Institutions should gently promote pre-registration hall and departmental Facebook groups while avoiding aggressive marketing, teaching or pastoral interventions in students' social space.¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · 2 claims (2 for) · 1 study (1 associational), q2 · 0 of 1 report an effect size · 2 claims rest on one study

Description¶

The authors recommend that, because Facebook helps new students settle in, higher education institutions could act as a catalyst by publicising existing accommodation/hall and departmental Facebook groups to pre-registration students. They pair this with a strong caution: aggressive marketing, teaching or pastoral interventions in a space students regard as 'theirs' are not recommended, and staff may help students recognise employability-related skills developed through informal Facebook learning. The article states that "higher education institutions could sensibly and gently act as a catalyst for this process for pre -registration students by promoting the existence of accommodation/hall and departmental Facebook groups."

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Institutional promotion must remain light-touch, since students view Facebook as a social space that is 'theirs' rather than an academic one.

Constraints¶

• Aggressive marketing, teaching or pastoral interventions via Facebook are explicitly not recommended by the authors.
• Making such technologies available does not guarantee every individual becomes more socially connected, and face-to-face friendships remain significant.

Target Learners¶

• first-year undergraduate students transitioning into university

Target Learning Goals¶

• social integration into university life
• informal peer learning and employability skill recognition

Claims¶

• First-year students specifically joined Facebook before university registration to make new face-to-face friends at university while keeping in touch with friends and family from home. [+W]
• Facebook acted as part of the 'social glue' helping first-year students settle into university life, though most students did not see it as crucial to overcoming loneliness. [+W]

Related Strategies¶

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

• Clare Madge, Julia Meek, Jane Wellens, Tristram Hooley. (2008). Facebook, social integration and informal learning at University: 'It is more for socialising and talking to friends about work than for actually doing work'. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439880902923606