Using social media to bring employers into the classroom.

1. Connecting Students to Nontraditional Role
Models with Nontraditional Technologies
Presented by Michele Martin

2. @michelemmartin
I’m Michele

3. Our Agenda for Today
 Overview of the technology landscape and why you
should be using social media in the classroom
 Discuss free web-based social media tools you can
use to bring nontraditional employer role models
into the classroom.
 Explore some creative examples.
Michelemmartin.wikispaces.com

4. The
Technology
Landscape

9. Also . . .
 Employers have less time for “nice to do”
 More workplaces are using many of these tools to
facilitate work across many time zones and locations
 Students need to learn how to “brand” themselves
online and to interact professionally through social
media.

10. Tools in Action

11. Social Media Tools. . .
 Provide “virtual” opportunities to connect and
communicate in “real-time” or when it’s convenient
 Allow for 2-way “conversations”
 Facilitate sharing of text and multimedia information
 Encourage user-generated content and sharing of
that content
 Are accessible through mobile tools such as smart
phones and tablet computers (iPads)

12. What Are We Talking About?
 G+ Hangouts and Hangouts on Air
 Social networks—LinkedIn, Facebook
 Multimedia Sharing—YouTube, Slideshare,
Pinterest, Instagram
 Twitter
 Blogs
 Wikis

13. Social Media for WBL Activities
 Career Awareness
 Informational Interviews
 Classroom Speakers
 Workplace Tours
 Career Exploration
 Career Mentoring
 Job shadowing

14. G+ Hangouts and
Hangouts on Air
 Free video-conferencing with up to 10 people
 Hangouts can be private or public.
 Hangouts on Air are public, broadcast through
YouTube channel, G+ Profile. Automatically
recorded for later viewing, embedding
 Share screens, documents, presentations
 Can be used on mobile devices (iPads, smart phones)
 Can also participate via phone line and submit
questions through chat feature.

17. Using Hangouts
 Career Panel discussions
 Informational interviews
 Workplace tours and field work via iPad or smart
phone
 Workplace demos
 Mentoring

18. LinkedIn
 Professional social network (the “work” version of
Facebook)
 93% of employers use it to recruit
 Users create profiles, make connections
 Can join and create LinkedIn Groups
 Have “threaded”/forum discussions
 Share links/resources

21. Using LinkedIn
 Create profiles
 Search for and join existing groups
 Create own group and use to “host” Q&A sessions
with employers.
 Share links/resources through group

22. Wikis
 Easy-to-edit collaborative online workspace
 Can write text, embed links and multimedia, upload
and share documents.
 Can control who is able to view and edit
 Maintains history so can return to previous versions
 www.wikispaces.com is free and used by many
educators.

24. Using Wikis
 Create an ongoing archive of career-related materials
 Embed recorded Hangouts and other video
 Embed audio recordings
 Upload images and other materials
 Share links
 Invite students to create their own pages highlighting
a particular occupation or person.

25. Blogs
 Easy-to-use publishing platform
 Posts and Comments
 Can embed multimedia, links and files
 Can have multiple authors
 www.blogger.com and www.wordpress.com are two
free options

27. How to Use
 Find/read blogs of non-traditional role models, e.g.:
 The Urban Scientist
(http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/urban-scientist/)
 Science Geek Girl (http://blog.sciencegeekgirl.com/)
 Informational Interviews—through posts and
commenting feature
 Day in the Life (with pictures, video)
 Have students create their own blog posts--journaling
 Archive career materials for later viewing

28. Twitter
 140 character messages (“tweets”)
 People you follow (“following”) and people who
follow you (“followers”)
 #hashtags for organizing tweets/conversations
 Easy to share links to articles, photos, videos, etc.

31. How to Use
 Set up a profile to use for following.
 Find non-traditional role models to follow on
Twitter (often will be through associations on
Twitter)
 Find lists to follow
 Search for #chats in specific industries/occupations
 Run your own #chat

32. Facebook Fan Pages
 Organizational presence on Facebook
 Info/posts are public
 Can share photos, links, videos.
 Can connect to other social media (like YouTube)
 Can ask questions, run polls

34. Selecting Tools

35. Tool Selection Issues
 “Low risk” vs. “Higher Risk”
 Your Purpose/Their Features
 Ease of Use

36. Low Risk Vs. Higher Risk
“Low Risk” “Higher Risk”
 Restricted access  Bad press
 Comment moderation  Connected to accounts used for
more personal reasons
 Clear delineation between
personal/professional  Fewer tools to control access
and commenting
 Good or minimal press
 Examples—Facebook, YouTube
 Examples—Wikis, blogs, Google
Hangouts

37. Your Purpose/Their
Features
 Synchronous vs. asynchronous communication
 What kind of content/information do you want to
share?
 Presentation vs. conversation
 Do you want information to be available later?
 How will students be using it for learning?

38. Ease of Use
 Is a download of some kind required?
 Will the employer have access? What tools does the
employer already use?
 Can someone learn to use it relatively quickly?
 Does it play nicely with your Internet connection,
browser and equipment?

39. Some Tips
 Don’t reinvent the wheel
 Collaborate
 Experiment and have fun!
 Find ways to break it up—avoid “talking head”
syndrome!
 Invite students to help/participate
 Check the tech
 Practice ahead of time

40. Contact me at:
michelemmartin@gmail.com
610-248-6230