Beginning college in 2006, at the cusp of the Facebook phenomena, social media has always been a part of the college experience. Many educators today can recall a time when distractions in the classroom, consisted of passing notes, not cell phones and internet. In response to the technological boom, syllabi now explicitly state that use of such devices during class time is prohibited and carry varying consequences.
During my undergrad, I remember hearing rumors of universities that had completely blocked on campus access to social media website before finals week, in an attempt to limit distraction and promote studying. After the initial frustration at the idea of a university trying to impose its values of time management on its students, I began to dismiss these stories as nothing but rumors, and modern day urban legend.
However, it appears these stories may have been based in fact. Harrisburg University of Science and Technology has implemented a week long black of social media sites from its campus. The University is a non residential campus, so the ban only impacts students while on campus, and not at home. Administrators began the blackout with the hopes of demonstrating to students, how much social media use in the classroom can inhibit their ability to learn and be fully engaged.
However, college students are a resourceful population, and approximately eighty-five percent of them found a way around the blackout. Most resorted to using the smart phones in class to access the blocked sites. Student approval of blocking social media on campus almost doubled from the beginning of the week long blackout compared to the end of the week, and disapproval dropped by fifty percent.
Harrisburg University of Science and Technology has found that forty percent of its students spend 11 to 20 hours on social media websites a day, and it is using the blackout as an educational tool, to help students realize a possible addiction. Although students seem to approve of the action, and some have even stated that they are looking forward to the next blackout, is it the university responsibility to force decisions about time management on to the students?
If the students are receptive to the plan, and take notice of improved concentration in class, then perhaps the university is justified in the week long blackout. But if students are not learning from the blackout, or the weeklong event grows, is the university debilitating its students decision making abilities, by making the decision for them about what they are permitted to do while on campus?
The Harrisburg study Kim references is unfortunately but not unusual. In a former life, I taught a First Year Experience class where the students tracked their media usage hours, including Facebook time. Many students would report their actually time online at that particular site was much higher than they realized before being forced to be consciously aware. Therefore, yes, I see the thought process that could lead institutions to believe that removing the temptations would aid the students’ attention to academics. Can Harrisburg really feel comfortable saying they help students develop adequate time management skills if the truth is the students are not making the decision for themselves? Is this method of removing the object of desire teaching the students how to control their individual urges? For me, this seems as though “in loco parentis” is making a comeback and does not allow students to learn how to balance their needs versus their wants. As an adult student, if any of my Internet access was “blacked out” by the University of Northern Colorado, I would feel disrespected and disappointed in the institutions lack of expectations for positive student learning behaviors.
ReplyDeleteI appreciate Kim's raising this very thought-provoking topic. My take on what Harrisburg's Executive V.P./Provost Eric Darr termed a "consciousness-raising exercise" was not meant to be much more than that. And according to the published responses of the minority of students and staff/faculty that participated at this institution (a science and technology school at that), it seems to have accomplished its stated goal.
ReplyDeleteI think that such exercises definitely have their place in higher education, given sufficient participant notice, contextualized explanation, opportunity for prior reflection and discussion, and consent. Activities that directly introduce students to experiences of deprivation, whether it be from social media, the use of a sense like sight/smell/hearing, the use of a personal automobile, food and drink of certain varieties, usage of certain kinds of linguistic terms (e.g. slang, etc.), etc. can all be ways to expand personal awareness, insight, and understanding in certain enlightening ways.
It is interesting and rather frightening that some 20% of the student participants and a number of participating faculty and staff reporting using social media sites between 11-20 hours daily. Such addictive behavior makes me reflect upon my mortgage banking career when -during the height of the mortgage boom- I was "plugged in" to company email and phone networks for 10-15 hours a day (taking an average of 300-400 emails and also 100-200 phone calls a day). Now, of course myself and my working colleagues were required to take and respond to such social networking, but my point is that I could not really intelligently reflect upon anything but mortgage work when I was so preoccupied. It got to the point where some of my hyper-busy colleagues in California that I knew (not just in mortgages, but also in academia and other fields) starting taking time off in "solitude retreats" of various kinds for a day...a weekend..a week..whatever they could afford, in order to unplug and rejuvenate. Me? I knew I had to get away and go for a run in the woods or I would pretty much be useless to my wife and daughter for the evening.
When students today grow up in social contexts where they come to believe in social media networking as natural a feature of their world as, say, oxygen and coffee, it may be difficult for such particular students (not all, of course! There are still literally millions of young adults and teens who lack access to the information/social media superhighway for various reasons) to understand the point and value of unplugging and going inward for reflection and refreshment. For such individuals who simply don't realize (or have forgotten) the value of unplugging and going inward, such exercises can be invaluable, I believe. Of course this isn't exactly a novel insight for the multitudes who practice meditation/yoga/prayer/etc. on a regular basis in order to do just that.
I believe social media is here to stay and will only grow more sophisticated and pervasive. It is incumbent on us as higher education leaders in the making, in my opinion, to model and guide our clientele on how to integrate social media usage into a balanced, healthy, and fulfilling lifestyle.
