Can Lightning Strike Twice? Choosing and Implementing a Social Network
for Inter-Departmental Collaboration at Two Universities
Allan Gyorke
Chief Academic Technology Officer
Hannah Inzko
Director of Learning Innovation and Faculty Engagement
University of Miami CC: Owen Zammit via Flickr
We had success using a social
network at one institution.
Can we repeat that success?
Short Answer …
Yes
But you need a lightning rod
cc: sung ming whang via Flickr
And don’t get burned!
Long Answer …
Common communication challenges
How we tried to tackle them
What began to work
Replicating success
What we will discuss:
Poll
Which communication challenges
do you face? (multiple answer)
• Organizational silos of knowledge or expertise
• Desire for more transparency
• Limited opportunities to exchange ideas
• Too many places to look to find out what is happening
• None - Communication at my institution is great
Communication Challenges
at Penn State
• University Park: “Main Campus”
• 19 smaller undergrad campuses
• 3 special mission campuses (medical, law, graduate studies)
• 1 completely online campus
• 96, 500 students
• 82,000 undergrads (5,500 online)
• 14,600 grad students (4,800 online)
1 University
24 Physical Campuses
Communication Challenges
at Penn State
Communication Challenges
at Penn State
• Lots of people feel left out or ignored
• No opportunities to meet at the water cooler
• Difficult to connect to people in similar positions
• Overwhelming number of things happening
• Desire for increased transparency
• Silos abound!
Sound familiar?
Communication Solutions
(version 1.0)
Listservs
Listservs
Communication Solutions
(version 2.0)
Social Media
Put it on
Update the
I told everyone on
Announce it on
Post those on
Assign it on
Some people were happy to jump around
Others felt like they were always late to the party
No One Platform is Perfect
Some people don’t like mixing
the public and work personas
No One Platform is Perfect
Prone to spam
Only good if updated
Better used for reference
No One Platform is Perfect
Great for project management
Licensing can be an issue
for broad collaborations
What we finally selected:
Yammer
• As easy as Facebook (Youtube,
document preview, comments, likes)
• Private to work groups
• Option to get e-mail updates notices,
digests, or just check in now and then
• Collaborative notes
• Shared documents
• … not perfect, but good enough
• Agreed upon primary source
Yammer at
• Started in Spring 2011
• Early adopters: Teaching and Learning with
Technology, Learning Design Community
• By Summer 2013: 450 people in Learning Design
Community
• Sharing links, asking questions, peer support
• Cross-department, cross-position, cross-campus
Yammer at
• Started in Summer 2013
• Announced as the expected communication channel for
Academic Technologies (transparency was a motivating
value):
• News: announcements, weekly updates
• Events: agendas and notes, workshops, happy hours
• Kudos: acknowledgements of good work
• Re-created the Learning Design Community
(currently 73 members)
Watch
this on
Write about
that on
The pictures
are on
Post
this on
Yammer as the hub
War Stories
• Similar to instant messenger, lots can be lost in
translation
• Over use can be looked at as non-productive time
(in the early stages)
• If you are giving staff a platform to have a voice,
you’d better listen…and act.
• Too many groups, and the privacy of groups can
ruin the inherent transparency
Poll • What are your biggest challenges to adoption of a social
networking platform? (multiple answer)
• Training/support
• Awareness
• Sustained engagement
• Usefulness
• Policies
• Other? (Tell us in chat)
Open Discussion
• What are your war stories?
• What is working for you?
Lightning Rod Practices
• Culture shift - new expectations
• Training is required
• Invite comments - interactive
• Model behavior - liking, commenting, praising
cc: sung ming whang via Flickr
Closing Comments
• Nothing is perfect
• Be considerate of the change in culture
• Consistency is appreciated
• Invite participation
Thank You!
Recommended
