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What motivated us to
write this book really
stems from earlier work
that I did on Facebook back
in 2007 that looked at the
use of those technologies
and technology in general
as part of student culture.
And then as a lot of
those data came out,
I sort of talked to Heather
a little bit about, well,
what about first-gen students
and what about students
of color on campus?
How are they using them?
So we really tried to craft
a research project that
tried to assess, well, what
is the impact of technology
on students in general but
specific to first-gen students?
Well, technology
does many things.
And one of the
things that it does
is that it gives you access
to lots of information,
which are really what we
would call social capital
possibilities.
And one of the things
that we certainly
know about first-gen
students is that they
come to college with lots
of very, very good skills
and abilities.
But this is a new
culture for them.
So it's as if
you're dropping them
in another exotic culture
for lack of a better
way of characterizing it.
And there's been
lots of work done
on first-gen students
in the transition
and how it is that
they could stand
to access this kind
of information,
these kinds of relationships.
So because technology is
a means to all of that
and it's a means
to social capital,
we threw the gauntlet down
and said, OK, well, does it?
And honestly, it was
motivated by a desire
to want it to do that for
them and to be able to say
to institutions, look.
These technologies help
these students in these ways.
How can institutions respond?
First, we really wanted to
explore what are the ways
that students are using
technology and social media
on campus to be able
to be more engaged.
What are those ways that we can
think about as higher education
administrators and professionals
to be able to use that?
To be able to capitalize on that
to help promote student success
are some of the keys.
And to look at the
ways that students
think about these technologies
in different ways,
how it helps or hinders their
transitions during the time
of coming into college
and through college,
to be able to be helpful
and to be connected--
we think that the more
things that we can help
put in place for students
to be successful in school,
the better.
So we wanted to
explore what are some
of the ways we could do that.
So our study took place over
a five-year period of time,
we looked at a case
study of students
who are entering a Summer Bridge
program at an institution.
So the students started
in a residential program
over the summer where
they took two courses.
We worked originally with
the faculty and staff there.
Students all
received an iPad when
they came into the program.
So we had two
different cohorts--
40 students in each one.
So 80 students in
total were part
of the study in particular.
And we also worked with faculty
to integrate some things
into the classroom, some
activities, different ways
that they could utilize
iPads, utilize social media.
Then we collected data, both
quantitative and qualitative,
about the students' transition
into the university,
how they use technology
during their time
here, how they were
using social media.
And then we followed
those students.
We had a group of students
that we continued to follow.
And they would talk to us.
Each year, we individually
interviewed them each spring.
Each fall, we had focus
groups of students
to hear about their experience,
what was happening as part
of their experience,
how technology
and social media
in particular were
parts of those experiences.
And that was really
the basis of the book.
So I would say this
book is for anybody
who is interested in
supporting or in a position
to support
first-generation college
students as they transition
to and through college.
That means educators
in k-12, of course,
who are working at preparing
students for that transition.
They're thinking about
what skills and knowledge
students need but
also really setting
them up to engage in
using technologies
through that transition.
This book is also for, I think,
community-based organizations
who are committed to college
access and college success.
In many ways,
those organizations
now are following students
in that transition from k-12
to higher ed.
And as they do that, I
think they're positioned
to help students think about
how they use technology
in those two sort of
educational spaces.
And of course, this
book has relevance
and, I think, a lot of
use for administrators
and faculty in higher
ed who are endeavoring
to figure out how do we meet
students where they are.
How do we reach them where
they're spending their time?
And that they recognize the
complexity of social media
and technology usage
among their students
and want to think
intentionally about how
to use that as a
way to communicate,
to disseminate, but also
engage and connect them
to the institution.
I think one of the
biggest contributions
the book will provide
for the field is
really insight from students.
I think the gap between
the educators who
design and implement
programs and practices
and the students for
whom those are intended
is pretty big when it
comes to technology.
And it moves so fast.
And students move quickly
and keep up with it.
And so being able to listen
to students as Heather said,
talk with them, understand
how they're navigating
that complex territory, and
use that to sort of offer
some recommendations,
I think that will
be a huge contribution to
those in higher education.
There are many things
that surprised us.
I'll name two, I think, that
really stand out for me.
One is we know that, for
first-generation college
students, the
transition to college
is very much inclusive
of their families.
That their families'
sacrifices and engagement
throughout that process makes
this their accomplishment
just as much as their students.
