Program Abstract:
Considering the growing trend in higher education to use social media as a means for teaching and reaching students for a variety of reasons, it is vital to ensure that we are helping students how to effectively use these tools to express their learning and development. The Rutgers University Orientation Leader class includes an experiential blogging component, which asks students to use a blog writing approach and style to discuss their experience, what they learned and how it applies to their understanding of orientation programming. Unlike other classroom experiences that ask students to compose regular essays within a blog forum, this assignment helps students learn how to express themselves in more conversational and innovative ways. By looking at the literature surrounding social media use in the classroom and exploring the various student experiences, you will gain a greater understanding of how to incorporate creative social media into your orientation program.