| | MAY 20248FROM MONOLOGUE TO DIALOGUE: EMPOWERING STUDENTS THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIABy Michael Padian, Director of Digital Marketing & Communications, West Coast UniversityAs we move well into the second decade of social media being a part of most of our everyday lives, and certainly a part of the everyday lives of students, something that's changed very little as it relates to students and social media has been the tendency to be hyper-focused on the risks inherent in social media; and while those conversations and developing strategies to protect at-risk young populations are still critically important, I'd like to take a look at the opportunities social media presents to educational institutions to improve the experiences of, and create positive outcomes for, their students.At West Coast University, where I've been the Director of Digital Marketing & Communications for a little over two years, our focus from Day 1 has been on our students, which is not nearly as simple as that may seem on the surface. With an incredibly diverse and dispersed student population we offer undergraduate, graduate and doctoral degrees (and post-masters certificates) at six campuses (plus online programs) in three stateswe approached this like a marathoner: patiently, one step at a time.We visited each of our six campuses to meet with studentsand student groups (whom we continue to meet with monthly via zoom), and we met with campus faculty and leadership as well, putting faces to names, clearly communicating our shared purpose and, importantly, listening to each of them and understanding their points of view and the story(ies) they had to tell. We put one step in front of the other for many days and weeks and months to reach that ultimate goal of crossing the finish line, which for us was establishing a trustingrelationship with each of them.Once we laid this foundation, our social media presence began to transform from a vehicle to talk at students to a vehicle designed to allow students to talk to one another, to share their stories of struggle and success and everything in between with one another.Michael PadianIN MY OPINION
< Page 7 | Page 9 >