Facebook or Blackboard SNA

[elizhealy]

Dear Group,

The ADN program at my school is reactivating the student nurse association. We're considering Blackboard or Facebook to communicate? As faculty, does anyone have SNA experience with either of these venues? Thanks for your help.

Liz

[nursebrandie28, BSN, RN]

Hello,

I have just been in charge to "advise" the SNA. I have decided NOT to put post ANYTHING formal on facebook for 2 reasons-

1) I would have to "friend" the students, and i like to keep seperate boundaries

2) not all students have facebook

Also, does anybody have suggestions how to get students involved or activities we can do? I am new to this.

Thanks,

Brandie

[RN1488]

I am not directly related to SNA, however I know some details. Our SNA uses a "group" on blackboard. All students are required to check blackboard often so it just made sense. If you want to use facebook, of course, you will need to form a new group. (Do not use your personal page). Hope that helps!

[kevinadurr]

I too was in charge of publicity for my student nurse organization while an undergrad. I struggle with BlackBoard and FaceBook was in it's early stages of gaining popularity.

Pros and Cons from my experiences...

BlackBoard

- Bb hides most of its information behind too many clicks. Click here, click there, then there, and just one more click to get where you need. Rarely will students ever "click" to what they need to see.

- Your lists will always be updated with current class enrollment

- The biggest downside is publicity. Your content is only limited to enrolled students. Alumni and the outside public can never have access to anything...

FaceBook

- The Friend issue is hard to overcome.

- People need to understand that MOST people use FaceBook only and strictly as a PLAYGROUND. It core appeal is to look at other people for fun. Trying to formalize an audience is rather difficult and requires a consistent and determined administrative crew.

SUGGESTION.... BLOG

- I utilized a blog to post news, highlights, meeting minutes, photos, whatever was needed. The nice thing about a blog is that it is open to the public and rather simple to distribute via email. Contact your nursing department to see if you can setup to updates be sent to all nursing students. Typically schools have all students available in one email address like [email protected]. The blog can send an email update, each time, to the [email protected] and each student will receive an update in their email.

An example is http://coyotenurses.blogspot.com

--- Kevin

[concernedMD]

I would keep anything professional OFF Facebook. Moreover, there are legalities involving privacy too.

[elizhealy]

Thank you all for your input. We decided against using Facebook and we are using Blackboard with some success. I'll see how this fall semester works out to make a final decision.

[kevinadurr]

Be sure to check your stats in BlackBoard. Every click in Blackboard can be traced and provide a detailed analysis for what features students tend to use more than others.

Don't be discouraged of numbers are low at first. Running a participant website takes good planning and determination.