Friday, October 31, 2014

Academics and Social Media - What's the Right Balance?

This week I came across an article written two years ago by Tanya Roscorla, "Why Educators Should Spend 15 Minutes a Day on Social Media", in which she gives the "why" and the "how" educators should make digital connections on-line. My first reaction was "only 15 minutes"? - It takes me about that length of time just to write this post!
Image Source: The American Ceramic Society.
Roscorla writes that some educators find that Twitter helps them stay on top of their game. Connecting on-line through Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+ both to colleagues in the same institution, and academics elsewhere increases collaboration and sharing of ideas. Academics are, in my experience, bit more likely to share their work for free on-line. In fact, the last academic paper I read (this one by Zhang, Larkin, and Lucey, 2014) was shared by @brianmlucey on Twitter - otherwise I would not have seen or heard of it.

Quite a few years ago I made the decision to use YouTube, my blog, and Twitter for both personal and work reasons. While I am very careful what I write, I regard it as part of my job to make content available on-line and comment on educational matters. Some years ago a student made a complaint to me that I had not responded to an email, and that while the student was waiting for a response - I had posted to my blog. Understandable irritation in one sense if a student sees me blogging or tweeting while they are waiting for a grade or a response. Nevertheless, as Roscorla mentions in her article, educators must find the time (in sometimes very busy schedules), to spend at least 15 minutes a day on social media, and that they "have to decide that connecting online is important". When something is important, we have to find the time for it - finding the right balance is the difficult part.

Recently, an educational colleague from another institution said to me that I "was not busy enough" if I have time for the likes of YouTube, Twitter, and this Blog. In one sense, she was right - there is no mention of social media in my job description, and I am being paid as I spend time in this medium. For me though, it is part of what I do and part of what I am. While I spend a bit more than 15 minutes a day on Social Media - it is part of my job and is here to stay.

PS - this article took 22 minutes to write!

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