And what we found
is when students
talked about what social
media allows them to do
is that it kept them connected
to family and friends
from home.
The kind of social capital
that they can provide
is just important as
the capital that faculty
and their new peers can provide.
So hearing from
students as they spoke
about the important
role of their families,
reminding them why
they are there,
provided them emotional
support while there in college
really was very important, in a
way that I think we all believe
was important but
didn't see the role
that social media played in it.
The second thing is that,
again, as we know from research,
first-generation college
students are making
a transition between k-12 and
higher ed in a way that they
become straddlers of two
worlds, straddlers of two social
classes--
their home, their
families, and their peers
and this new social
class in higher ed.
As they're doing that,
they're negotiating
this in a social
platform, social media.
And I think the results
and the finds in this study
really called our
attention to what
it's like for them to
bring those worlds together
in that social space and
how hard that was for them.
And those kinds of surprises
really yielded ideas for us
about how we advise
faculty and administrators
to engage with students
when we know that they
have these other
communities that
are also in that social space.
The biggest contributions
to scholarship
from this work in
our minds really
does stem from the
contributions to practice.
As a researcher,
you look at this
and you say, oh, it's extending
the boundaries and the use
value of particular
types of bonds.
Sociologists would
want to look at it
and say, well, there
are these bonds
that have to be taken
as strong bonds.
And we move away from those.
If we want to get capital,
we want to go to weak bonds.
Well, that's not
necessarily the case here.
So for research and
scholarship, what it does is
it contests the
standard for the need
to lose strong bonds
when one makes transition
to arenas where you want
to gain social capital.
That's the first one.
The second one also
stems from that.
Because in fact,
we found this odd--
it's not an odd.
It's just a space where there's
a different kind of bond.
It's a transitional bond
where students really
look to college juniors and
seniors who were most like them
at some point and became peer
mentors through the program
and who attached in a particular
way, who could provide them
with social capital but at
the same time that could also
anchor them in their cultural,
racial, class similarities
that they provided some kind
of strong transitional bond
as well.
That's not a space
people talk about at all
in the scholarship.
We talk a lot about peer
mentors and peer learning.
But we don't talk about the
social capital and the ability
of those students who are
very much like our first-gen
students because
they too are first
gen. They are fundamentally for
the most part students of color
on a predominantly
white institution.
They're providing a strong bond,
literally, in a physical space
that their home families are
providing in a virtual space.
And those two bonds really,
really, really are, I think,
what we found was great to see.
But the research
never accounts for it.
In higher education,
most of the research
tells us that students need
to transition out of the home
and that students need to
break away from home and, thus,
the concern over the
helicopter parents.
These aren't helicopter
parents to begin with.
But they're providing
a particular kind
of social and cultural
context for their kids--
their children, their students--
that institutions
and research have
to look at in a different way.
And that was very exciting.
Honestly, we hadn't
hypothesized that at all.
I think building off
what [? Ana ?] said
about the role of families.
And my background is in
K through 12 education.
And I think that teachers
and counselors in K-12
are in a good position
to help families
recognize they do play a part.
And I think, as [? Ana ?]
says, institutions
aren't necessarily structured
to engage families.
So if there are
opportunities in k-12
for teachers and counselors
to sort of prime parents
and family and caretakers
to be ready to be
a part of that process, to
recognize the value that they
are going to bring in staying
connected and providing
a range of supports.
Not just sending food
or doing laundry,
but really reinforcing
for them why they're there
and knowing that they are
behind them and in their corner.
I think that we think a lot
about k-12 and higher ed as
very distinct.
But when we do
research that sits
in this nexus
between the two, we
realize there's a
lot to be learned
that has relevance for teachers
and advisors in high school.
I think, for me, that was a real
surprise and a good reminder
of the importance of high
school educators reaching
out and engaging families
and preparing them
for what's coming on their
end, not just with students.
If I can add to that, I
think that the same message
can be given or delivered
to higher education.
Because we think of
parent involvement,
and there is an impetus for
parent involvement offices
on higher education campuses.
But we construe
parent involvement
in a very normative way and,
in fact, much more around
advancement and those
types of activities.
These are families that aren't
going to get involved in that
because they can't.
They don't have the
requisite knowledge
about college themselves.
They did not go to college.
Many are working class people.
So parent involvement
offices have
to really change the
perspective to really understand
that these families have to
be involved with the college
experience of their students.
