics
multimedia oriented
web-based
impatient
non-linear
multi-tasker
less textual, more modalities
very creative

37. Quality for the Digital Native
High Quality Low Quality
Addresses my interest Not for me
Well made Badly made
Fresh Stale
Substantive Superficial
Compelling Boring
Source: Chris Anderson, The Long Tail

38. Ok, so not every student is a digital
native...

39. To understand more about digital
natives
Or visit the Digital Natives blog at
Harvard Law School
(http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/
digitalnatives/)

40. A Story
How things work?

41. inspired by the UNU charter
The University shall disseminate the knowledge gained in its
activities to the United Nations and its agencies, to scholars
and to the public, in order to increase dynamic interaction in
the world-wide community of learning and research.
How do you do that?

43. We developed a webzine

44. Other universities have webzines

45. We heard about the...
Perpetual Internet
Traffic Machine

46. Social network
traffic picked up by search engines Twitter
Youtube
Vimeo
Search engine
Social networks Facebook
results and
(social buzz)
visibility
More traffic
Optimize site for search
engines Central
interactive Content
hub syndication
(Our World)
Other blogs can take articles
Viral spread of content
(Creative Commons)
Posting of quality content

47. Quality content is key!
(from UNU-IAS-TKI)

48. Picked up by Treehugger:
monthly readership of
2.5 million
22,137 readers watched
the UNU Carterets video
on Treehugger

49. Videos
embedded on
UNU-IAS-TKI
website

50. Becomes an article on Our World 2.0

51. Statistics on Vimeo for
the Carterets video
173,000 plus views from wide
range of sites!

53. Statistics for
Producing energy by walking
on Shibuya station. Tokyo,
Japan.
123,000 views from one site!

54. Picked up by the Huffington Post

55. Co-production of content within
UNU

56. Use the content in e-learning

57. Share the content with our partners

58. Projects generate quality content

59. Put it on YouTube

60. UNU podcasts uploaded to iTunesU

61. Download to your iPod/iPhone

62. Our World 2.0 articles published in
the Guardian

63. Local on-campus screenings/
events

64. Video can be screened by
UNU researchers in the field
Conference on Biodiversity Loss in Khorog, UNDP Offices in Dushanbe, Tajikistan
Tajikistan

65. Share your content with
the public...

66. International screenings
COP15 Film Festival

67. Know your target
audience

68. Age distribution
6% 3% 11%
12%
18%
79%
below 40 years old
30% Mainly digital natives?
20%
Under 18 18-22 23-29 30-39 40-49 50-59 Over 60

69. Educational level
10%
17%
26%
15% 68%
bachelors or above
Well-educated
32% digital natives?
High School College Bachelors Masters Doctorate

70. In which Sinus-Milieus would you locate the UNU
target audience?
Source: Stephan Schmidt presentation on Our World 2.0 Campaign
(Sinus-Milieus)

71. The Sinus-Milieus approach is
based the observation that
differences in daily life shape the
individual more than differences in
socio-demographic or
socio-economic situations.

72. Which reinforces the idea of
connecting to digital natives...
the adaptive achievers,
experimentalists and intellectuals.

73. This is essentially inbound
marketing...
where you “get found”
via search engines, blogosphere
and social media sites...

74. 3 concerns
1: This not academic?
2: Where is the quality
assurance?
3: What skills are needed?

75. Five lessons on use of
social media
1: Go where people are (don’t wait for them to come to you)
2: Less is more - make your messages clear and focused
3: Be patient. It takes time to build a community
4: Focus on thoughtful contact, rather than continual contact
5: Understand who you are trying to reach

76. Final thoughts
People who use social media
love ranking things...

77. Final thoughts
People who love social media
enjoying writing reviews
Just look at Amazon customer
book reviews

78. Final thoughts
So which
performance
evaluation will
be influential in
the future?
http://www.studentsreview.com/

79. Now this is not the end. It
is not even the beginning
of the end, but it is,
perhaps, the end of the
beginning.
Winston Churchill

80. Thank you