Case+Study+1

**__ SOCIAL NETWORKING __** 


 * Introduction**

College students of today outwardly appear the same as those from past generations. However, technological advances have dramatically changed the way students learn and have influenced the type of students enrolling in college programs. Web-based higher education is now accessible to many geographically challenged students who would otherwise be unable to attend classes. Teaching styles and strategies have evolved to meet the advancing technology needs of education. Web 2.0 tools are used to connect people, increase knowledge base, and enhance the ability to learn through sharing ideas and tapping into the collective wisdom of the web community (Skiba, Connors, & Jeffries, 2008). Some educators have expanded their teaching strategies using Web 2.0 based applications such as social networking sites.

Web-based social networking sites serve as virtual communities to users with common interests, allowing the individuals within a specific group to have close contact with one another. Members of the network create profiles with biographical information, photographs, or any other details they want to share. Most of these sites require only a personal or institutional email address to create an account (Boyd & Ellison, 2009). To share ideas, individuals connect through conversational activity that can be real-time or asynchronous. Members of the group offer feedback to build on these ideas. A network of relationships evolves that links one individual with many others (Skiba, 2008). Social networking sites are created for a variety of purposes, such as initiating dating activity, developing friendships, creating business contacts, and enhancing education.

Active learning strategies significantly benefit education (Educause, 2007). Educators use social networking sites to complement curriculum and to broaden the scope of the traditional classroom. Activities involving social networking sites can potentially increase diversity in the educational experience because the internet gives individuals from all over the world access to these sites (What is social networking?, 2009). Students now have the ability to study and participate in group work collaboratively with others on an academic level, while building a network of contacts that may help them in the business world after graduation.

Twitter, one example of a social network that can facilitate communication among teachers and students, is an online application that is a combination of blogging, cellphone instant messaging, and social networking (Skiba, 2008). Communication takes place via "tweets", or short messages using 140 characters or less. Twitter can enhance students' skills in effective communication because "tweets" must relay information succinctly (Educause, 2007). Teachers can take advantage of this technology to send updates or reminders about classes to all students in a group message (Skiba, 2008). Students can communicate among themselves or with the teacher in the same manner, making efficient use of their time. A definite disadvantage of Twitter for some students is the cost of text messaging.

While meeting new people is the focus of some social networking sites, an increasingly popular site called Facebook primarily supports preexisting social relations and helps to maintain existing offline connections (Boyd & Ellison, 2009). Although some of these relationships may be weak ties, there is typically a common offline element among individuals who "friend" one another, such as a shared class at school (Boyd & Ellison, 2009). Students can connect with one another in many ways through social networks. For example, Facebook members can create groups and invite associates to join, giving them the ability to relay information to one another. A group of students could create a group to connect for online discussions or to ask questions about the class. While social networking definitely has its benefits, users must be aware of possible negative aspects, including the risk of information becoming public (Forsythe, L. 2009). The case study below describes how boundaries can be crossed within social networking sites.


 * Case Study - Social Networking and Nursing Education; Up Close and Personal......**

Mrs. Evans is a nursing faculty member at a small community college in Georgia. She coordinates the third semester adult medical/surgical nursing course. The nursing program's student population consists of students from various cultures and generations. Although some of the students are Baby Boomers and Generation X'ers, the majority are Millennials. Mrs. Evans notes that most of the students, even the non-traditional ones, are very technologically literate.

Knowing that the nursing students are very technologically advanced, Mrs. Evans decided to create a link and utilize a poplar social networking site (Facebook) for educational purposes. As her younger students would say, "What a great idea, right!!" Mrs. Evans thought that this link would help the students stay in contact with her and each other. Clarification of course topics and related content could be shared efficiently and in a timely manner. Mrs. Evans also thought that a home page within Facebook would help to organize and broadcast announcements and links. Perhaps feedback and collaboration among the students would begin to take place. Hopefully this site would help the third semester students become a more cohesive group.

