BACK TO SCHOOL 2011: Social + Digital Media for Academic Success
Monday, August 15, 2011
Getting sucked into hours of Facebook stalking or inappropriate twitter feeds won’t give you an “A” in Chemistry, but there are multiple ways to use social and digital media for academic success.
Experts Brennan McEachran, Digital Media Zone expert and CEO of Hitsend and Kerri A. Hicks, Manager of Web Communications at URI, offer tips to help you use social and digital media to your advantage.
Understand rules and regulations
Many social media platforms are great tools to create study groups, but don’t share everything with others. Understand your school’s policy and remember that no matter what, plagiarism is not allowed.
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Depending on how you work and consume news, Twitter can be perfect or completely overwhelming. “Recent research has demonstrated that using social media (primarily Twitter) for academics can result in better grades,” said Hicks. “Twitter is an amazing tool for news, networking and entertainment," said McEachran.
Twitter Tip 1: Follow the right people such as University administration and departments, students groups, and your student union. “These accounts can give you inside tips on how the school works and new opportunities within the university,” said McEachran. “They'll give you a heads up when there are interesting events around campus and sometimes where to go to get a slice of free pizza!”
Twitter Tip 2: Follow the top influencers in your niche for a broader perspective on your interests, passions, and job opportunities. “Try out the free tools such as http://listorious.com/ and http://wefollow.com/ to find out who's who on Twitter,” said McEachran.
Twitter Tip 3: Follow new agencies. Keep up to date with the latest industry and educational news. “Reading a few tweets on a subject that might pop up later in class is a great way to ensure you participate in class,” said McEachran.
Know your course management system
The social aspect of most courses takes place within the course management system. Whether it's Sakai, Blackboard, Moodle, or something else, invest time into learning how it works and use it to its greatest capacity. “It'll be
worthwhile when you need to find something at 3am, and there's no one to call,” said Hicks. Online course management systems enable students to talk with one another in the context of the class. “You can have the online communication without having to ‘friend’ everyone in your 100-person lecture class,” said Hicks. “Facebook is all about friends which is great until you have an essay due in 24 hours,” said McEachran.
Love Google
Google calendar: You can easily sync this tool to your phone to transfer important times and dates. “The first thing I do during any semester is put my class schedule into Google calendar,” said McEachran. “I put the Course Code, Section Number, Building/room number, and set it to repeat weekly until exam period. Google calendar syncs to my phone so whenever I'm walking to class I can easily check and see where and what I'm walking to.” You can also share you calendar with others.
Google docs: This is the best tool for group projects. Each group member can upload their work on Google docs, and other members can edit and create other work, from anywhere in the world, without having to physically meet. “The new Google+ even allows you to have video chats with up to 10 users at one time, so you can have a study session or plan a meeting no matter where you are, face-to-face (to face to face...) in real time,” said Hicks.
Google Scholar: When doing online research, use this as your first choice, instead of regular Google. “Wouldn't it be nice if there was a ‘Google’ for all your research needs? Something that only included peer reviewed and academic sources? Oh wait there is! Google scholar. Learn it. Love it,” said McEachran. Another tip: on Google scholar, set up Library Links. “It essentially links Google scholar with your university's library giving you access to all the paid content too,” said McEachran.
Download for Free
Evernote: Evernote works on your computer and smartphone to help you organize all of your class notes by enabling you to take notes and archive anything you’ve missed through voice recording and photos of hand-written notes. It will help when your professor goes over things way too fast. “If you're like me, your paper notes end up as a large paper ball at the bottom of you bag,” said McEachran. “Can't keep up with the professor? Take a picture of the board with your phone and save it in Evernote.”
Self Control: The Self-Control App (Mac users get it here) optimizes your work time by banning access to specific distracting sites for a set time period. “Let's face it. Social media can be a lot more entertaining than calculus. When you need to buckle down and get work done Facebook & Twitter can get in the way,” said McEachran. For Windows users, try Freedom.
Focus Booster: This great app can help you organize your study time and break time. Based on a countdown, you set the timer to helps you stay focused on a single the task. For example, 25 minutes of work, 5 minutes of break, and repeat. “Focus Booster helps you power through that boring assignment or chapter,” said McEachran.
