Today was the first day of the semester for the University of Louisville. There’s nothing like meeting new students and seeing the personality of the class come alive. This is one of my favorite times of the year as a professor.
I am currently teaching three courses, but one of them is my social media class, or otherwise known as #Freberg15. This is the second full year I have taught this class and my fifth semester teaching social media as a professor. I am thrilled and excited to see the level of energy, enthusiasm, and commitment from my students so far here at UofL.
Since social media continues to change and evolve, there are some things I am doing slightly differently in this class compared to others in the past. Most significant has been the level of interaction and engagement I am doing on Twitter for my class.
Engaging more in visuals for updates
I have noticed that images have definitely been more effective in engaging not only others online, but students as well. I started doing this when I taught #Freberg13, but I really saw the impact of this in my class last year in #Freberg14.
So, all of the images I have been using so far have been created in WordSwag (an AWESOME mobile app!) and Canva. Some of these are motivational quotes, updates, and even original posts I have created to be shared on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, like this one.
Combining a class hashtag with a class motto
It’s one thing to have a class hashtag, but there is a lot more to a class than a keyword. It’s about a mindset that inspires students to take their work in social media to the next level, This is something I have noticed that has been extremely successful for athletic teams – so why can’t we do this for classes as well? One motto I had as a student athlete was “Work Hard, Win Easy” that really was effective for me, and I have designated this as part of my social media class as well with the hashtag #Work2Win.
Engaging Professionals with Class Visuals
This has been very, very effective for my class, especially on Twitter. One of the things I mentioned in class today is the fact that Twitter, compared to other social media platforms, allows professionals and others to connect with each other. I was able to do this before in my social media classes previously and will continue to do so. With that in mind, visuals are also effective in reaching out to professionals as well who are following the class hashtag and bounce off ideas with them as well.
I think this is going to be a great semester and really excited to have some great students in all of my classes, In case you are interested in following my social media class, you can do this by either following the hashtag, or follow this Hootfeed as well.
Hope you all are having a great day!
Best Wishes,
