Social media reduce barriers to first-generation college students

This is another post in a series on first-generation college students and social media.  In these posts, I have attempted to present characteristics of first-generation college students, and describe possible interventions from social media.

First-generation college student, (and aspiring first-generation high shoo students), are defined as those students who have no parent who has attended college or university.  This definition points to a defining problem for first-generation students: they have no entry into the "culture of college."  

When entering a new environment for the first time, it is extremely important to know how to navigate and to communicate, to know the social norms and how to extricate oneself from difficulties. (If you have traveled beyond your own country, or attempted to fit into another social community, this may resonate with you.)  First-generation college students do not pick up this knowledge from their parents, and are often unaware that this knowledge is, in fact, extant and necessary.  

There are many difficulties that arise from trying to move from one culture into another without having the requisite knowledge.  A difficulty frequently reported is lack of access to resources, from financial resources to those necessary for health and well-being.  This puts up barriers to the success of these college students.  Three related barriers include:

• Lack of support from family members, who do not understand the requirements and pressures of college.
• Alternatively, pressure from family members to be "the one that succeeds." 
• The stress of trying to fit in and live in two separate cultures.

While social media has been demonized for getting in the way of student success through "addiction" and draining time away from studies, a rather remarkable amount of research indicates that the opposite is true.  In fact, social media has been demonstrated to support student success, especially in navigating college.  

Social media such as Facebook and college-specific social media platforms can provide students with information about such topics as buying books and supplies, interpreting course catalogs, and locating places on campus.  Especially important functions of social media platforms are the access to other individuals.  College students can maintain bonds with family members and "pre-college" friends, but can also make contact with others through social media. Depending on the college, students may also be able to connect with potential mentors, with counselors or peer-based support groups that can address the feelings of being overwhelmed, out-of-place and loneliness that most college students face.  Interactions with others that help students cope with such feelings are vital to success.For first-generation students,these feelings may have an extraordinary impact, as these feeling may come out of left field, as it where. Students with a cultural understanding of college may expect these feelings to come about, and be aware of resources that can help.

In summary, social media platforms, Facebook being an example, provide access to information and support that facilitates success.  One way this happens is in supporting the "college-culture" scaffold that students to stand upon in order to achieve their their academic accomplishments.

Credits

Deil-Amen, R. Rios-Aguilar, C. Can Social Media Improve Student Success  
https://www.slideshare.net/sashatberr/can-social-media-improve-student-successfinal,

Today's First Generation https://www.slideshare.net/noiram4/todays-first-generation, presented by Trio Programs.

Image by Free-Photos from Pixabay 

First-generation aspiring college students: What they have to say

This is the third post in a blog series about social media, social capital and college success.

This post is about one complex and diverse population of college and aspiring college students, "first-generation" students - defined as those without a parent who has attended college. 

This post was also supposed to be what research has to say about first-generation students, and how social media can support their college success. That was the plan.

Turns out, I was invited to attend a twitter chat hosted by an organization that actively supports aspiring first-generation college students. it gave me a chance to listen to what students had to say, instead of what has been written about them. It was especially interesting to hear their thoughts on how social media could support them.  While much research had been done in this area, it was important to hear from students themselves how social media can support them.  Their voice is the most important.

The conversation was introduced with a discussion of how first-generation students may experience inequity in accessing a college education.  There are many reasons for this, but one is lack of information. The lack of parental experience with higher education may result in the student not knowing about resources, such as those necessary for financing higher education. 

Because many schools lack adequate college and career counseling, counselors for college-bound students may not recognize or be able to compensate for that student's lack of "college culture" knowledge.  Without an understanding of a culture, one does not know what specifics to ask about it.  A college-bound student with little or no understanding about the college environment is not going to know the questions to ask.  And schools may not be aware of the deficits that first-generation students can face, and so be unaware what resources and support to make available.

Once in college, first-generation students may find themselves "strangers in a strange land."  Transitioning from one life stage to another is rarely without bumps in the road. Students with "college culture" in their family may be prepared to handle new responsibilities, such as more control over financial decision-making, or at least know that these issues are possibilities.  Those students without exposure to "college culture" may need to acquire these skills at the same time they are immersed in their studies.  It was brought up that college students make decisions that may impact their entire lives. First-generation students may require support in making decisions about situations that, for them, are especially unfamiliar and complex.

The question was asked during the twitter chat about whether social media might help in bridging the gaps that first-generation students experience. 

