International Education on Facebook and MySpace
by Penny Schouten
The following list was compiled by Mandy Reinig, Education Abroad Advisor at Penn State Altoona after conducting an electronic survey on SECUSS-L back in October 2008 and from my own groups list on Facebook. I must also give credit to Isobel Child, Study Abroad Manager at the University of the Arts-London who conducted a similar survey on SECUSS-L in January 2008, which is where I found some of the groups on my list (apologies to Isobel for not mentioning her before!). I’ve included some of Isobel’s findings in the comments below this item.
If you’re not listed here and your international office is on Facebook, MySpace, or a similar site, please add your page or group in the comment section. Please be sure to note what site it appears on, give the group name exactly as it appears on the listing and provide a link if possible.
International Education on Facebook (you need a Facebook account to look at these):
Academic Programs International
AIFS Fanpage, AIFS Germany
American Councils for International Education
Amizade Volunteer Programs (Profile)
Associated Colleges of the Midwest
Australian Education International
Study Abroad with Bellarmine University
Brookdale International Center
Carleton University International Student Services
CEDEI (Center for Interamerican Studies/Centro de Estudios Interamericanos) Profile
Christopher Newport University
Earth Education International group, EEI fanpage
Georgia Perimeter College Study Abroad, GPC in Costa Rica
GeoVisions Travel Abroad, GeoVisions Coversation Corps
Global Learning Semesters Study Abroad
Institute for International Public Policy
International Programs Office (IPO) at The College Of Wooster
ISA -International Studies Abroad
ISEP - International Student Exchange Program
International Volunteer Programs Association (IVPA)
Have you had the Experience? (NCSU study abroad london)
Japan Center for Michigan Universities
KIIS Italy 2008, KIIS FRANCE I Summer 2007, KIIS Italy Summer 2007, KIIS Spain I Segovia: teacher using discussion board to communicate with students!
London Law Consortium Spring 2008
Missouri State University International Students
NIU Study Abroad Alumni * CONTROLLED GROUP - membership approved by administrator.
Sea Education Association/SEA Semester
Penn State Altoona Study Abroad
PSU International Student Services
Pellissippi State International Student Services
Skidmore in Spain, Skidmore’s Off-Campus Study & Exchanges office, Skidmore in Beijing, Skidmore in Paris
SUNY New Paltz Institute for International Business
SNHU Abroad - Has a Facebook profile, not group/fan page
Texas Tech University Study Abroad
Thai & Southeast Asian Studies Program - CONTROLLED GROUP–Membership approved by administrator
University of the Arts, London
UAkron Oip (Profile name) Group page is UA EDUCATION ABROAD PROGRAM
University of Colorado Denver Study Abroad Page-CONTROLLED GROUP–Membership approved by administrator
University of Connecticut Study Abroad
Global Gators at the University of Florida
University of Maryland Study Abroad
UNT Center for Global Learning Experience
University of Oregon International Students
UC Berkeley New International Students - Spring 2008
University of Denver Study Abroad
University of Illinois Study Abroad
University of Michigan - International Programs in Engineering
University of Michigan International Center Education Abroad and Peace Corps Offices
University of Virginia Study Abroad
Wofford College Office of International Programs
International Education on MySpace:
Australian Education International
Get on this Facebook/MySpace list
If you aren’t listed here, please add your International Education page in the comment section below.
I am interested to hear what people think about Facebook “pages” versus “groups” for your offices or programs…. Thoughts?
Heather-Here’s a link that might help:
http://howardkang.com/facebook-fan-pages-vs-groups-for-highered-offices/
One thing you can do in groups that you can’t do in fan pages is control who is a member and who is not. So, for alumni outreach, it might be better to do a group.
From: Isobel Child
Sent: 16 January 2008 16:33
To: undisclosed-recipients:
Subject: Facebook - the findings
(*Editor’s note: There was an attached file to this e-mail that isn’t attached here)
Dear all
I posted my request for information on:
- the SECUSSA discussion list
- the BUTEX (British Universities Transatlantic Exchange Association) open forum and
- NAFSA’s Education Abroad knowledge community.
I heard from 25 institutions and organisations in the UK, Ireland, Poland, the US and Australia who are already using Facebook to promote their programmes.
I heard from an additional 57 institutions in the UK, Italy, US, Australia, and Ecuador who are not using Facebook yet but are actively considering it.
I have listed the 31 Facebooks that the 25 institutions gave me details of, and our own, and I have added a further 17 that I have found independently and think are interesting - see attached.
