1. Social Networking Technologies: A “Poke” for Campus Services Joanne Berg, Vice Provost and Registrar Lori Berquam, Dean of Students Kathy Christoph, Director, Academic Technology Copyright 2007 University of Wisconsin Board of Regents. This work is the intellectual property of the authors. Permission is granted for this material to be shared for non-commercial, educational purposes, provided that this copyright statement appears on the reproduced materials and notice is given that the copying is by permission of the author. To disseminate otherwise or to republish requires written permission from the authors.

2. a poke… What can we learn from our students? How they communicate How they learn and make decisions How we can be more effective communicators “friend wheel” Flickr 7/2007 Social networking software has become a way of life for today's students.

3. Social Technologies at Work Collaboration Room. Flickr 4/2007 “If information is the raw material of the work then there need be no common space at all…” Charles Handy, 1997

4. Observations It’s a different era. Using social technologies may not be natural for many of us We’re talking about social networking (in the technology sense) and social engagement with the technology Would you have imagined Facebook, wikis, YouTube, blogs ten years ago? Do you have a facebook account?

5. More Observations Social technology…does it make communication more efficient or just more fun? Social technology provides new levels of interactivity and interconnectedness The new levels of interaction make it difficult to determine appropriate boundaries Feels like chaos…

6. Learning to deal with the chaos We are observers of this phenomenon, not experts… We’re exposing ourselves to social networking, to improve our effectiveness

7. So, why are we here? To learn together –why “social networking” is important –techniques for assessing social networking Sharing ideas for how to apply principles of social networking to your work –today into the future –techniques for filtering the information –organizing the chaos

8. Containing the Chaos Ask E-mail See advisor Anonymous chats Social networking sites Web resources Advisor Self publishing Reminders More and different

9. Remember when… Do you remember how you used to go about finding the classes you wanted? How did you learn about those classes? Who did you interact with? Would you find those same classes, in the same way, today?

10. The Past: Student Choosing Classes Ask friends Reminders - Postcards - emails Check campus resources Check with advisor Eligible to register Registered

11. And now…the hunt for the “right” class

12. Asking, listening, surfing.. Students may use many sources simultaneously: On-line schedule Course guides Social software Advisors Grade distributions Faculty evaluations Friends

13. Containing the Chaos Ask fellow students E-mail advisor See advisor Anonymous chats Social networking sites Web resources Advisor Self publishing sites Reminders More and different Eligible to register Registered

14. A Model TRIGGER ACTION

15. Applicability of social technologies… Triggers: Write a Research Paper Select your room and roommate for next year Desired Actions: Completed Paper and Get just the right roommate on the right side of campus… Timeline: Three weeks!!! Should I live here? Research what?

16. Using the model What are all of the possible resources? What about the validity of these resources? How is the information being filtered? How did you feel? trigger action

17. Summary We’ve heard that students want guidance and Some filtering mechanisms so that they do not have to figure it all out by themselves They want some order to the chaos

18. Wrapping our arms around the chaos Manage our fear factor –Acknowledge discomfort with technologies Listen to what students need –Rising expectations –Simplicity –Transparency Learn how to work differently

19. End Point “Today's IT leaders face multiple challenges united by a common thread: determining when to provide custom IT services for students, when to facilitate their use of external IT services, and when to simply get out of students' way.” (Quote from September 19 EDUCAUSE webinar.)`