In the second chapter of Teaching Naked Dr Bowen argues for instructors to use social media to make ourselves available and approachable to our students. He provides a number of examples email being the most common. But he suggests that instructors consider where their students are already meeting online outside of the classroom. He cautions against friending students personally on Facebook suggesting a workaround where a discussion board can be shared on Facebook and gently ask students to post class-related queries there rather than on our personal Facebook pages.
That is the gist of the chapter: meet students online where they already congregate. The discussion boards of most learning management systems (LMS) are fine, but they are not as easily accessible via smartphone apps compared to other options. I know that is certainly true of our Moodle installation at the University of Alberta - it is not readily accessible even when in a browser online. Bowen advocates that the online tool must be readily available and accessible to students in their daily life. If access requires pulling out a laptop, then it probably won't be a good route to communicating with students outside of class.
It would be interesting to start a course asking students how they would like me to interact with them online. But I do think it is important to set boundaries in terms of not expecting a reply on weekends or in the evening. It is critically important that we as instructors model for students how to live a balanced life. Difficult I know! But it is important that students see that we have a life outside of work. I think that can send a signal to students that we understand that they similarly have lives outside of school.
Bowen's suggestion to use Twitter as a backdoor conversation during lecture is interesting but I think that would require assistance perhaps in the form of a TA or student volunteer to moderate and raise class questions that way. I already have enough difficulty moderating the class discussion, managing my in-class personal response system, and navigating whatever else I may be projecting to the class! Having a student(s) moderate a back channel is another way of giving students responsibility for their own education. My experience is that when you do this, students rise to the challenge and take more ownership of their education as advocated by Maryellen Weimer in Learner-Centered Teaching.
Resources
Bowen, J. A. (2012). Social proximity and the virtual classroom. In Teaching naked: How moving technology out of your classroom will improve student learning, Chapter 2. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, an imprint of Wiley. p 27-49.
Weimer, M. (2013). Learner-centered teaching: Five key changes to practice (2nd ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, a Wiley imprint.
