1) The document discusses using Google+ communities to enhance student learning, engagement, and communication at the University of Sheffield's Department of Biomedical Science (BMS). 2) BMS has been using Google+ communities for the past two years to connect staff and undergraduate students, providing a forum for discussion and sharing information. 3) Benefits of the Google+ communities include being mobile-friendly, allowing efficient feedback from staff and questions from students, and effective distribution of targeted year-level information through notifications and linking to other Google tools.

1. Using Google+ to Enhance Student
Learning, Engagement and
Communication
Neil Everill, Learning Technologist
Department of Biomedical Science

2. The social media tool Google+ has a ‘Community’
feature that lets staff and students participate in a
protected online environment productive to
communication and information sharing.
For the previous two academic years, BMS has
used the University’s Google+ service to connect
staff and UG students on a year level basis.

3. • To create a community of learning and promote a sense of
engagement;
Primary Aims:
• A forum for both staff and students discuss subject-specific
content; i.e. to expand upon lecture topics outside of the
classroom;
• A forum for staff to post generic forms of feedback, e.g. FAQs
arising from Lectures/Practicals (i.e. questions asked to staff at
the end);
• Most commonly, a facility for teaching staff to provide
answers to questions emailed directly to them.

4. In addition, our G+ communities can act as a general
hub of activity to share and distribute information:
e.g. Office announcements, news items, reminders, upcoming
careers events, plus integrating Google Forms (or surveys).
There are many G+ communities in use around the University
already, such as TELFEST and Green Impact groups etc.
Not too many departments seem to be using the facility for teaching
learning and purposes though.

5. Background
We’ve used year level (or module) discussion forums for the past
12 years, or so, on various platforms:
• MUSE
• MOLE
• uSpace
Some years have been moderately successful but generally these
forums have been underused by BMS students and have ranked low
as an effective learning tool.

6. What have been the reasons for this inactivity/lack of student
engagement?
• Unattractive user platforms (MOLE ‘clunky’, uSpace was difficult
to find);
• Visibility - i.e. students had to access a specific mole course to
check for new postings /updates;
• Identity – some students unwilling to ask questions or contribute
to postings. Still prefer to email staff members (or have face-to-
face teaching time).
• Location – often restricted to desktop. No mobile accessibility.

7. However, we know students are active users of discussion forums,
but more in a social media context (Facebook, Twitter) than
educational.
In this case we wanted to see if a more attractive user-accessible
forum with a ‘social media feel’ would encourage our students
(and staff) to participate via a formal learning-led platform.
After the first few months of use (in 2014), we felt the G+
Community provided a productive platform for information-sharing
and learner engagement.

8. Main advantages:
• G+ is part of the suite of Google Apps installed on the Sheffield
University domain.
• Every UoS member (staff or student) already has a G+ account
(though it has to be activated if not used before).
• Individual ‘Communities’ can be created and restricted to
University members (private) or made public.
• Mobile and tablet friendly using the Google+ App.

9. Setting up Communities
Each restricted to the University of Sheffield
Anyone can join as long as they’re part of the UoS.
You can let members search for the Community and join manually - or you can
send out invitations, post a link from a mole course etc.
From the G+ front page, click on the Home button
and select ‘Communities’
For our BMS forums, we used the ‘Create Community’
to set up three UG year levels

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Accessing your Google+ front (home) page
1. Login to MUSE and access any of
the main Google Apps. Gmail for
example.
3. select Google+ from the menu.
2. Click on the Apps ‘Grid icon’

11. Activating your G+ account.
As mentioned, if you haven’t used G+ before, you
will be asked to fill in some personal details, such
as DOB (doesn’t have to be strictly true), select
some friends and upload a profile picture.
You can leave most of this blank - and add later if
necessary.

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Accessing a Google+ Community
Go the G+ front page, select Home and from the drop
down menu > Communities.
Any Communities you have joined will
display. To find a specific community you
can also use the Search box
You may also have an invitation
awaiting if the owner has added
your email address.

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Example – our BMS UG Level 3 Community
All members can post new
messages from here
General post
Lecture feedback post
Users can reply to a post
Note. We can use
the Hashtag to
identify topics and
module codes

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Creating categories helps to guide discussions and posts and
generates an archive.
Tip: you can also categorise a post (i.e. a module
code) to make searching easy and to filters topics.

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Google+ is mobile and responsive
With the Google+
App, the platform
is accessible on
mobile and tablet
devices. ‘Push’
notifications let
you know of any
new posts.
You can also
receive email
notifications -
if option is
selected.

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Summary/key points for Google+ Communities:
Easy to set up a community and for members to join;
Efficient (and productive) way for staff to give different types of
feedback; Students to ask questions;
Effective for distribution of targeted year level information. Bonus
- Google Docs and Forms can be linked in;
Notifications means users can receive updates without having to
access the community. The Google+ App is very effective for this.

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(Possible) disadvantages:
Be aware that Google+ is not covered by the same
agreements protecting Google Apps for Education
For example, the work done to assure the security and privacy
of information processed in Google Mail, Calendar, Docs and
Sites does not apply to information in Google+
So be careful posting material where sensitive University
information is concerned.

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For information of a more sensitive nature, such as disability
information or exam results, BMS tend to use our MOLE courses
(or provide links from G+ to restricted Drive Docs).
For example, if sensitive or
restricted data is uploaded
to a MOLE course, we can
then post reminders, in the
relevant G+ community, on
where they can find this
information.

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Comments and feedback - Dr Louise Robson, BMS UG Director
Universal (mobile) access from all devices and platforms- allows
instant and easy responses to student questions.
Increased student engagement - including posting their own
answers to questions that were asked by other students -
good for constructivist collaborative learning environment.
I would also do a little competition to see how many
students responded to pre-lecture questions posted on
the Community.
“
“
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All BMS staff are now encouraged to post all emailed
answers to questions back to G+ rather than to students
directly (effectively replacing the office hour).
Therefore everyone benefits from a collective response.
In addition, all types of web content (URLs, graphics etc.)
can be inserted into a post, plus Google Forms and
Documents can be linked in using it’s share URL.

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Ella - 2nd year BMS Student
“The Google+ level 2 community was a fantastic
resource for me. The question/answer feedback
was the best part and a useful tool for revision
purposes. The Google+ App notifications were
great for receiving BMS Office announcements as
well.”

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If you are interested in starting a Google+ community,
please feel free to join (view) any of our BMS UG forums
and take a closer look at how we use this platform to
enhance the student experience.
Just search ‘BMS UG..’
I’ve also created a test Community titled ‘TELFEST 2016 G+
Community’. You should have an invite.
Search for ‘Telfest 2016 G+ community’ if you don’t see the invite.

23. For more information
Contact the TEL Team
TEL@Sheffield.ac.uk
http://tel.group.shef.ac.uk/
https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/cics/learningandteaching