Universities not ready to deal with social media crisis - WIBW

carunya.blogspot.com

LAWRENCE, Kan. (WIBW) - A KU study says universities may not be ready to deal with the looming social media crisis.

A University of Kansas study shows nearly zero higher education institutions are ready to deal with a social media-fueled crisis, even after policies have been set in place to do so.

The school says the study surveyed deans at research institutions throughout the nation and found varying policies, support and preparedness for social media use, with negative incidents stemming from it as a common occurrence. With crises on the rise and faculty members being targeted via social media, better policies are clearly needed, however, more importantly, ongoing training and professional support, and a need to be savvy to reach students.

Rick Ginsburg, dean of the KU School of Education, co-wrote the study which was inspired by a presentation he gave to the Council of Academic Deans from Research Education Institutions on social media use in higher education. Ginsburg says Kathryn Chval from the University of Missouri and Donald Easton-Brooks from the University of Nevada-reno were the other co-authors.

The survey reached deans at 100 institutions and was published in the Journal of Higher Education Management, which won the Jerome L. Neuner Award for Excellence in Professional Publication from the American Association of University Administrators.

“What I learned is no campus is ready for a social media crisis,” Ginsberg said. “Everybody knows they have to be on social media, but what they don’t know is how to handle the fallout if something bad happens. It’s a great way to get the word out and share good news, but it’s so ubiquitous, and there’s a very blurry line between what works and what doesn’t.”

KU says the survey focused on the following areas:

• Whether institutions had social media policies in place
• If their institution had policies to deal with social media crises
• If they had policies or practices for recognizing social media responses to scholarly work in promotion and tenure processes
• If they used social media to promote research
• If they had social media incidents involving students, faculty, research or staff members
• If their institution provided professional development for handling social media incidents.

The survey showed over half of respondents said their institution had a policy to cover social media, but only 34% had established procedures to deal with related crises.

Ginsberg says a surprising number of policies were created to protect the university’s brand but did not consider employees.

The survey says over 80% of respondents said their institution uses social media to promote research, but more than 80% also said it does not factor into promotion and tenure processes or annual performance reviews. Over 38% said the school has experienced a negative incident due to social media, and 34.4% said the institution offers professional development to equip employees to handle such situations.

The survey findings say while nearly everyone realizes the importance and potential of social media, not many in higher education have figured out how to harness the strength and guard against the weaknesses of social media platforms. The authors say they recommend strengthening staff in its use.

“The point is, none of us have completely figured this out yet, but it’s something we all will have to figure out,” Ginsberg said. “No higher education leader should go in naïve. To say you don’t like it or want to deal with it, you do so at your own peril.”

The authors say while there is potential for negative headlines, campus unrest fueled by social media (such as is being seen at K-State over a student tweet) and harassment of students and employees, being social media savvy is more important. Students have never known a world without it, and COVID-19 remote teaching has also made social media a tool and way for teachers to connect with students. Ginsberg says students also need to learn how to discern between credible and invalid information found online, and higher educators are in a position to teach those lessons but must be informed to do so themselves.

“If we’re not on top of social media, how do we connect with this generation of students?” Ginsberg said. “If we’re going to attract students to our institutions, how do we do that if we can’t connect with them?”

Copyright 2020 WIBW. All rights reserved.

Let's block ads! (Why?)

"Ready" - Google News
June 28, 2020 at 06:58AM
https://ift.tt/2B8K7UN

Universities not ready to deal with social media crisis - WIBW
"Ready" - Google News
https://ift.tt/3cwaujZ


Bagikan Berita Ini