Talking Stick - May/June 2011 - 41

SOCIAL MEDIA

HERE, THERE, AND EVERYWHERE

Using Social Media for Professional Development
By Stacy Oliver

ith an ever growing number of student affairs administrators using social media for professional purposes, housing and residence life professionals are embracing these platforms as a means of delivering professional development opportunities and increasing engagement for staff members at all levels. Tim Lade, a residence life coordinator at Grant MacEwan University in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, stumbled upon this opportunity on Twitter during the 2010 ACUHO-I annual conference and exposition: “I found professional development in social media completely by accident. I was tweeting a bit last year in Austin, and people started to follow me. Twitter has allowed me to build professional relationships and has been a cornerstone of helping me when looking for resources or a place to bounce ideas.” He also uses blogs to expand his professional horizons: “Because of social media, I’ve found resources like blogs I wouldn’t otherwise know existed. Blogs have become a major source for teaching me how to be a better student affairs practitioner.” As is the case for any use of social media, oversaturation can become a problem. Lisa Clanton, coordinator of housing and residence life at Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green, considers herself a social media novice and acknowledges that using the platform for professional development can be overwhelming initially: “There is so much information out there, at times it becomes difficult to filter through all of the information

available.” She uses Twitter regularly to stay connected with her colleagues and has noticed that, in the process, she becomes more aware of other resources. “Social media puts valuable and beneficial information at my fingertips. I pay more attention to the
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webinars being offered. Relevant news articles are shared by others frequently. I’m not sure how I stayed connected before,” says Clanton. One advantage of social media is that they can be used for long-distance communication, specifically for staff
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Talking Stick - May/June 2011

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