And how can we
get them involved?
So in the same way
that K-12 doesn't
think about involving
parents in particular ways,
higher ed doesn't either.
And I really do think that
that stood out for us.
And perhaps, we all
knew that instinctively.
But it's nice as researchers
when your instinct actually
comes out in the data.
Yeah, so I think I would say,
for first-generation students,
their families often think
that they don't play a role,
that they have nothing to offer.
They haven't gone through it.
I don't know what you're
about to experience.
And therefore, I don't
have anything to offer.
And I think students often
turn to other adults,
other staff for that kind of
information, college knowledge.
We coined a term in this
study, campus capital.
And it gets to
that social capital
that [? Ana ?] referenced.
And that includes the tacit
knowledge, the information,
that just understanding
how things
work in higher education that
otherwise gets passed down
through generations when
families had gone to college.
And so we recognize
that, though parents
don't share that particular kind
of capital, there are others.
Because you hear
from the students
that they couldn't call
home to figure out,
how can I register for
a particular class?
Or I'm having this
financial aid problem.
I don't necessarily
know what to do.
Whereas other continuing
generation students
can call home and help to get
that situation taken care of
or may have parents who are
more likely to be the ones
to pick up the
phone to call, where
the parents of
first-generation students feel,
well, that's not
necessarily my role,
or I don't know what to ask.
So they might not be
as willing to do that.
So then what are the ways that
colleges and universities can
get that information out to
families in different ways to,
1, help the families of those
first generation students
that you're helping to educate
them as well as the students.
But then thinking about
who else are the students
able to connect with to be
able to get that information.
Is it peer mentors as one
of the key things that
came out for us?
Is the juniors and
seniors who worked
with these students
in summer programs
that then tucked, once
they finished that,
became close friends
with them saw them
as even siblings in some
way-- they would call them,
they're like my sister.
Or they're like my brothers.
That if I have a problem,
that's who I go to.
So those connections
with other students.
And those relationships weren't
started through social media.
But they were able to
stay in contact over time
even after those
students graduated.
As alums, to think,
oh, I want to have
this experience
studying abroad, how
do I get the resources
to be able to do that?
Those are the types of
folks that they connected
with, those key peers for them.
Or who are the faculty and
administrators on campus
that had developed
a level of trust
with other first-generation
students who came before them
then to pass that
word along to say,
here's who you can connect with.
Here's how you can get that
information along the way,
which was important.
I'll talk about the
higher ed level.
And if everyone-- and Mandy
came into the project with us
because of her focus on college
access and thinking about that.
And that was a
good time together,
the three of us with our
different areas of expertise,
which I think was important.
As we think about the
higher ed level, 1,
I think the book is
good at helping to hear
the voices of the students.
It was one of the
things really important
for us to be able to
write as much in the way
that we're using
quotes from students
and we're using
vignettes that look
at students and
their experiences
to be able to understand
that a little bit more.
Because often, these
students are not
heard from in ways that they
could be, which is good.
And then how that translates
into our practice--
I think, at times, we
faculty and administrators
think of social media
as a time waster
or, when folks aren't
paying attention,
that's what they go to.
But we have some good
examples in the book of ways
that students have
used these things
to be able to
connect with students
that they're in a group project
with or to use peer mentors
or to connect with family.
To think about there
are some key ways
that, as administrators, we can
think about pushing information
out to students.
Students won't necessarily
engage back to us that way.
But to be able to get that out
and think about those ways we
do it.
Oftentimes too, we
want to stay away,
because we don't want to be seen
as creepy or stalking students
as we think about using
technology and social media
with our students.
But what are those
avenues that we can use?
Do we know enough as
professionals to know,
1, what students
are experiencing
on these platforms?
One of the examples
we have is thinking
about racialized
aggression for-- we
had such a high percentage
of students who are students
of color and what
their experiences are
and how that translated
into not necessarily feeling
safe or happy about
the campus climate,
feeling real
concerns about that,
were some of the
things that came up.
So if we're not as familiar
with those platforms,
it's harder for us to be able
to understand that, I think,
is a key.
And it's constantly changing.
We saw it in the five
years from our students.
If you know
Facebook, because you
look at your friends'
kids on there
as a faculty or staff member--
in the way our students use
it as a campus bulletin board
for what events are going on.
How I get involved in
clubs and organizations--
are all key things that our
students are using this.
So to think about how we need
to be knowledgeable and know
how it changes.
