Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/55943
media to increase the level of discussion and collaboration on new or tangential topics. This will help you free up in- class time for more central topics. Don't drive the bus— take a seat in back with your students. Don't create a blog post and then just sit back and wait; continue to be a part of the conversa- tion. Respond to students' comments. Ask "Have you considered this idea?" or "How does your comment relate to this link?" Encour- age responses to your response to their responses—and so on. Social media is about having a conversation, even if you are the professor. On the first day of class, I share with students this quote by Marshall McLuhan: "I don't necessarily agree with every- thing I say." I tell them that I will try to provoke them. I want them to be comfortable posting their opinions, especially when more objective information might not be available. Participate, but don't officiate. Social media tends to lower inhibitions—students will write things about others that they would never say face-to-face, even when each post is attrib- uted to its writer. Set guidelines for what is appropriate and what isn't. Make it clear that students should challenge ideas, not attack other students' motives or intelligence. Writing "a better choice might have been" is, well, a better choice than "only an idiot would have reached that conclusion." Also remind them of the level of discourse expected. Using a Twitter feed to post what they had for lunch does not move the discussion forward, unless the comment is meant to highlight a facet of customer service, marketing, or pricing strategy. On the other hand, you also should avoid being too restrictive. Most blog sites allow you to approve comments before they are posted to the broader audience, but I strong- ly recommend against that. You risk giving students the impression that they can post ideas only if you approve of them—or worse, that by posting their ideas you automati- cally agree with them. Let them post whatever they want. If a comment is completely out of bounds or confrontational, you can easily delete it. Otherwise, let students respond to potentially offensive comments themselves. 48 BizEd NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2010 The You in Social Media "Users create knowledge, but only if we let them." —John Thackara At the 1939 World's Fair in New York City, then-mayor Fiorello LaGuardia encountered a new technology called television. He reportedly commented that he doubted Americans would have the time to sit in front of a box in their living rooms. It would be just as easy to dismiss Web 2.0 as a fad that will diminish or disappear in the years ahead. But I think its rapid adoption is a clear sig- nal that the digital generation of students would be unable to imagine life without a Facebook page. Like television, social media applications promise to have staying power if only because this gen- eration of students—these multitasking students—would be lost without it. Former Apple and Microsoft executive Linda Stone coined the phrase "continuous partial atten- tion," which describes the way these students work. I don't try to fight their need—and ability—to do several things at once. Instead, I use social media to extend the time I'm engaged with them, even when they're not in class. I want to have their partial attention throughout the whole day since it is all but impossible to have their undivided atten- tion for even a few hours. If your goal is to help prepare students for business in the real world, then you must acknowledge that businesses are using social media in all kinds of ways. I know my stu- dents see the value in using social media as a complement to other course materials. Better yet, these tools are not time- consuming. Most weeks, I spend less than two additional hours posting articles to social media sites for my courses. I am reading those articles anyway, and the time I spend to cut and paste them into a blog is small. Reading student comments might add another hour per week. Social media might not be for you, and they might not suit every course. But if you've read this far, then I'm guess- ing you think Web 2.0 might help you engage your students in the material on a deeper level. As John Munsell said, "If content is king, then conversation is queen." ■ z Allen H. Kupetz is the executive in residence at the Crummer Graduate School of Business at Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida. Some of the many social media tools he uses can be found at http://web. rollins.edu/~akupetz/main.htm. MANGO PRODUCTIONS/CORBIS