I wonder if Harrisburg is missing something here. At Colorado State, administrators, parents, and campus partners often complain about students being constantly "plugged in." They leave class and put headphones in to walk around campus. I hear cries of "What ever happened to personal interaction!" Then, a few years ago, we did a study of how students manage their stress. The second most common way students manage stress? Listening to music. Our eyes were opened that students weren't just disconnecting from the world around them, they were finding relatively healthy ways to de-stress between class.
ReplyDeleteHas Harrisburg (or anyone) done any research as to whether social media helps students manage stress? Does it seem wise to take away a stress management tool during finals week?
Another note from CSU - last year we had our technology folks run an audit of what websites take up the most bandwidth. Facebook wasn't even close to the top. Skype, NetFlix, and YouTube all far out-paced Facebook for use. Would we take away these websites if we thought they were distracting students?
What if we could use Facebook as a tool to help students? What if the university provided tutoring via Facebook chat? Or if faculty members held "office hours" on Facebook where their students could ask questions? If students are already plugged in, they may be more likely to use these tools than to walk across campus to an office.
I skimmed this article because before I got through the first paragraph I already knew that students would find another way to be on facebook and immediately thought of smartphones.
ReplyDeleteI understand an institution trying to make a point to students on any issue. When it is wide sweeping like this was, I really wonder who actually learned anything from the outage? Student cultures are funny and I could see where something like this "consciousness-raising exercise" would cause them to revolt rather than learn because it was done through control and not choice. If this was me, I would feel like "the man" was coming down on me and it is my own choice whether I want to be on facebook or not. Aren't there other ways to share the point? Social norming campaigns? Doing a campus wide campaign to refrain from facebook for a period of time? This may have been done but not mentioned in the article.
Beau I think you pose some really interesting questions and points about technology on college campuses. I bet that all my students would have facebook in their backgrounds of their computers but would be much more engaged around YouTube. It is quite often my students find something on YouTube to watch that causes all of us (including me) to huddle around a computer. Until you posed the findings I did not even think about it.
I disagree with what Harrisburg University of Science and Technology did. There are a lot of negative consequences for the mandatory decisions. For example, students will be distracted by alternative solutions for the blackout. The class or the professor is determining whether the students will pay attention or not. For instance, if the class is boring the student won’t pay attention even if they block the access to the social media. They will get busy by other things.
ReplyDeleteI think they should just have the blackout during the tests’ days because; unfortunately, some of college students are cheating and plagiarizing during their tests. They can cheat by using the internet to find the answers, by texting, or by downloading information in their devices.
Harrisburg University of Science and Technology could use the technology in useful ways. Instead of using blackout to help the students pay attention in classes, they should try to use the technology to help the students understand subjects better and make them like the classes. Also, they can aware their student about the right using of the internet and how the internet can help them in their future.
In addition to students the original article also states that, “it is somewhat disturbing to note that several faculty and staff reported spending more than 20 hours a day on social networking sites.” Michael, you make an excellent point about the amount of time we spend at work responding to email rather than engaging in reflective activity.
ReplyDeleteIn my HESA 761 course - Scholarly Writing - we spent the first couple of weeks reading about the socialization of doctoral students as well as the place for reflective practice in higher education. Its difficult to find time for reflection and planning if you don't intentionally unplug.
None the less I struggle with who is responsible for creating this time - do we self monitor our technology use or should someone else do it for us? Rather, I wonder what we are doing on our campuses to educate students about appropriate technology use? I also wonder what we are doing to help today's students practice their self-reflective, planning, and inter-personal behaviors. We, as practioners often complain that todays undergraduates struggle to connect and to manage their time - what are the proactive things that campuses are engaged in to assist students with these skills and is it our within our education scope to do so?
Ahhh...Facebook. I agree with what was stated above, it is pretty much here to stay. That is, until the next wave of social media arrives (i.e. remember MySpace?), and I see Twitter as catching up fast.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I don't see this as necessarily all about accessing one website. As human beings in general, and as young adults in social developmental chaos, the need to stay connected, informed, accessible, and for a better word, "popular" trumps a basic need to just log into Facebook out of boredom. Not only students, but just PEOPLE have an urge to be involved and informed with and about one another...we want to know, "What is this person saying/doing?", "Who is looking at my pictures/status?", "Is my partner/crush thinking about me?", "Who's with who?," "What pictures from this weekend are going to reach the public?," "What picture do I want to represent ME today?"
Before Facebook, we had MySpace. Before MySpace, we had texting. Before texting, we had notes being passed in class (as previously stated). It's about human connection, and it's part of the human condition.
I was a coach at a university during my MS degree (3 years ago). As part of my duties, I was assigned to study tables for student athletes. We were a laptop campus. So, 100% of the students who attended had a laptop in front of them, and I was facing them. I had no way of seeing what they were accessing on their computers, although it was obvious from facial reactions, giggles, looks at one another, that they weren't looking up recent statistics for their human development class. I had a choice--police the sessions by giving forewarning and walking through the aisles...or letting the students choose how to access their time. After all, if their grades fall, so does their eligibility to play.
