Given the ubiquity of online technologies in the lives of high school and college students, universities are increasingly turning to social media for the purpose of organizational communication. This book shines a light on these practices in order to better understand how platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat are being used within the realm of student affairs. Each chapter will explore a different dimension of student affairs (e.g., admissions, career services, student health services) to provide an overview of key challenges and how new social media tools can be used to solve them. By providing examples that illustrate these evolving trends, this book is intended to help higher education professionals develop creative social media solutions that are appropriate for their own situations as they seek to strategically integrate social media into their student affairs efforts.

Using social media to enhance learning outcomes, engagement, and retention Although research shows that most of today's college students adopt and use social media at high rates, many higher education professionals are unaware of how these technologies can be used for academic benefit. Author Reynol Junco, associate professor at Purdue University and fellow at the Harvard Berkman Center for Internet & Society, has been widely cited for his research on the impact of social technology on students. In Engaging Students through Social Media: Evidence-Based Practice for Use in Student Affairs, he offers a practical plan for implementing effective social media strategies within higher education settings. The book bridges the gap between a desire to use social media and the process knowledge needed to actually implement and assess effective social media interventions, providing a research-based understanding of how students use social media and the ways it can be used to enhance student learning. Discover how social media can be used to enhance student development and improves academic outcomes Learn appropriate strategies for social media use and how they contribute to student success in both formal and informal learning settings Dispel popular myths about how social media use affects students Learn to use social media as a way to engage students, teach online civil discourse, and support student development The benefits of social media engagement include improvements in critical thinking skills, content knowledge, diversity appreciation, interpersonal skills, leadership skills, community engagement, and student persistence. This resource helps higher education professionals understand the value of using social media, and offers research-based strategies for implementing it effectively.

New technologies provide new ways of delivering the programs and services of higher educational (HE) institutions. This book examines how social media are redefining what university communities are and the purposes and practices of the various functional areas in HE.

"How does social media affect working life in Higher Education? How are universities harnessing its power to aid student learning? This innovative collection brings together academics and those working in professional services to examine these questions and more. The diverse and expert contributors analyse the many ways social media can be used to enhance teaching and learning, research, professional practice, leadership, networking and career development. The impact of social media is evaluated critically, with an eye both to the benefits and the problems of using these new forms of digital communication. This is the first volume to give such detailed attention to this area of high interest. Its innovative approach extends to its creation, with contributors found via their presence on Twitter. The short and impactful chapters are accessible while retaining an academic focus through their application of relevant learning theories and educational context. Social Media and Higher Education is essential reading for any professional working in higher education, including lecturers teaching education courses. It is also significant for researchers looking at more recent developments in the field and what it means to work in a modern higher education environment."--Publisher's website.

Contested Issues in Troubled Times provides student affairs educators with frameworks to constructively think about and navigate the contentious climate they are increasingly encountering on campus.The 54 contributors address the book’s overarching question: How do we create an equitable climate conducive to learning in a dynamic environment fraught with complexity and a socio-political context characterized by escalating intolerance, incivility, and overt discrimination?Rather than attempting to offer readers definitive solutions, this book illustrates the possibilities and promise of acknowledging multiple approaches to addressing contentious issues, articulating a persuasive argument anchored in professional judgment, listening attentively to others for points of connection as well as divergence, and drawing upon new ways of thinking to foster safe and inclusive campuses.Among the issues this volume addresses are such topics as sexual violence; historically underrepresented racial and ethnic groups; transgender and undocumented students; the professional skills, knowledge and/or dispositions needed to thrive and facilitate systemic change in contemporary higher education organizations; the implications of maintaining personal and professional identities via social media; and self-care.In this companion volume to Contested Issues in Student Affairs (whose issues remain as relevant today as they were upon publication in 2011), a new set of contributors explore new questions which foreground issues of equity, safety, and civility – themes which dominate today’s higher education headlines and campus conversations.The book concludes with calls to action, encouraging student affairs educators to exhibit the moral courage needed to critically examine routine practices that (un)knowingly perpetuate inequity and enact the foundational values and principles upon which the student affairs profession was founded.