Your Digital Life as a New Resident Director
Preview:
Citation preview
- 1. Your Digital Life as a New Resident Director Social media
skills for new RDs Inspired by survey results from current housing
professionals Collected & analyzed by Dr. Josie Ahlquist
- 2. Twitter Convo #SAsome @josieahlquist
- 3. Congratulations! You have a new job A new apartment So what
does this mean for your digital life?
- 4. Results from 73 housing professionals about being a resident
director and key considerations about your digital life
- 5. Major themes A privacy wake up call Time to get professional
Its ok to interact with students Making digital decisions Focus on
building community online
- 6. #reslife Community
- 7. Years in the Field 4-6 Years 1-3 Years 7-10 Years +15 Years
11-15 Years
- 8. Theme #1: A privacy wake up call
- 9. Privacy wake up call Privacy is an illusion. You may think
your account is private and have set up all the privacy settings
possible. It always gets back to your boss one way or another.
Think before you post. A Resident Director has minimal privacy and
student access to social media postings may only complicate the
personal/professional boundaries.
- 10. I'm noticing professional branding as a bit of an issue
with my RD staff. They want to be seen as professional but do not
seem to be able to make the connection between how talk, behave,
post, etc. impacts their professional persona. Additionally, they
seem well versed in talking to students about appropriate social
media behavior, but don't always seem to walk the talk.
- 11. Theme #2: Time to go #SApro
- 12. As a professional, you have a responsibility of building
your own brand, what you stand for and what you support through
your online activity. Regardless of who you allow to follow you or
type of account you have, always know that at any point, what you
put out there, may BE OUT THERE for all to see, regardless of your
intent and account safe guards. Time to go #SApro
- 13. How did you learn to use social media professionally?
- 14. Tweet-able #SApro Advice
- 15. Don't post anything that you wouldn't want your boss to see
(even if they don't follow you). Your professional identity needs
to be reflected in your social media identity. Remember all the
warnings about minding what you say in elevators at placement
exchanges? The same holds true for Twitter.
- 16. Theme #3: Interact with Students
- 17. Interact with Students (with healthy boundaries) Don't be
afraid to be friends with your students online as it helps them
ultimately feel more comfortable with you as a person. Help
students understand what their online presence can do both bad/good
in their actual life.
- 18. I believe my social media presence is important to my
relationship with students. If I want to get to know a student, I
should be willing to let the student get to know me; and that
involves opening the door to social media connections.
- 19. Social media philosophy with students Friend requests from
students No social media with students Other
- 20. Challenges with students on Social Media Once per year
Monthly Once per Semester
- 21. Tweet-able #SApro Advice
- 22. The question isn't if you should be on social media, it
should be how you decide to use it. Our students use it daily and
we are missing out on a huge opportunity to interact with them if
we neglect to utilize this powerful tool. Don't be afraid to
connect with students via social media. If you are comfortable
communicating with them face to face, then you should be
comfortable communicating with them online. Treat the online
interaction as you would a face to face interaction. -Greg
Bowers
- 23. We need to not be afraid to interact with students on
social media. There are healthy ways to set boundaries without
needing to create a ghost account. -Kathryn Magura @kmagura
- 24. Theme #4: Digital decisions with ethics &
authenticity
- 25. I inform my students that I am happy to connect with them
if they wish to add me, however that it's their responsibility to
make sure that they're conveying a positive presence, particularly
if they wish to connect with me. I will not request students
(generally Resident Assistants), but if they reach out to me, I
will accept. I do generally like to have a quick
conversation-either in person on by message about the fact that I
can now see what they post and to remember they reached out to me.
Digital Decisions with Ethics & Authenticity
- 26. I accept FB requests from all students, but categorize them
into a limited viewing capability so that my personal posts are not
seen by them. They can no longer be students at my institution. I
inform my students that I am happy to connect with them if they
wish to add me, however that it's their responsibility to make sure
that they're conveying a positive presence, particularly if they
wish to connect with me.
- 27. If they want to connect with me, I accept since I don't
have anything to hide but I don't want to assume they're
comfortable with it. I'd assume they'd feel obligated to accept any
of my requests, so I tend to wait for their request to me since it
means they want to connect. I appreciate being able to help
celebrate their successes that they share online, which is a big
part of the decision to connect. My overall questions to myself
are: What is the worst thing that could happen? Is it worth going
through that just to avoid the temporary awkwardness of addressing
a friend request denial? If I'm struggling with my answer, I take
the cautious route and go with no.
- 28. -If they are my staff members, I will accept them without
hesitation, explain my expectations off the bat, and address any
issues that arise. -For other students, I base it off of the
rapport I have built with them, and my trust that they understand
my boundaries. I more often will deny a student through Facebook,
but instead connect with them on Twitter or Linked In.
- 29. Your social media presence should be an authentic
representation of who you are as a professional and person. While
no platform is a completely accurate representation of the
complexities that are a part of every person there should be
consistencies in your portrayal so be authentic and professional as
you engage with others. Don't limit your social media to
#studentaffairs or #reslife solely. You are an RD, but there's more
to you than that and your colleagues/friends/students will want to
see that.
- 30. If you aren't the same person in real life as you are in
social media, then you're doing it wrong. @JoshuaTepps
- 31. Social media philosophy with #reslife colleagues Connect
with housing colleagues on social media
- 32. #SApro Facebook Friends
- 33. #SApro Instagram Followers
- 34. #SApro Twitter Followers
- 35. Social Media training in Residence Life
- 36. {New} RDs need to be trained, socialized &/or educated
on: 1. Community Building 2. Technology & Student Development
3. Digital Conflict Resolution Skills 4. Professional Branding 5.
Social Media Strategy
- 37. Theme #4: Build Community Online
- 38. A topic on community building with online tools has the
potential to be so powerful. Online communities do "community
building. We HAVE to be able to translate that in the residence
halls! There is a need for professionals to understand how social
media impacts our ability to build community. Social media is
merely an extension of all of our real, physical communities now.
Build Community Online
- 39. Social media has become an extension of the actual,
physical communities that exist on our campus. We should be
training our student and graduate students how to capitalize on
this very important community building tool. Embrace social media
as a powerful tool to share information, celebrate successes, and
create community with students as well as families. It's a valuable
and highly accessible platform to engage with.
- 40. Your identity on social media should be a reflection of
your identity in real life. The closer these two identities align,
the greater the trust you can build with students who have access
to both. Technology is a tool. How we use or abuse it determines
it's effects on our communities. Therefore, we must teach about
technology just as we would any other substance or tool.
- 41. Wish List for Resident Directors all educators really Be an
ethical & authentic digital role model Reflect on & apply a
digital decision making model to your practice Integrate your whole
self in-person & online Seek out skills for community building
methods through technology
- 42. Be part of this research! Go to
http://bit.ly/RDdigitalWishList Email info@josieahlquist.com Tweet
out #SAsome
- 43. www.josieahlquist.com info@josieahlquist.com @josieahlquist
/josieahlquist/