Educating the educators: Notre Dame offers social media classes for professors

Social media and social networking have been integrated into all areas of society. If you or your business isn’t taking advantage of it, you’re behind the curve.

Students have been active in social networking for almost a decade and it’s time teachers get on board. Colleges need to be providing students with an education that will be relevant in today’s society. Before professors can start teaching social media, they need to become educated on the topic themselves.

Marketing Director at University of Notre Dame, Don Schindler (@donschindler), is sharing his knowledge on social media with the Notre Dame community by offering blogging and social media classes for the Notre Dame staff. This will not only benefit the professors but will enhance the quality and relevance of education in the classroom.

Here is Schindler’s initial layout of social media education at the university, these will be rolled out over the course of the next few months:

• Social Media Intro Class
• Blogging Intermediate Class
• Facebook Intermediate Class
• LinkedIn Intermediate Class
• Twitter Intermediate Class
• Google+ and other social media networking Class
• Video and Photography Social Network Class
• Overall Social Media Integration Class
• Social Media Advanced Class

In May, Schindler taught his first class, “Notre Dame Social Media Introduction Class.” This course was divided into two sections.

• Defining your Digital Presence: Your Professional Brand vs. Personal Brand. In this workshop staff learned about what it takes to be successful in social media. They learned how to define their digital presence and how to measure its success.
• Social Media Beginner Course: This class covers the basic social media profiles (Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter, Google+), working on how to set them up and get an understanding of the differences between the networks.

In June, Schindler introduced a new course, “Facebook Page Engagement, Management and Insights.” This course is designed to take staff through the basics of page set-up, how to add applications and tabs, and learn all about insights in order to increase engagement.

Both of Schindler’s social media classes closed due to high demand. Proving Notre Dame staff are eager and excited to learn about this stuff.

Just the other day Schindler made an announcement on his blog that he will be offering 5 more social media classes this coming fall. He warned that these classes will be sure to fill up fast. Here is a list of the courses and their descriptions:

• Using Facebook for Business: Basics: This is a workshop for anyone who wants to use Facebook to improve their online relationships with others.
• Understanding Twitter: Basics: You will learn how to set up a profile, how to follow other people, what it means when you are followed, how to put people into lists, what the terms/language of Twitter means.
• Blogging Basics: This workshop is for anyone who wants to set up and maintain a Univeristy or a professional blog. This course will cover the steps to setting up a WordPress blog and what makes a blog successful.
• Advanced LinkedIn Techniques: This workshop is for anyone who wants to use LinkedIn for better relationship building and page management. You will learn  how to set up a group, how to maintain and build membership, how to engage your members, and how to add content.
• Facebook Page Management: This workshop is for anyone who wants to start a Facebook Page or is actively managing a Facebook page for the University. It will teach you everything you need to know about running a successful Facebook page and how to engage with fans. It will handle connecting applications to manage the page as well as scheduling posts via the calendar.

Last year, Notre Dame was voted #1 in social media by USA Today. The entire University has been recognized as being an influencer and brainstormer when it comes to their strategic use of social media platforms. Notre Dame recognizes the importance of social media and is continuing to make improvements by offering classes like these. Hopefully with time more and more colleges and universities will begin to do the same.

Perhaps a lesson for law firms? Teach its lawyers and staff on social media so that they are equipped to deal with their social media savvy clients and prospective clients.

Image courtesy of Flickr contributor, Scott Gulbransen