Connecting in a Crisis: How a Social Media Platform Can Help You Connect with Your Students

Abstract

“This is very scary. Everybody be safe!” “I am trying to not to be too afraid. I work in the medical field. It can be so scary.” These honest and uncensored statements, taken directly from my students last year, gave me an amazing insight to their emotions and thoughts as we traversed the unknown together. I was able to do so through CourseNetworking, an academic social networking platform that can be integrated into Canvas. While I first started using it years ago as a way to get to know my students better, once the pandemic hit and our lives were turned upside down, it became so much more. Unfortunately, we are still in a world full of unknowns that are greatly affecting our lives. With CourseNetworking, I have been able to reach out to my students each week and ask them how they are doing, and they are able to share with others how much their lives have changed. In this session, insights gathered from over the years of using this platform will be shared and the positive influence it has had on my teaching, as well as how to incorporate it successfully into your course. References Scherzinger, L. N. (2021). CourseNetworking: How a Social Media Platform Can Connect Us in a Crisis. Journal of Teaching and Learning With Technology, 10(1). Retrieved from https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/jotlt/article/view/31176