Using Social Media to Retain and Connect with Students in the Shift to Online Education

COVID-19 has thrown off the regular social bonds that form between students and professors. We’re missing out on the connections that form during office hours, pre-class conversations, post-class queries, and any other in-person engagement. Student retention, academic progress, diversity, and inclusion all benefit from these social relationships.

Strategies to sustain student-faculty connections should be a key priority as institutions and faculty cope with the change to an online education system, as well as uncertainty and budget concerns about the fall semester take root.

Introduction to Using Social Media to Retain and Connect with Students

We must deliberately explore how to best replicate or innovate to establish social ties as we thoughtfully transfer our courses online. While maintaining a student connection should be a university-wide initiative, professors can help in the near term by implementing their own student connection projects.

The intentional use of social media by educators allows them to engage with their students and reestablish some of the social relationships that have been lost as a result of online education, while also providing new avenues to develop connections.

Advantages of Social Media

1. Conversation: Many people appreciate the ease with which social media allows them to communicate with others and have online conversations. Unlike other kinds of communication, such as email or texting, it is much easier to express yourself in real-time and receive a prompt answer.
2. Promoting Businesses: Businesses utilize social media for a variety of purposes, one of which is to market their products or services. As more individuals use these platforms, they may be more likely to purchase things from a firm if they see advertisements on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter. Popular brands such as Starbucks have employed this tactic.
3. Information: Social networking sites can be beneficial because they offer a wide range of information. For example, if you’re planning a trip to Japan and need some travel advice, you may look on Facebook for a group of people who have been there and can advise you.
4. Communities: Some people believe that social media platforms are ideal for forming communities and support groups. Fans of the popular TV show Game of Thrones, for example, have their own Facebook community. Members of the group can talk about the show and its characters and express their thoughts.

Disadvantages of Social Media

• Security risks: On social networking sites, hacking is a major issue. Criminals who want to access your personal information and steal your identity will target you more if you have many accounts. To avoid difficulties, it’s critical that everyone adopts excellent password safety habits on social media, such as choosing strong passwords including numbers and special characters.
• Lose Touch With Reality: One of the most serious drawbacks of social media is that it can cause individuals to lose sight of what is genuine, especially when they solely engage through technology. Some teenagers, for example, may neglect to spend time with genuine friends in person because they spend so much time on Snapchat and Instagram.
• Time wastage: Another disadvantage of social media is that it can be time-consuming for some people due to the fact that these sites seem to supply limitless amusement and information. People may believe they are wasting their time on the internet when they should be doing something else

Recommendations for Leveraging Social Media to Retain and Develop Social Connections

• Use social media to supplement your traditional communication Professors may find the move to engage students via social media strange. Faculty are cautious to use social media sites, according to the study. Professors, on the other hand, can use social media to reach out to students in innovative ways. Educators and researchers can benefit from developing a social media brand in addition to educating.
• Select your preferred platform: Choose one social media site to develop your business on. Look for a platform that gives students the option of participating passively or actively. According to research, students prefer one-way interactions with instructors. The one-way link permits pupils to follow you but does not obligate you to do so.
• However, be aware of the external surroundings: At the same time, “social” in social media refers to a new manner of interacting with another person. Students are interested in seeing and hearing how you see the world. Maintain your emphasis on your discipline and function as a professor, but widen your horizons to reflect our common world.
• Make an effort to reach out to the whole pupil: Students may learn about their career path or seek help for their own professional development during office hours or an informal after-class talk. Use your social media platform to offer internship advice, employment possibilities, skill development, and other topics. Include a link to the work your career office or academic advising office is doing to remind students of your institution’s comprehensive services.
• Make the most of your new tool to keep pupils interested: You might generally talk in the corridors, before or after class, or during office hours. Make your social media the place where students may “bump” into you and find out what you’re up to while laughing. Allow students to participate with you online using the interactive aspects of these platforms, including polls, questions, and quizzes.
• Promote your institution in a variety of ways Remember that student retention is the responsibility of the entire institution. Build and leverage social ties with different regions of campus. Administrators and others on your campus are most likely attempting to accomplish similar goals. Share and link to their accounts when their content complements your efforts or is tailored for your audience. This demonstrates to students that your school is working together to help them, and that there is a virtual campus and community of people who care about them and want to see them succeed.
• Create a disciplined co-educational environment: As we move away from physical space, we are given the opportunity to break through barriers that formerly held us back. Faculty can engage across courses at the same university or across universities through co-education and cross-discipline possibilities. Connect with your peers and colleagues both inside and outside of your discipline, repost their work, and emphasize the places where such interactions take place. Create opportunities for cross-pollination to flourish.
• Share student successes your: Objective is to build student connections, so don’t forget to make it about the student. In a physically distanced world, we can maintain the opportunities to celebrate members of our community through social media. You might call out a student’s success – fellowship, job, internship – in a F2F class. It is the time of year when students are being accepted into graduate programs and are being recognized for their achievements. Your social media account can be a way to celebrate that student (with their permission) and remind others of what is possible for them.