We saw the shift.
You can see the upswing of
Instagram for our students,
Snapchat, and how
students talked
about that, how they used it.
And we also saw the demise.
The Yik Yak was huge with our
students in their sophomore
year when they were here.
And then now that
that's ended-- and that
was a huge place where
racialized aggressions were
really clear.
So it's important to continue
our education as faculty
and administrators about what's
happening on social media,
because our students
are so involved
and so a part of
what they're doing.
And then what are ways that we
can utilize that to capitalize
it and promote student success?
The academic space was also
very much a part of the study.
And as Heather
suggested, it's a case
for the faculty opening its
eyes to the possibilities that
are sitting there with
regard, especially
with social media but also
across all technologies,
for students, and
particularly for students
who need access to
particular things.
And when used well in
an academic space--
and as I often
remind my faculty,
the chalkboard is technology.
So how is it that
you want to capture
this particular
technology for your use
because it benefits students?
And then we have many examples.
But the one that
always stays with me,
and maybe because
I experienced it,
was a student who was very
clear that, having the iPad,
he could look up words that
the faculty member used
that just were not used
in his high school.
Because that's cultural
capital he didn't get.
So if he misses
that word, he's done
for the rest of the lecture.
Whereas if he just
looks it up, oh, OK.
Now, I can follow.
And then more
complex ways in which
the faculty use
social media to teach
Shakespeare as an example.
And so there's a lot
there at the same time
that it's not about being
friends with your students
on a particular platform.
Because the academic
space is important.
I thought they gave
us a real window
into the possibilities
and many of the ways
in which we don't want
to necessarily use them
for the academic space.
I'll add two things to that.
One is one of the things we
heard from students about how
they use technology
that stood out,
I think, to us included
just having the technology,
having the iPad, as a
first-generation student,
many of whom are also
low income, not all.
Having an iPad was sort
of a form of status.
And so we recognized that our
project in giving them an iPad
had also sort of allowed them to
have something that sort of put
them on a level playing
field with other students
as they transitioned to
a very different space.
The second thing with
regard to what we hope
will happen as a
result of the book
is that people will think
differently about technology.
I think, as Ana said, some
faculty don't see themselves
as using technology.
And yet they are
using Blackboard.
They are using technology
in very subtle ways.
But there are other
ways to bring it
into their teaching
and their work.
And the lesson that
has for K-12 is
that high schools need
to prime their students
to make this transition.
And I think in high school,
because of the things
that Heather referenced--
feeling as though
it's a distraction,
feeling as though
students procrastinate
using these technologies--
they could leverage them
better to position
students so it's
more normal and sort of
habitualized in terms
of their practices.
I do.
One of the other things
that we learned, and learned
the hard way, through
use of ours is you also
then have to teach people
how to use those technologies
and what are the ways not
just to hand it to someone.
The first year that we
had received the grant
that we were working on,
we got the iPads right
before the summer started
and said, OK, here you go.
Put these into your classroom.
We're going to observe
how you're using them.
And a couple of the faculty
were pretty frustrated,
because they didn't
have time to even know
how to use it themselves,
how to then use it
for instruction to be able to
have good educational practice,
where they felt pretty
confident with what
they were doing before.
And here, we're
throwing this new thing.
And it was really interesting
for us to see the second year.
Then those same
faculty who had a year
to get used to it who were
able to learn some new things
did some really exciting
classroom activities.
The Shakespeare example is one.
There's another one where
students in a composition class
were editing each other's work.
Using the iPads, they
could project it up.
So they were doing some really
interesting things that,
without the time to
learn how to do those--
so it's something we
have to be able to think
about how to develop that in
our faculty to be able to do it.
It's an interesting
question to ask
in light of the changing of the
professoriate, to what extent
earlier career
faculty are already
predisposed because,
in fact, they
were learners in that space.
And faculty tend to teach
the way that they themselves
learned as students,
for good or ill.
And so it's still very,
very much the case,
and certainly in my
work with faculty,
that it requires
thinking about, well,
how would this get me to that?
And we've found that out.
I mean, it was very,
very, very obvious.
And it's the ownership piece.
Once faculty knew
that they owned it,
they can figure out,
well, I want to do this
with the merchant of Venice.
And I know I could do that with
this particular technology.
So that was--
And the different
way of thinking
extended beyond faculty.
