April 22-26

This week, I read how Astin's theory of student involvement relates to student's use of Facebook. One of the tenets of Astin's theory is that involvement requires physical and psychological energy. College students use Facebook a lot and research has been conducted that looks at length and frequency of time that students use Facebook during the week. It is clear that students are invested in Facebook. Another tenet is that involvement occurs along a continuum. On Facebook, students can be more or less involved in all of the functions that the social media site offers. The third tenet is involvement has qualitative and quantitative features, meaning student use of Facebook can be measured quantitatively (how often do students use Facebook) or qualitatively (how does using Facebook affect your school work). Development is proportional to quality and quantity of involvement, the fourth tenet, has not been examined in relation to Facebook. We do not know how Facebook affects the development of students. Educational effectiveness is related to capacity to increase involvement, which is the fifth tenet, means that Facebook and other online tools need to be assessed for involvement and effectiveness. There is question whether Facebook should be used for faculty and student interaction. From my point of view, I don't think Facebook would be the most ideal location for faculty and students to interact. I think a Facebook profile is personal, and although the pages may not be set to private, I think that Facebook could alter the way a faculty member views a student or vise versa. However, I think that Facebook could be used in very smart ways, such as finding students like you that are interested in similar things or it could bring students together who are in the same class to study. Thus, I think we need more research on the topic to determine in what ways Facebook could be maximized for student use. I predict that it will be difficult to measure these issues.

At DGS, I finished all of the slides for the TV lobby, preparing them for summer. I also brainstormed ways that Pre-Law could enhance the internship experience for future graduate students. I went to two staff meetings and also worked with a friend on transferring the playlist for the CDs into iTunes. I had the final supervision for the internship class so I got the chance to reflect on my experiences as a pre-law intern. Overall, I have enjoyed working at Pre-Law. Updating the TV lobby sign actually wasn't too boring and I enjoyed designing different slides. It gave me the chance to be creative. However, I don't think that social media is my strong suit. I think there are other people more innovative to do that job. My recommendations and final reflections will come in next week's blogpost.

Heiberger, G. & Harper, R. (2008). Have you facebooked Astin lately? Using technology to increase student involvement. New Directions for Student Services, Winter 2008(124), 19-35.