1) The document discusses using social media to connect with distance education students. It provides examples of 10 social media sites and tools that can be used, including Blackboard, blogs, Cramster, LinkedIn, and discussion boards. 2) Benefits of using social media include building a sense of community, learning more about students' lives, and promoting student engagement. 3) Keys to successful use of social media are respecting students' time, aligning with their skills and preferences, keeping distractions to a minimum, and using 2-3 tools that best fit the course topic and students.

1. Creating a Virtual Community Using Social Media to Connect With Distance Education Students Indiana College Network Conference June 18, 2010 Anthony Juliano

2. Hello!

5. [and bad] Good news

6. “As more people have come online, the more online communication has become the norm. So it isn't thought of as a separate realm anymore, but as one that merges and overlaps with our daily activities.” - Caroline Haythornthwaite, Ph.D. University of Illinois

7. “College faculty have embraced social media and a majority have integrated some form of these tools into their teaching.” - Jeff Seaman, PhD., Babson Survey Research Group

9. Higher among faculty in the Humanities and Social Sciences than Mathematics, Science, Business and Economics

10. Older faculty (those teaching > 20 years) use of social networks is only slightly lower than that of younger peersSource: “Social Media in Higher Education,” The Babson Survey Research Group/New Marketing Labs/Pearson, May 2010

12. “Convenience is a key reason students enroll in distance learning courses. At times, jobs, schedules, location or family commitments can make it difficult to take a course on-campus.”- IPFW.edu

13. The key: use social media to serve as a resource to distance learners

16. 10 sites and tools to connect with distance learners

18. “You may not have thought about Blackboard as a social media tool, but it offers all the interactivity you can desire…”- The Web 2.0 in Education blog

20. Discussion boards

23. “Blogs…give a kind of materiality to the classroom experience, a concrete nature that many students find comforting. The class blog is a place students can go to review important themes and get help from the professor and from each other.”- Christopher Conway, Ph.D.,University of Texas Austin

24. Potential blog topics Instructor as author – subject matter expertise DE staff as author – giving the institution a name/face Students as authors – conversations about what they’re learning

26. “I think they developed a sense of each other as people beyond the classroom…[It] also helped me [learn] a great deal about students lives—where they work, that one of them had Thanksgiving dinner with 50+ people. Now this type of supplementary material might not be attractive to all educators, I can definitely say that changed the classroom dynamics for the better.” - David Parry, Ph.D. University of Texas at Dallas

35. A community of high school and college students, educators, parents, and “subject enthusiasts”

36. Study guides and practice tests

37. Tutoring

43. Prepares students for the new job market

46. Align with their knowledge, skills, and preferences

47. Keep mindset in mind – mitigate distractions

48. Respect boundaries

49. Use 2-3 tools that best fit your topic/students

50. Don’t be territorial

53. Questions?

54. Thanks! ajjuliano@gmail.com (260) 615.3426 If you enjoyed this presentation, please recommend me on