To begin this novel idea, Mrs. Evans first created a Facebook page for her class. After creating the page, Mrs. Evans established a link to the login for the University Blackboard System. With this link, students could easily access course content. Mrs. Evans also posted the book requirements, test dates, and assignment due dates on the page. On the first day of class Mrs. Evans announced her email address, which is linked not only to the class Facebook page, but to her personal Facebook page as well. She asked that all of the students search for this email on Facebook, and request to become a "friend". Mrs. Evans would then "accept" them, and they would become a member of the class page. All of the students seemed to like the idea; "friend" requests began to pour in later that day.

For the first few weeks, the nursing Facebook site seemed to be an ingenious idea. Students posted questions related to course topics. Classmates would sometimes answer the questions and at other times Mrs. Evans would answer. Mrs. Evans found, however, that she often had to correct information posted. For example, an EMT turned nursing student answered another student about lab values concerning a heart attack. Unfortunately the information given about the CKMB lab value was incorrect. Despite these glitches, Mrs. Evans thought that things were going pretty well... until the second test of the semester when some students complained to Mrs. Evans that somebody was cheating. According to the students, another student had hard copies of the tests from previous semesters. While this scandal was going on, the class Facebook page became the best place for class members to voice their frustrations. Comments and name-calling appeared on the Facebook "wall." Mrs. Evans had to address the negative comments and instruct the class to use only professional language. In addition, Mrs. Evans also noted that students uploaded photos of after-test celebrations with alcoholic beverages in hand. She worried that college administration would see these photos and assume that she condoned drinking amongst the students. She clarified with the students that the Facebook site was only for collaboration and class discussion of course content, not scandalous class issues and personal photos.

Once the cheating incident lost momentum, Mrs. Evans thought that everything would go back to normal. Her clinical students, who now knew her very well after the first two months of the semester, began requesting to be her Facebook "friend" on her personal Facebook page. Not wanting to hurt their feelings, Mrs. Evans thought, "What's the harm? They'll be out of my class next semester anyway." After accepting these students on her personal Facebook page, she received many "friend" requests from other nursing students in the program. Again, not wanting to discriminate against the these students, she accepted. One day after receiving some news about a family member, Mrs. Evans posted, "I just received some shocking news." Several nursing students posted comments on her page such as "OMG are you pregnant Mrs. Evans??? How exciting :) When are you due?" News, although untrue, spread quickly throughout the program.

The next day at work, Mrs. Evans is called by the division chair to come in for a meeting. She thinks to herself, "This has become way too personal...... I hope that I am not in trouble...."


 * Discussion Questions**

Explore the advantages and disadvantages of using Facebook (or another social networking site) for nursing education purposes.

Do you feel that boundaries were crossed in the above case study related to social networking and nursing education? If so list examples.

What are some ideas that Mrs. Evans could have used to prevent the crossing of personal boundaries in the above case study?

Create a code of professional conduct that Mrs. Evans could include in her course syllabus specifically related to online social networking within the class.

What are some alternatives to the use of social networking within the nursing class?


 * Links**

[|www.facebook.com]

[|www.myspace.com]

[|www.twitter.com]

[|www.blogspot.com]

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**References**

Boyd, D. & Ellison, N. (2009). //Social network sites: Definition, history, and scholarship.// Unpublished manuscript, School of Information, University of California-Berkeley, Berkeley, California and Department of Telecommunication, Information Studies, and Media, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan.

Educause (2007). 7 Things you should know about twitter. Retrieved November 18, 2009 from []

Forsythe, L. (2009). What you need to know about social networking. //Queensland Nurse, 28(5),// 22-23.

Skiba, D. J., Connors H. R., and Jeffries, P. R. (2008). Information technologies and the transformation of nursing education. //Nursing Outlook, 56(5),// 225-230.

Skiba, D. J. (2008). Nursing education 2.0: Networking for professionals. //Nursing Education Perspectives, 26(6),// 370-371.

Skiba, D.J. (2008). Nursing education 2.0: Twitter and Tweets. //Nursing Education Perspectives, 29(2),// 110-112.

What is social networking? (2009). Retrieved November 14, 2009 from [|http://www.whatissocialnetworking.com]

Proceed to Case Study 2