It seems to be the collective wisdom that if law schools aren't using social networking technologies, they're in the dark ages, but a lot of us "over 40s" (*ahem*) are not as savvy as our students about how we should be using them.
Does anyone have experiences with online social networking in the law school context? I know a lot of profs have their own Facebook pages, but do you have official law school pages? Do you think we should? (And if any students or prospective students want to weigh in on this, feel free...)
I have been tweeting--see http://twitter.com/randypicker if you are interested--and plan to experiment with it in my antitrust class this fall. Many of my tweets would be relevant to the class. I plan to attach a hashtag to the tweets for class-- #rpatf09 -- and that will let students tweet and use that hashtag as well. We can then all just search on the hashtag on Twitter to see what has been said.
The plan is out of class, not in class, as a way to point us to class relevant content on the Internet.
I use a class blog in my seminar--see http://picker.typepad.com/picker_seminar/ -- and have been very happy with that. The twitter test would allow for shorter links for a class rather than the longer posts for a seminar.
Posted by: Randy Picker | August 04, 2009 at 12:38 PM
Rex Gradeless (SLU '09) and Laura Bergus (Iowa '11) have been blogging about law schools and social media for a couple of years. See the series of posts on best practices (http://socialmedialawstudent.com/twitter/social-media-best-practices-for-law-schools-part-1/), the list of law schools using twitter (http://socialmedialawstudent.com/twitter/how-law-schools-are-using-twitter/), and the wiki Social Media Best Practices for Law School (http://smbp.laurabergus.com/).
Posted by: Jim Milles | August 04, 2009 at 05:08 PM
Thanks so much for the extremely useful feedback.
Posted by: Jacqueline Lipton | August 04, 2009 at 05:59 PM
Many departments at Touro are on Twitter: http://www.tourolaw.edu/tourotweets/
We're meeting tomorrow to discuss a Social Media Policy based on Laura Bergus's draft policy.
I honestly don't think that Twitter is that great of a tool for keeping students updated on class for a couple of reasons. First, that's just sort of not how Twitter works. It's more of a free-flowing conversation than a place for announcements (thanks, Jim Milles, for pointing that out to me when I got started). I mean, you *can* make announcements; I just don't know that it would be fair to hold students to them. Second, it doesn't seem to be a big tool for Millennials (which comprise the vast majority of our student bodies). It does seem to have really resonated with Gen X and with sectors of Boomers, though.
Randy, if you do it this semester, though, let us all know how it goes. Things change rapidly in this landscape, so my advice may expire in 7 or 8 minutes. :)
Posted by: Professor Tracy McGaugh | August 04, 2009 at 07:15 PM
Thanks for raising this question. I appreciate hearing about others' experiences. I am completely new to the world of Twitter, but decided to test it with my Professional Responsibility class this fall. I've copied below an excerpt from my syllabus that provides a bit of insight into how I plan to use it:
A Word About Following Me on Twitter. This semester I am trying something new and conducting a bit of an experiment on teaching through social media. I invite you to follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/legalethicsgal This is neither a requirement nor an endorsement of Twitter, and participation is completely voluntary. It will have no impact on your grade (other than perhaps an incidental benefit in that hopefully it will increase your interest in the subject generally). It is simply part of my effort to make the material more engaging and relevant to your lawyer life, both now as my student and in the future (if you decide to keep following me!).
Posted by: Renee Knake | August 04, 2009 at 09:40 PM
I have two Twitter accounts, one relevant to my (new) role as associate dean:
http://twitter.com/wneclaw
and one more general account for all aspects of my life, including law and the law school, but also the other sundry things I do:
http://twitter.com/billchilds
The law school is also on Facebook, with three official pages -- the law school proper, career services, and the library. We also use Facebook groups (and a closed and moderated list-serv on Google Groups) for entering classes:
http://www.facebook.com/wneclaw
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Springfield-MA/Western-New-England-College-School-of-Law-Career-Services/217532610144?ref=ts
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Springfield-MA/Western-New-England-College-School-of-Law-Library/36500428651?ref=ts
Posted by: Bill Childs | August 05, 2009 at 09:02 AM