I stand by my decision to let the students choose. Of course I addressed chatter, giggles, and other actions that could be distracting to other students, but for the rest, that was on them. I see the presented university (above) as wasting a lot of time, efforts, and resources to prevent students from accessing FB on campus time. As noted, 85% still managed to log on at that time. Accessibility is everywhere and it's only increasing. I believe students need to be held accountable to themselves, and educators can be accountable to their own classrooms (i.e. While in this class, all electronic handheld devices should be silenced/turned off and put away). If laptops are involved, then it's on to personal accountability again. These students are exploring their independence, many for the first time. Maybe this university should enlist "clickers" to keep students paying attention :) (see previous post).
As soon as I started reading this post, I thought back to my best friend who attended BYU Rexburg her first two years of college. Facebook was completely blocked on their entire campus, all the time. Yet again, students found a way around it. Her and her roommate would go a couple times a week to a nearby hotel and use the wireless in the parking lot so they could gain access to the sites they weren't allowed to use at school.
ReplyDeleteI think there is something valuable in what Harrisburg did to show students how much time could be gained by not using a particular site, but again, not everyone is captivated by Facebook. It's YouTube, StumbleUpon, Twitter, Netflix, etc. By using a popular site like Facebook though, I think it has the potential to break students' habits of using Facebook or particular websites excessively. I do not think schools should control whether students have access to a site during certain times of the year; however, I do see the value of using this as a teaching moment for students and then challenging them to use what they found out to dictate their future schedule and how they use their time.
Like Janella, I too have taught and currently teach First Year Experience. We recently put together a Time Management Workshop series for our first gen students in the Center for Human Enrichment. To say that students were alarmed by how much time they spent surfing the web is putting it mildly! Seeing their reactions when they charted the hours that they devote to Facebook and other social networking sites is a mental image I won't soon forget.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I find the Harrisburg experiment amusing, I can't help but think about those students who use social networking sites as their main form of communicatoion. Never was this more apparent than when I started working for CHE. Countless students have shared stories of not having the means to afford cell phones and monthly service plans. Sites such as Facebook and MySpace serve as the primary, and sometimes only, way to communicate with loved ones.
I can't imagine what life would be like if these students had to spend time finding a way to "break-in" to Facebook just to be able to communicate with loved ones; not to mention during finals week.
I agree that some students abuse social networking sites for many reasons that are unhealthy. Perhaps there are more effective ways of getting the point accross than implementing a campus-wide blackout. One solution may be offering Time Managemnt Workshops for all studnets accross campus. So far the feedback from the handful of studnets who have attended the workshops has been positive.
I think you said it perfectly in paragraph three, “college students are a resourceful population”. Give a person a fish they will eat for a day, teach a person to fish they will eat for a lifetime. College teaches students how to think strategically and manage their time. So why would we expect anything differently? I can recall a time as an undergraduate student living in the dorms when the administration blocked Comedy Central from all campus networks due to the supposed controversial content of the Dave Chappelle Show. One hour before the next live show, two engineering majors and one computer science major figured out how two hack the main network to undo what it took the administration nearly $20k and one week to due. The next week the controversy was about student computer access because of the hacking and not the Dave Chappelle Show. My point is blocking students access to something they feel entitled to will create more of a learning distraction. Can social media be used as a resource in the classroom? Actively seeking ways to integrate social media in the classroom could provide many learning opportunities for students, faculty, and staff and could also eliminate some issues institutions are having with social media distractions.
ReplyDeleteI think that Beau brings up a great point. Instead of bemoaning the fact that students are engaging on social media sites for a large portion of their days, including class time, I think we should look at this as a great opportunity!
ReplyDeleteWhat if Facebook (in its ever-changing format) developed a platform whereby classes could interact through the group chat feature? By keeping a chat window open during a lecture, students could type in questions or comments without interrupting the professor, much as we do during webinars. Could Skype be adapted to include feeds to every class member, mimicking an actual classroom?
Just as cell phones and the internet changed the face of education and how we operate, so too will social media. We need to be embracing the technology that is here to stay.
What has been your reaction when someone tells you that you cannot do something? I tend to be slightly more stubborn than the next but I can tell you that when someone tells me not to do something, I want to do it even more. I think this blackout could have been seen as a challenge to some students to find their way around the restrictions to access facebook. Then I begin to wonder, how much of their time was actually wasted on finding alternative ways to access denied internet sites? I bet it wasted more of their time than it normally consumes out of their day.
ReplyDeleteBeyond that, I believe in giving people choices. Most college students are at the age in their life where they are finding a new type of independence and learning how to make choices. Thinking back to my undergraduate years, some of my biggest mistakes were some of my greatest areas of growth. I cannot say I would have learned the same lessons if I were not free to make the choices that I thought were best even if in the end they proved to be the wrong choice. Not only do young adults need to learn from their mistakes they also need to learn about personal accountability and responsibility. Once they are out in the “real world” and find a job, start a family, and/or raise children of their own, what is going to be most useful to them- someone telling them how to manage their time (who is no longer making those choices) or a strong sense of personal accountability and sound decision making?