Most institutions are using Groups to promote themselves, but some are using Profiles (you can tell which is which from the link).
There has been a separate discussion about the value of using Facebook on NAFSA’s Education Abroad Knowledge Community. You can see it at http://www.nafsa.org/knowledge_community_network.sec/education_abroad_1/education_abroad_2.
There you log in to the network (you don’t have to be a NAFSA member).
Mandy Reinig of Penn State Altoona has produced a useful summary of responses to a survey she did of SECUSSA subscribers (Editors note: before January 2008) and their use of various networking sites, and with her permission I attach that too.
Mandy mentions an article by Kristine Murray and Rhonda Waller on social networking and its use in Study Abroad, published in International Educator Magazine, and you can see that at
http://www.nafsa.org/publication.sec/international_educator_1/ie_may_jun_2007
.
One of our contributors, Paul Pelan, has also pointed me in the direction of an alternative view of Facebook, recently published in the Guardian newspaper, which you may find interesting, and you can see that at http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/jan/14/facebook .
Here’s a great discussion on fanpages v. groups by my former SUNY New Paltz colleague Rachel Reuben:
http://cuwebd.ning.com/forum/topics/facebook-pages-vs-groups-how
Hi Penny,
Thanks for a great discussion! We’ve been knocking many of these thoughts around our office. Currently we a Facebook group “Study Abroad Italy - Official Facebook Group”:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=31624774542
We’re also on Twitter under the screen name “StudyAbroadItal”
Frankly, I’m not convinced that Twitter is a good tool for student recruitment. For staying in touch with currently enrolled students, it’s great! For recruiting potential students, I’m not so sure. I’d be curious to hear alternate perspectives on this. Thanks!
Thanks, Penny, for this great list! Several months ago I’ve become quite interested in the use of various social media for both professional and personal uses and this list is very helpful.
Looking forward to your Twitter list.
David Comp
http://ihec-djc.blogspot.com/
Dear Study Abroad Colleagues:
I’ve been experimenting with and exploring various social networking sites since last September, searching for the best applications to our mutual recruiting and program management efforts. My findings have been interesting, to say the least. For maintaining contact with program participants before, during and after a program, research points to starting a Wiki for an indivual program as very effective.
For general recruiting for a consortium or other provider of multiple programs, I’ve had good success with individual pages on Facebook, MySpace and MyYearbook.com (the latter is better for recruiting high school seniors only). I’m in the middle of compiling more data on this effort and welcome input from those who are also involved in new applications for technology and the “net” which may enhance our programs.
Elizabeth Thomas, KIIS Coordinator, Murray State University
Hello and so glad there has been some research on study abroad and social networking sites.
I’m a graduate student at George Mason University and am very interested in how potential study abroad students are using social networking sites to gain both informal and formal information on the country of their choice. I’m researching how useful the information is and how the extent of personal safety the student feels with the information, especially if the student is communicating with people living in the host country.
The Facebook/social networking phenomena offers a plethora cross-cultural / intercultural opportunities, and because of it’s newness, there has not been any noteworthy data. Can you shed light on the student receptivity and feeling of safety from your observations and research, as well as is there a certain personality type that embraces information from this source?
Hey Monu,
I cannot say I’ve done any formal research into student receptivity. Informally, I know that when I used it as a forum for my study abroad students, they participated-posting photos, asking questions, new students connecting with students who’d already gone abroad or were currently abroad.
In the technology field there is much talk of measuring ROI (return on investment), but with social media it is very difficult. What you are looking for is even harder to measure, but perhaps looking at ROI is one way to measure…this link was on Twitter awhile back, hope it helps: http://www.frogloop.com/social-network-calculator
Australian Education International is on Twitter. http://twitter.com/StudyInAust
In regards to the discussion over Facebook groups vs pages. We set up a Facebook group before there were pages but have since moved the content over. Having both seemed repetitive. We still use a group for communication with our student ambassadors. Overall, we use social networking sites to build up awareness of Study in Australia and refer students on to our website and Australian institutions.
Lexia has a twitter page: http://twitter.com/lexia_stdy_abrd
Penny, Sarah W, and Sara T -
Thank you for your replies and very useful comments for my research paper. My I have your permission cite your comments on this blog?
I recently created a Facebook fanpage for my International Higher Education Consulting Blog which you can access here: http://tinyurl.com/IHECBlogFacebook