One of the things we
found, particularly
in examining a program that ran
over the summer where students
were living in
residence halls, was
that there are many
apps out there that
are designed to support
students' non-cognitive skill
development.
So whether they were time
management apps or apps
that shut down your
internet so you
could focus on your writing--
there were a number
of places where,
once we gave the faculty
and the staff of the program
the charge to be creative,
look for apps that you think
will build the kinds
of skills and mindset
that students need to be
successful in college,
there were a lot of great
things that came from that.
But there was, I think,
that mindset shift
that this could be a tool.
This is a tool.
We're going to support this.
And things are, as
others have said,
being developed so quickly.
In some ways, it's
hard to keep up.
But some of our resident
advisors, peer advisors who
were working with the students
found that there were apps
that help students
organize their lives,
organize references, other
kinds of things that really will
support their learning beyond
the academic kinds of ideas
that [? Ana ?] shared.
And even really small pieces.
I can still-- observing
a class, and a student
had broken her glasses
two days before.
So she would go up and take
pictures of the white board.
So then when she got her glasses
fixed, she could then go back
and to be able to
look at these things.
Or students would share
notes with one another
and have common
note-taking documents.
And so that would help their
learning along the way.
All good research gives
you more research to do.
And I think that's
certainly true in this case.
Heather mentioned that
for as positive as we
are about technology and social
media and the ways in which
students can really
leverage these technologies,
it also has a bit of a
dark side in the sense
that we did see that the rise
in racialized aggressions--
and I would also extend that
to gender and sexualized
aggression.
We noted that.
And then we started to do
some initial work on it.
And now, we're really engaged
in a full-blown research project
to really try to
get a sense of how
it is that students of color,
in particular, are loosely
affected by these in their
every day-- and the bottom line
for all of us, if I can say--
and it certainly has always
been a bottom line for
me-- is how can we improve
the quality of the four
years of higher education
that first-gen students,
students of color
are going to experience?
OK, you graduate.
You're going to graduate.
That's great.
That's awesome.
That's important.
But did you enjoy it?
And could we have removed some
of these crazy barriers that
don't need to be there?
Could we have provided
you with opportunities
that made sense to you to
leverage the next thing.
And so things like
racialized aggressions
are one example of that.
Because campus culture
has been around since-- we
established residential
colleges and universities.
It's no longer a walled
garden, because information
is coming in and out from
all different places.
But it's still very
much a community.
So how do students
communicate with each other?
And what's the dark side
of that communication?
Or what effect does it have
on marginalized populations
on a campus?
Or in the case, for
example, of women on campus,
how does that then
color women's sense of--
we would term it, sense of
belonging on the campus?
So that's really an
exciting place for us
to go with this now.
Although I will have
to say that sometimes
it's a little depressing.
But anyway.
I think one of
the things that is
exciting about this
kind of research
is that it's research
in a space that's new.
So it's not necessarily
talking with students,
collecting data using
surveys or other sort
of traditional design
and methodologies.
Watching how students behave
in these virtual spaces,
it's just a whole
different kind of research.
And I think that's exciting.
And I think there's going
to be more and more of it.
So it really challenges us
as scholars to think about,
what can we learn?
Certainly, we know
that there are
ways in which online
behavior and information is
used to the detriment
of individuals.
But I think that there is a real
opportunity there for scholars
to watch what happens.
Lots of social
network studies have
looked at how students are
connected to different students
and to what resources
they're connected to.
I think the more
that people engage
in these kinds of social
spaces, the more scholars
are going to need to take
their methodologies there.
And so I think this project
very much embodied that.
Yeah, and it would be a
mistake for researchers to see
the virtual space as not real.
And that that was clear
to me very early on,
that this is a real space.
And that was the
argument that I made
and kind of sort of lured
them onto this project.
But this is real.
So what happens in
this real space?
And that shouldn't frighten us.
And we didn't mind going
into the dormitories
and placing RAs or
resident directors
or thinking about
codes of conduct.
Well, why are we afraid
of the virtual space.
Because it's very real.
It's no longer the
case that it's not.
And it's often blended.
When you asked students
to think of examples,
we had times when students said,
oh, I think that was online.
Right, right.
So it's that blending
as to where, how they're
connected with people, how
information changes hands.
And that's a key component
of the campus climate.
So institutions
also need to think
about that as the numbers of
assessments of campus climate
increase to think about
how does the online climate
influence what's happening
physically on campus as well.
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