Earlier today, I taught my second "Introduction to Social Media" course at the Rhode Island Association of Realtors. Once again, I'm happy to report that the class was full. I think it went well, the students gave me high marks though there were definitely a few bumps along the ride.
Specifically, I had one student who didn't know how to access his own e-mail account, "I usually ask my secretary to log on for me." Imagine trying to teach someone how to drive when they don't even know how to use a key. Another student typed their e-mail address (ie bobjones@hotmail.com) into the browser when attempting to retrieve their facebook profile confirmation e-mail. And there was little I could do to help the woman who misspelled her password when she was prompted to "re-type password" on the initial sign-up page. I'm not trying to insult my students on cyberspace (though there is probably little chance they'd find this website) simply acknowledging that this is one of the challenges of instructing an introductory level course.
Still, we made considerable progress and by class' end: every student had created a facebook account, they accepted and requested few friends, commented on my page, posted a link to a Statewide MLS article, experimented with privacy settings (example: they learned how to block me from seeing their photos), and developed a working knowledge on how to post listings. I wish we could spend more time discussing the nuances of facebook marketing for Realtors, but with a majority of novice social media uses I have to allocate a good chunk of time to the very basic steps of setting up account... One or two of my students had a solid understanding before they entered class, things moved a little slower for them but I was still able to address their concerns as well (one woman wondered how she could post family photos but only allowing her family to view them)
Good class, I look forward to the next one and I'm actually working on developing an intermediate level course maybe "I have a Facebook Account, Now What Do I DO?" or "How To Market Yourself through Social Media."
