Debates about digital technology and its place in academia continue. Last year, a Research Information Network report documented that the use of social media had made only small inroads into academia. And while a JISC study observed that current undergraduates were more engaged than ever, students did not always understand the role of digital technology in relation to their studies. As Eszter Hargittai notes, they are less like digital natives than we might think.
While digital technology may not have been part of my life as an undergraduate back in the 1990s, it is a certainly part of my life now as a professional working in higher education. But rather than suggesting academics learn how to use particular tools or software packages, I'd argue the most important skill to cultivate in relation to digital technology is evaluation.
Understanding the benefits and costs of using digital technology is crucial when deciding what a particular tool, site or package may be used for.
David White makes the distinction between people who choose to integrate online activity into their working life to a high degree (digital residents), and people who choose to use technology for selective, short-term activities and then log off (digital visitors).
If you are going to reap the benefits of becoming a digital resident, you need to invest time, effort and take risks. So why is it worth the investment? In a nutshell, because digital technologies can enhance three core areas of academic practice: accessing, searching and sifting information; communicating with others; and building peer-to-peer networks.
The days of the ivory tower researcher are gone, if they were ever here at all. At last month's digital researcher seminar run by Vitae and the British Library, Tristram Hooley reminded us that research is a social process, and that building a network of peers is nothing new, but significantly increased by the use of social media.
There are resources to help academics consider the advantages of using social media, including the excellent Social Media: A Guide for Researchers, by Alan Cann and his colleagues. The book provides advice on using blogs, social networking sites, social bookmarking, collaboration, presentation and information management tools, and more.
Reading the guide is a great place to start, but like any education process, learning to use social media effectively is an experiential process. As Cann pointed out when I talked to him, it is very difficult to appreciate the benefits of using social media unless you try it out, and use it long enough to see a return on your investment.
Understanding what the technology is good for, and weighing up the benefits against the costs is also important when using e-learning to support students in higher education. The benefits of social media to help them search for information, learn to communicate effectively and work collaboratively are documented across the disciplines. JISC's Study of the effective use of social software in education includes case studies of the use of Facebook to support student induction, use of virtual environments like Second Life, photo sharing applications (Flickr), Google Earth and more.
Examples continue to appear all the time, including Stuart Hepburn's use of Twitter for student feedback in a screenwriting programme, and the University of Leicester's Duckling Project, using podcasts to support distance learning students.
I am generally enthusiastic about using digital technology to enhance our academic practice. But it is no panacea for academic life. There are risks of information overload, sharing our findings before publication (or in a student's case, submitting their assignment), not to mention the time and effort required. When I worked at Birmingham City University, we used blogs to assess students' contributions to a critical theory module. The students learned to write regularly and got frequent feedback on their work. But I spent three times the number of hours marking than I would have done if students had written an essay.
That said, there are costs to not using social media too. The best way to decide what works for you is to try it, be prepared to invest a little, and judge the outcome for yourself.
Dr Ruth Page is a lecturer in the School of English at the University of Leicester and has research interests in the use of stories in social media. She blogs at Digital Narratives.
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How Social Media and Online Social Networks are Changing the Ways in Which Scholars Disseminate Knowledge and Information
