Likeable Content Daily

By Jenna Lebel

In last week’s blog post I explored how schools are embracing social media to enhance the learning experience for students. This week I’m taking it one step further and looking at schools who have not only embraced social media to enhance learning, but also find it so valuable that they have adjusted their curriculum and now offer classes (and even programs!) in social media. Here are 5 examples of schools who are paving the way in social media education. What’s your opinion on social media education? Can it be taught in the classroom? Share in the comments section below.

Emerson College Social Media Class

The social media class at Emerson College is offered as a marketing elective. Students in the class start their own blog, contribute to a class-created blog, and communicate with each other using the Twitter hashtag #esm (Emerson Social Media). Students are given real companies to work with for the semester, organizing and running the social media strategy for that company. For several semesters now, Google has collaborated with the class allowing students to run Google Ad Words campaigns. Last semester, two Emerson social media students started a hashtag #jackiessecret to talk about the announcement that the college’s president would make that afternoon about her retirement. In one day, the hashtag was used in 1,400 tweets and Emerson College has since earned an award for their efforts.

Birmingham City University Master’s Degree in Social Media

A new master’s degree program at Birmingham City University teaches students how to use social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, Bebo and blogs for professional communication and marketing. The program will be of interest to journalism, PR, marketing and communication majors who will use social media in their professional lives. The one year program consists of one class and costs £4,400 ($6,239 USD). While not everyone at the university supports the program (some students feel it is too easy, that everyone knows how to do this stuff), the university and many students do agree the program is scholarly and necessary in the new age of technology.

Stanford University Facebook Application Development Class

A new course at Stanford University called “Create Engaging Web Applications Using Metrics and Learning on Facebook” teaches students how to design, develop and launch apps on Facebook. Students work in teams of 3 to 5 to create one application of their choice and one educational application to share papers or notes. Students are graded on how engaging their application is to other users. The class uses web analytics and user engagement metrics to evaluate their applications at the end of the semester.

Griffith University Makes Twitter a Mandatory Class

Australia’s Griffith University is now making Twitter a required class for all Journalism students. The class was created in response to the rising demand in the professional field for employees who can use social media intelligently and professionally. When the university realized some students were not as proficient as they should be, they created this mandatory class. There has been some negative reactions from students who feel that a Twitter class is a waste of time or unnecessary for their professional and educational lives.

Georgia Southern University “Making Connections” Social Media Class

A class at Georgia Southern University called “Making Connections: Facebook and Beyond” is now available to students wishing to learn how corporations use social media and how they can create and promote their own online profiles. Students create a blog, network on various social media sites and become an “expert” in one type of media. There is also a focus on helping students create, maintain and protect their online profiles and reputations, created in response to the growing need for students to understand how their online profiles can impact their professional life.

Michigan State University Social Media Research and Development Partnership

Michigan State University may be a latecomer to the list, but certainly not to the concept of social media in education. MSU offers several courses in social media, but that’s not why they made the list. Their addition to the list is a result of their recent social media research and development partnership with INgage Networks. Ingage is an award-winning enterprise social software provider and is working with MSU to open a social media research and development office on the campus. The college and software provider will collaborate to develop social media solutions to challenges faced by government, corporate and nonprofit organizations, while equipping participants to engage in the global knowledge economy. The initiative is already underway leveraging online collaboration throughout the state to create jobs, retain workers, and ‘green’ Michigan. Using social media to rebuild Michigan’s economy makes the project a win-win for MSU, INgage and the state of Michigan.