Teaching with social media: How to use tech to communicate with students
This blog series highlights educators who have embraced social media in their ongoing quest to meet students where they are, increase engagement, and improve results. Through these stories, you’ll discover how they got started, learn a few tips to make your foray into social media as seamless as possible, and hear some advice about incorporating these new technologies and platforms into your instruction or institution.
Social media helps my students engage with me and buy into the course a little more.
Plus, social media allows me to share a lot of real-life examples with students. I’m always looking for authentic learning experiences that show students more than just what we see in the abstract lecture — things that impact real life. YouTube™ allows me to extend the boundaries of the classroom, because I can upload short videos about lectures from the class.
Be willing to adapt
Don’t be afraid to evolve with your students. For instance, I don’t use Facebook much myself anymore. But that was the first place I used to upload examples and make it a resource — I could communicate with students where they were, rather than telling them to go into the LMS.
And ten years ago, students were certainly on Facebook more than they were on our LMS. But students have changed. They don’t use it that much anymore, so neither do I. It evolves every semester.
"Don’t let fear of the unknown keep you from trying something."
Consider texting
Now I’m getting into text messaging with an older technology called Remind, but I’m using it a bit like Snapchat. Texting seems to be what students want, and I can do that without giving out my cell phone number.
But this also lets me schedule out the entire semester, and then do supplemental reminders. I’ve got messages scheduled to go out before the exam starts: “Take a deep breath,” “You’re going to do great,” etc.
The main thing is that it allows me to communicate with students directly on their phones, and I can use a computer to type my message. So even though it’s not technically a social media platform, I’m morphing it into my own personal social network.
I know very few faculty who do what I do. Some say, “I could never do that. It’s too scary. I don’t understand it.” Others think it’s fluff, that I’m humoring the students too much, or that I should make them use email if they want anything.
The reality is that I have 600 students in a high-risk course, so I need to do whatever I can to reach them with authentic learning experiences.
Practice, practice, practice
When I used Snapchat for the first time, I had a grad assistant teach it to me. I did it for two months and hated every minute of it, but I kept Snapchatting with two students and my grad assistant until I finally understood it — understood the difference between “How do I use this technically?” and “How do I use this to make a difference?” Those are two very different questions, and most faculty never get to that point of understanding it.
We’re afraid of looking stupid, because we think students know more than we do. And they might, but only because they’ve invested the time with these platforms. So just pick one thing and try it. Play with it, see how you can apply it, and if it doesn’t work go onto something else.
Favorite strategy
My favorite platform is Snapchat, and YouTube to some extent. I use YouTube all the time, but Snapchat allows me to interact with students. I post things to my story and they’ll respond. And it’s nice, because students don’t see each others’ responses, which makes them feel a little more free to openly share.
Dive deeper
Visit my blog, Accounting in the Headlines, to read a collection of industry current events I share with my students to keep my course relevant and engaging.
About the author
Dr. Wendy Tietz
Wendy Tietz, PhD, CMA, CSCA, CPA, CGMA, is a professor in the accounting department in the College of Business Administration at Kent State University, where she has taught financial accounting and managerial accounting since 2000.
She is involved in the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA) at the local, state, and global level and is a member of AAA, AICPA, and Ohio Society of CPAs. Dr. Tietz received her PhD from Kent State University and her master’s and bachelor’s from The University of Akron.
Her blog, Accounting in the Headlines, has news stories and resources for use in the introductory accounting classroom. She is also the co-author of two textbooks: Financial Accounting by Thomas, Tietz & Harrison and Managerial Accounting by Braun & Tietz.
