'If you build it, they will come' The challenges of developing a social networking site in a university context
Social networking software offers a powerful tool for institutions wishing to engage students who are Information and Communication Technology (ICT) literate. Online communities offer alternative ways to communicate with and engage students that are just beginning to be explored. As university administrators and leaders increasingly seek to improve retention of first year students through early engagement with their campus community, the online environment is being seen as a complement to the learning and engagement opportunities within the classroom. The challenges of developing a social networking site that allows all students and staff at one Australian university to build online communities are addressed in this paper. The lessons learned over the first year of the project are distilled, with advice on what to try and what to avoid in undertaking such a challenge. Introduction The challenges in developing an online social networking site in a university context have parallels with the movie, Field of Dreams. Kevin Costner, in his role as a struggling farmer with a dream of building a baseball field on his farm, faces the same challenge as to whether his vision will find favour with the general public. There are the usual setbacks and nay sayers but, as in every Hollywood dream, there's a happy ending as streams of baseball fans arrive by car at the newly completed venue for the first game. Social networking software offers a powerful tool for institutions wishing to engage a demographic of 17 30 years of age who are Information and Communication Technology (ICT) literate (Anderson 2007; Millea, Green Putland 2005) This demographic clearly coincides with a substantial percentage of most Australian universities' commencing undergraduate student populations. Students report in ICT surveys that they are spending time on social networking sites (Australian Flexible Learning Network, 2007; JISC 2007a b; Skene, Cluett Hogan, 2007) at the same time, lecture attendance is falling and the challenge of engaging students is a constant preoccupation for university administrators and leaders. If social networking sites engage students in their lives beyond the university, it is reasonable to assume that they offer a way to communicate with students and encourage students to interact with each other (Anderson 2007) 1 Reference to the quote 'If you build it, he will come' from the 1989 movie, Field of Dreams, directed and adapted by Phil Alden Robinson and starring Kevin Costner. 'If you build it, they will come' The challenges of developing a social networking site in a university context. Skene Cluett, Refereed paper. 1 The possibilities intrigued the authors, who are both professional staff employed in a central administrative unit in an Australian university (Cluett Skene 2007) They set out to explore how ICT could enhance service provision, improve communication with students and foster engagement. As both authors have a strong focus on transition, first year students were a key target group for the project. The lessons learnt in the initial stages of the project, which had as its main focus the development of a social networking site, node.live, are distilled here as a guide for others who may similarly be intrigued by the potential of Web 2.0 technologies. Whilst some examples of the ways in which ICT was employed are offered here, the primary message is to encourage exploration of the potential of Web 2.0 tools, in order to 'keep in touch' with an important aspect of most first year students' lives: how they communicate with one another. These technologies are evolving and many potential applications are yet to be explored or even imagined (as noted in the Horizon Report 2008, a review of emerging technologies over the next five years by New Media Consortium and Educause) Our commencing students may have better technical skills than many staff, but they expect staff to take the lead in exploring the pedagogical value of their personal communication technologies. Background of the NODE project NODE (Networking Online to Diversify Engagement) was born from awareness that the commencing undergraduate student population at the university in question was overwhelmingly Gen Y, born post 1982, or as Prensky (2001) dubbed them, digital natives. Although literature on Gen Y attributes certain characteristics to this age demographic (Tapscott 1998; Howe Strauss 2000) there was little empirical evidence about the online behaviour, experience and expectations of our own students. A first step in the project was to survey first year students as they completed that year, to gain evidence about student preferences in relation to ICT and the university environment. To this end, students who had completed 50 per cent or more of their first year units were surveyed by email, with a link to an online form. A response rate of 643 students (16.8 per cent) was received and of these students, 93.5 per cent were born in 1982 or later. The high response of Gen Y students is not unexpected in this first year cohort, as the annual intake of school leavers comprises approximately 82 per cent of all commencing undergraduates. Students were asked about their access to ICT, their use of, and their expectations of the IT environment in the university. A snapshot of the data as it relates to social networking has been reported previously (Skene, Cluett Hogan 2007) a more comprehensive report is available from the authors. Many assumptions are made by university staff about the availability of new technologies and students' uptake generally. The NODE survey revealed a clearer picture of this particular cohort's access to tools and their usage. As one example, although anecdotal evidence assumed most students owned laptops, actual ownership across all faculties was reported at 57% International students are generally more likely to own a laptop with 75% indicating that they do compared with 54% of domestic students. Those aged 25 and over were more likely to own a laptop compared to those in the under 25 age group (62% compared to 56% Mobile phone ownership was reported at 96% a figure that compares with other Australian studies. Having a clearer picture of access to technologies and patterns of usage amongst our first year students has been valuable in establishing a benchmark against which to measure changing patterns of ownership and usage in future studies. Similar surveys have been carried out in other Australian universities (for example at the University of Melbourne by Kennedy, Judd, Churchward, Gray Krause (2008) and at Curtin University by Oliver and Goerke (2007) and across institutions in the U.S. (Hartman, Moskal Dziuban 2005) and the UK (Anderson, 2007; JISC 2007a b) The survey findings, both from our own student cohort and from others across the Western world, show that there is a growing interest in social 'If you build it, they will come' The challenges of developing a social networking site in a university context. Skene Cluett, Refereed paper. 2 networking (JISC 2007a &b; Oliver Goerke 2007; Kennedy et al. 2008) The pattern is also changing rapidly: when this survey was undertaken late in 2006, Facebook had not made an impact. One year later, the impact of Facebook is clear to anyone engaging younger students in discussion about their online activities and for some, the amount of time students admit to spending on Facebook and similar sites is a worrying large proportion of the time they have available to study. To explore this dynamic and to focus more on the student experience with ICT, rather than access, a further survey is underway that includes questions about students' perceptions of the value of various technologies for their study and their sense of being part of an online learning community. Some messages are very clear, both from the NODE survey and surveys undertaken by JISC (Joint Information Systems Committee) of prospective students in the United Kingdom. Gen Y students value flexibility. They want their lectures recorded and to be able to access them when it suits them even if many still acknowledge that they prefer face to face teaching if the lecturer is knowledgeable and enthusiastic (NODE survey comment 2006) They also expect their lecturers to have a reasonable level of expertise with ICT, but in findings that reflect the value Gen Y places on peers, students also reported relying heavily on informal networks (JISC 2007b) High school students surveyed in the UK and in Australia expected to learn more skills in ICT whatever their course of study (JISC 2007a; Australian Flexible Learning Network 2007) The JISC study, 'In their own words' (2007b: 7) observed that 'the boundaries between learning and other aspects of learners' lives are increasingly blurred' and that it was important to be able to personalise the learning environment by 'selecting technologies meaningful to the learner' Students in the UK, who are more inclined to move away from home to study than Australian students, recorded seeking out information on IT infrastructure and policy on subjects such as unrestricted web access as part of their decision making process when choosing where to apply (JISC 2007a) Students in the NODE survey, many of whom are still living at home and with access to broadband (85% of respondents) were not as critical of access to IT infrastructure: 'I think on the whole it works pretty well' (NODE survey comment 2006) but some expressed frustration at a lack of flexibility sometimes evident, for example, when lectures weren't recorded. Others noted that they expected ICT to be integrated into their learning environment: 'I'm all for the use of webbased materials but I'd rather that they were relevant than just used as a token attempt at being "with the times" (NODE survey comment 2006) An integrated approach mirrors the interest many university administrators and acade