Being able to engage students and colleagues, impart relevant information, cultivate an online persona and use digital media are all skills that are essential for today’s educators. Having an active social media presence can benefit your teaching career because it shows colleagues a window into your personality, your engagement style, your academic interests, and your ability to adapt teaching practices and  to master new technologies.

The need for educators to have a command of social media continues to rise, especially as more institutions embrace social media engagement as a viable communications tool. If you’ve questioned how best to increase your use of social media for career purposes, or want to better communicate with and instruct an ‘always on’ student population, you’ll find that there aren’t many formal courses for social media application in the context of higher education.

Luckily, OLC has several online courses and certificates that can help you either learn the ropes…or sharpen your current social media prowess. In fact, OLC’s upcoming Social Media for Online Education Mastery Series was developed specifically to focus on best practices for using social media for teaching in online, blended, and web-enhanced courses.

Led by Apostolos Koutropoulos, an adjunct faculty member in the Instructional Design Program at UMass Boston, OLC’s Social Media for Online Education Mastery Series will have you actively engaging and collaborating through social media to strengthen your teaching presence. Upon completion of the series, participants receive a Recognition of Mastery of Social Media for Online Education, realized through the following activities:

• You’ll develop (or refine) an online persona and social media presence well-suited for a position in Higher Education
• You’ll evaluate, analyze, and synthesize research and legal issues related to social media in education to develop effective methods for the online classroom
• You’ll explore and evaluate effectiveness of social media tools and learning activities for use in online education
• You’ll develop learning activities and assessment strategies incorporating social media
• You’ll explore engagement strategies as they relate to course and program delivery
• You’ll produce artifacts evidencing ability to support students in social media

Our 10-week Social Media for Online Education Mastery Series is perfect for instructional designers and any online faculty interested in incorporating social media into their teaching. And note that significant savings are offered for groups of five or more attendees. Learn more, and register today.