Using Facebook to Improve School Communication
Facebook has become an essential tool for young adults to stay in contact with friends and family and to create a sense of community with their peers. For school administrators, then, utilizing Facebook to improve communication and to create an interactive experience for their school community only makes sense.
While many secondary schools continue to utilize basic Web 1.0 website technology to communicate with parents, students, and the broader community, most of the people schools are trying to reach, particularly the students and parents, rely on Web 2.0 technology like Facebook to share and receive information, even when it relates to education.
Most school websites are one-way information highways that might be appealing in design but lacking in functionality. As a result of the Web 2.0 revolution, students and parents are becoming accustomed to using social media technology to gather important information. From an educator’s perspective, it seems what makes these technologies appealing, particularly to the edupunks, is the various social media tools that enable users to easily publish ideas and broadcast them to a wide audience. Unlike the one way communication associated with Web 1.0, today’s technology enables users to create a sort of digital identity by sharing personal thoughts and relevant ideas. By utilizing social networking tools, savvy users can create and participate in a vibrant online community. For the 21st century student, this is powerful stuff.
With this in mind, it’s important for educators to consider the different ways this technology can be used to improve how schools communicate with students and parents. It’s also important to consider how social media technology can be used to create a dynamic online presence or digital community that promotes important aspects of the school’s mission. One particular Web 2.0 platform with enormous potential to improve the way schools communicate is the social networking site Facebook.
More and more teachers and administrators are taking advantage of the different tools Facebook offers to improve how they communicate with parents and students. What’s exciting is the way Facebook is being used to create a vibrant learning community.
For the past few months, I’ve been using Facebook to communicate with parents. I have to be honest. Being a high school administrator, I had serious reservations about using social media technology in this way. At first, I guess I was really worried about all the potential pitfalls. I suppose it was the administrator side of me!
Anyway, I thought I’d share a few examples of how administrators at my school are using Facebook to improve the way they communicate with parents and students.
1. Constant Contact– Managing a school today is as difficult as ever. With state-mandated testing, extracurricular activities, fundraising pressures, academic concerns, and so on, effective communication is particularly important. But, finding ways to effectively communicate with parents and students is certainly not an easy task. Today’s digital world is noisy, complex, and often times disorienting. The result often means school communication gets muddled and with it the intended message is often lost in translation. With all the other things going on, it’s not easy getting the parents’ attention, let alone the students. This is why frequent contact with parents and students is vital to successful school communication. If schools can find a reliable conduit to communicate to parents and students on a regular basis, school administrators are able to share important information that will not only improve student achievement but help build a productive and healthy school culture.
Facebook’s social networking tools can help build the sort of communication structure that enables school administrators to communicate with students and parents on a regular basis. Because most parents and students are comfortable using Facebook to communicate, utilizing the following applications can really help improve school-related communication.
- Group Feature– Creating targeted communication groups, such as for parents, students, specific grade levels, or extracurricular activities, allow administrators to easily share information in a way that is specifically tailored for the recipient.
- Event Schedule Feature– Because most schools need to communicate information related to numerous school-related events, Facebook’s event scheduling feature can really facilitate effective communication. Scheduling an event is very simple and its broadcast feature allows school administrators to not only reach a large audience but easily remind parents and students of important events (For the busy parent, this is certainly a plus!).
- Send Message Feature– This feature enables school administrators to send messages directly to parents and students. Administrators can create a variety of groups based on communication needs. What makes this application so appealing is, much like e-mail, administrators can pinpoint communication to specific parents or students.
- Multimedia Feature– School administrators can share multimedia with parents and students. The ability to easily share multimedia with parents and students can greatly enhance the way schools communicate.
- Announcement Feature– School administrators can easily broadcast announcements and reminders to help parents and students stay on top of important school-related events.
- Blogging Feature– By using the “What’s on your mind?” feature or the “Notes” feature, administrators can provide daily updates, blog about important events and issues, and provide valuable information for parents.
2. Back-to-school– One of the most powerful ways school administrators can use Facebook is to provide parents with a unique inside view of the daily operations of the school. Administrators can take pictures of daily events, record interviews with teachers and students, film student projects or particular parts of a teacher’s lesson and share this information with parents. If designed properly (and in accordance with student privacy rights), these “snapshots” can provide a powerful insight into the school’s community. Because today’s parents really want to be involved in the day-to-day activities of their students, utilizing Facebook can be a very effective way to create this meaningful connection for busy parents. Besides, by emphasizing certain aspects of the school’s community, administrators can have a powerful hand in shaping it.
3. Digital Discussions– By using the discussion feature, school administrators can create a safe and effective way for parents to share ideas with school administrators. As long as the discussion items are properly designed and managed, they can present a wonderful way for parents to participate in the school’s decision making process.
4. Alumni Communication– One of the most popular ways school administrators use Facebook is to help former students connect with their classmates after graduation.
Facebook is a powerful tool for school administrators because its social networking structure can be used to facilitate communication and build a dynamic online community. Most parents and students have Facebook accounts, and they update them on a regular basis. This means school administrators have a powerful communication tool at their finger tips, one that can be used to share all kinds of information– blogs, event updates, photographs, and video. This information can easily be tailored to meet the personal needs of the school’s community.
With this in mind, it’s important for educators to rethink how they communicate with parents and students. This new communication transformation must involve the sorts of social media tools normally associated with Web 2.0. These tools present an exciting opportunity to improve the way educators communicate.
Here are a few links to help you develop a vibrant school community. Good luck!
Opening Facebook: How to Use Facebook in the College Classroom
The Facebook Classroom: 25 Apps that Are Perfect for Online Education
Schools Use Facebook, Twitter to Get Out Their Message
Teacher’s Guide to Using Facebook
If It Doesn’t Spread, It’s Dead
Best Practices for Educators Using Facebook
How To Social Media Videos for Administrators
Drive Belonging and Engagement in the Classroom
Don’t forget to follow me on Twitter!
Over-
1sam
wrote on 30 November 2009 at 14:32
Why are schools trying to tap into private/public spaces? There are alternatives, but maybe a little more difficult than joining Facebook. Which social circle of kids would invite a teacher along to join the group? None! If schools continue to invade student’s social spaces, we will be inciting more antagonism towards education.
2Admin
wrote on 30 November 2009 at 21:22
Good point. I suppose where we might disagree is how exactly schools should use the social groupings features associated with Facebook. I would suggest that schools set up a unique account in Facebook, such as a “fan page,” and let parents and students chose to be members of the group. Therefore, if parents and students do not wish to join the school’s social group, of course, they don’t have to.
Interestingly enough, my school has hundreds of students who’ve become “fans” of our school’s Facebook page. They really enjoy it. But, I think it’s important to disseminate information that attracts both students and parents. This means it needs to be interesting and relevant.
3Jeff Utecht
wrote on 4 December 2009 at 16:42
I like your approach. Our school started a Facebook group as an alumni site for our high school. It’s been very successful in getting Jr. and Sr. to connect with those recently graduated about universities.
Facebook is no longer a social place for students….it’s a social place for society. Facebook just passed 350 million or roughly the population of the US. Because it’s become part of society I think schools not only have a right to be there, but need to be there to help spread a positive image in the public spaces within.
I think it is important that you understand how the space works and that you can’t force your community to join your group/page. It’s another way to communicate with those that want their information that way. Finding ways to link that communication to communication you are already doing so you don’t have to double up the work your doing is important. There are plenty of plugins that allow you push and pull information in and out of Facebook so that you can publish to all your social places at once.
4anne
wrote on 3 January 2010 at 23:26
plz gve infotm thx