Many of us are scrambling to catch up to learn these new programs and decide to what extent we want to get involved. Some of us are afraid to lose our connection with these students if we are seen as social media Neanderthals, while others love to be known as Crackberries and Appleholics, showing that we are in the know, and use our smart phones to do all kinds of things.

In my teaching, I have used at least two strategies recently, and I encourage you to consider them: blogging and discovering, or instant research.

Blogging
Some any of our students read blogs, follow blogs and some even have their own blogs. However, I have learned that many of them are not really involved in blogs and have limited experience with them. Therefore, I have added blogging to my courses. Currently, in the Customer Relationship Management course that I teach, I have incorporated blogging assignments in place of one of the paper assignments. Since I am always trying to think of creative ways to get the students involved in thinking about providing excellent customer service, improving customer loyalty, practicing service recovery and using data to customize services, I want them to think about these challenges for the whole semester. I used to assign a paper on customer service and require them to interview at least two professionals involved in delivering excellent customer service. Although that activity helped them learn, no one else benefited from their experiences and insights.

Instead of that paper assignment, I now require students to conduct the interviews, read in depth about customer service and post, each week, two statements or comment on other students’ statements. In this way, they all benefit from reading each other’s comments, and they learn to be part of a community that is involved in this topic every day and not just when we meet in the classroom. They have enjoyed it and thrive on making comments. In addition, as I have learned to operate a blog, I have increased—to some limited extent—my ability to make the blog interesting. If you want to check it out, feel free. The address is http://crmfall2012.wordpress.com.

The value of this activity is the continuing dialogue that takes place outside of class and keeps people focused on the topic. So far, discussing and commenting on each other’s posts has been fun for students, and they get excited to see how says what.

The other way to include social media is to encourage students to conduct research during class.

Discovering or Instant Research
We all face the presence of laptops, tablets, cell phones, feature phones and smart phones in our classrooms. The question is how to recognize their value and also not let them disturb the learning environment. In my courses, I have indicated that students are welcome to bring their laptops and tablets to class to take notes and bring up articles that they have read. However, I also make it clear that they cannot use them to check on Facebook, read the news, e-mail others, tweet or otherwise not be involved in the content of the class and the discussion. I have even warned them—and I have done it—that if I find them using their tablets or laptops for anything other than notes, I will close the laptop on their fingers and take it away from them and I will decide when to give it back. (Typically, I do so at the end of the class and not before). Since this policy is explained in the syllabus and they have seen me close laptops on both undergraduate and graduate students, they know that I am serious about it. When it happens, it changes the dynamics of the classroom; everyone starts to pay special attention and participate even more actively.

However, I have also found that using smart phones, tablets and laptops for research purposes can integrate them into that learning process. If a topic comes up and I cannot remember the exact name of a hotel, the actual REVPar last month or the details of a company policy, I tell them, “Okay, Here is a research opportunity. Get out your smart phones, turn on your tablets and fire up your laptop web browser. What is the answer to the question?” What happens is an exciting race to be the first person to find the answer. It often turns out that the first answer is not correct or does not often come from a reliable source, which provides a double lesson—how easy it is to find answers and how often they are not the correct ones. That gives me a chance to explain the value of critically evaluating a source and checking on what they find. It also integrates these devices into the class period. And we find the missing fact or other detail.

If you have not done this form of instant research, which integrates their hardware and software skills into the class, I encourage you to try it out and have some fun with it. It is a great way to look up a detail about a famous chef, to find a recipe (and the many variations and sources for them) or to find the yield on a specific ingredient.

Summary
Thank you for reading this column discussing two ways of using social media in our classrooms. Next month, we will discuss issues of social-media etiquette and how we can teach those principles to our students.

If you have comments about this topic or suggestions for others, send them to me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., and I will include them in future Mayo’s Clinics.

Dr. Fred Mayo, CHE, CHT, is a clinical professor at New York University and a frequent presenter at CAFÉ events nationwide.