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Perry Encourages Faculty Social Media Use in Podcast Interview

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Posted on Tuesday, November 14, 2017

Westminster Graduate School Assistant Director Dr. Eric Perry was a featured guest on the Oct. 31 episode of the “The Faculty Meeting” podcast. Perry, who also serves as the Counselor Education Program Coordinator, offered ideas on how college faculty members can best make use of social media in the classroom and in their professional lives.

He was interviewed by Dr. Marty Jencius of Kent State University and Dr. Eric Baltrinic of Winona State University. The pair of counselor educators launched their biweekly podcast this year as a forum to “discuss topics related to being a faculty member at the university level,” such as faculty roles, responsibilities and lifestyle.

Perry said during the podcast that it’s important to incorporate social media into the classroom, as today’s students are “digital natives” who regularly communicate through these channels.

“They’ve grown up with technology. It’s not foreign to them, and so we have to think about how they connect with one another and how we’re going to best connect with them,” he said.

“I’ve such a huge increase in participation,” Perry noted, after describing his classroom use of Poll Everywhere, a live interactive audience participation tool. “It seems like for students who are more tied into technology, they’re more drawn to this form of communication. This is how they’re comfortable communicating, and I want to give them that forum.”

Using examples from his introductory counseling course, Perry explained that it’s best for a faculty member to determine what his or her needs are before choosing a social media tool — such as Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn — to incorporate into classroom use.

“Many of these were not designed as pedagogical tools. They were designed for broad public social interaction,” Perry said. “Once faculty members have a good idea of how information is shared on there, and what the purpose of the tool is, you can start talking about how it might fit into a course.”

To listen to the entire free audio podcast, listen through iTunes at: https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=http://tiny.cc/TFM&c=E,1,WjBlpHomVEOUWeaCUzDFf3rp1pqztP4_rgN4yvf_D7XbpQ0aEOPHDmwJNPp9vUVYO7r_OkSWz6TLjwClPm7uCdWuQwJ-pLDW6CkbTDnYm2hSrc_MxmI,&typo=1

The podcast is also available on Stitcher, Google Play, TuneIn or at: https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=http://thefacultymeeting.libsyn.com&c=E,1,NvV17PpqMdX9GhOY6mqtlbvLC7-0ZW7aEnox5H0xHJosl4rJvjIvBqzJhsPI_cnKi3iLN2YchfW2kdYR8naxFpghKVGIBtqBcK1Gqw,,&typo=1

Written by Jessica Shelenberger