Student Engagement and Collaboration in the Use of Social Media

Moira McLoughlin, Wendy Sinclair, Neil Withnell&

3rd year students Rachel Roberts & Paula Evans

From the School of Nursing, Midwifery, Social Work & Social Sciences

• March 2013 setting up a School of Nursing Twitter account.

• One academic & one student made a good start but limited momentum – a good idea that needed revisiting

• January 2014 – a more focused attempt with 3 academics and clearer aims for the future

• Collaboration between staff and students was key

• Promote the work of the School locally, nationally & globally

• Development of students professional identity

• Twitter account and blog via www.wordpress.com

Statistics

• Since January 2014 there have been more student curators than academics (15 students, 11 academics)

• The account has grown exponentially and in 8 months is now at over 2k followers

• 475 replies to tweets in last 28 days (average 16 replies per day demonstrating engagement)

• Average of between 5-10k impressions each day• Almost 4k views of

http://salforduniversitynursing.wordpress.com/ to date • 4 x Facebook pages now up and running for each field of

practice

Student experiences

• Confidence building• Digital professionalism to go beyond

university• Engaging with new contacts in areas of

nursing specialism• Sharing best practice• Breaks down lecturer/student hierarchy• Enjoyable and positive experience!

Staff experiences

it has shown me the true value of twitter as a professional

learning and connecting tool

it has shown me the true value of twitter as a professional

learning and connecting tool

I was immediately struck by the power of

SoMe and its impact on learning and driving

change

I was immediately struck by the power of

SoMe and its impact on learning and driving

change

instead of being wary and suspicious of social media in a professional

context we need to nurture it and help it

flourish

instead of being wary and suspicious of social media in a professional

context we need to nurture it and help it

flourish

•Guest curators – field specific and wider (including service users)•Tweetchats in partnership with @wenurses and also in house •Increase staff and student numbers for curation this second year

What next…?

Any Questions?