Social media, particularly using platforms favored by students, was described as a vehicle for connecting students with available resources, even making them aware that specific resources exist. Stories about how first-generation students were supported by organizations can be shared through social media. Of course, social media can also serve to connect individuals, including mentees to mentors, found to be helpful in transitioning from high-school to college. 

The voices from the twitter chat confirmed what I have read.  But, to hear the voices of the very people whose lives can be impacted by the strategic use of social, to hear them in conversational language and not academese, brings human faces to what otherwise might be just an interesting problem to solve.

I thank them.

Photo resource

Image by StockSnap from Pixabay 

Facebook: Friends and Social Capital

Note:  This blog is the second in a series that looks at social capital, social media and college student success.  The first blog provided a background on social capital, and a glimpse at how it is impacted by social media.  This post looks specifically at Facebook as a supplier of social capital.  The third and last post of the series will look at social capital and socail media in the experiences of a specific population, "first generation" college students.

Facebook is a quintessential social media site.  Originally developed in 2004 as a site for Harvard students only, the site became open to anyone at 13 years old, with a valid email address.  As of the 3rd quarter of 2018, there were 2.37 billion monthly active users, with 1.49 daily active users.  Of the world-wide population, 26.3% use Facebook.

It is well-known in social sciences that humans do well when they are connected with other humans, and one way in which this connection is described is by the idea of "social capital."  I recently blogged about this (see Social Capital/Social Media) but it bears repeating.  

Social capital is a nebulous term that can most easily be defined by its effects.  An individual with a goodly amount  of social capital fits into his or her environment - knows the norms, values and the unspoken knowledge that marks a native.  

He or she has some personal bonds with some that are very close and/or have existed for long amounts of time, and these bonds provide strong emotional support.  He or she has other social bonds that are not so close, but provide support as well.  The support these bonds provide is both informational and supportive in an "atta girl" sort of way.  Motivating, but not necessarily comforting.  Moving one forward instead of making one comfortable where one is.

Health and wellness information is one popular field of information, but another very important source of information from these more tenuous bonds is information about how others react, respond, and appear to think and feel.  

This information, gleaned from many weak social bonds, means that he or she is able to function within other social environments. If this individual has questions about how to fit in, there is a wealth of individuals who can provide examples, if not direct information. 

Mark Zuckerberg may have had social capital in mind as he and his roommates developed and launched Facebook - being a student at Harvard could imaginably have some stressors that social capital could soothe. If not, then Facebook was serendipitous.  It greatly facilitates the collection of social capital.

Generational ties within families and close social circles (such as high school friends) are stretched, as members move for work or to adapt to other social needs.  Facebook provides a quick and easy way to keep in touch with, or at least an eye on, people who are strongly bonded together.  83% of parents are Facebook friends of their children.  Many older adults use Facebook primarily to keep social contacts that cannot easily be maintained by face-to-face contact.  These are instances of Facebook being a mechanism for maintaining "bonding" social capital.

The weaker bonds described above are called "bridging" social capital, and it is here that Facebook is a social capital bonanza.  Think of the benefits of bridging social capital as being touched with a dot of "social well-being" when one is in contact with a "friend."  While such dots might be hard to come by in the work-a-day world, sitting down to 20 minutes of Facebook (the time the average user spends on the site per day) opens up the potential for hundreds of "well-being dots."  The average individual has 338 Facebook friends.  It is likely that these friends are distributed among formal or informal groups, and so contact with any one friend may be sporadic.  

The magic of bridging social capital, however, is in its bulk.  Ask a question on a health site.  Hundreds of individuals may see that question.  It is possible that many will respond.  It is probable that other Facebook friends are reading these responses and supporting them, and so the question poser, with likes or their own responses.  Send out a meme, and the person is likely to get feedback that they are "liked" or somehow commiserated with. Sharing a post provides the opportunity to assert one's position within a network, with the expectation that the network will appreciate and respond back to what has been shared. 

Going back to the bridging social capital dots of well-being, it is easy to see how time spent with Facebook can contribute to an individual's wealth of social capital.

In my last post of this series, I will take this idea of bridging social capital dots to a specific population, "first generation" college students, those who have no parent that attended college.  This population has some interesting tales to tell about the use of Facebook and other social media.

Credits:
53 Incredible Facebook Statistics and Facts , Kit Smith, June 1, 2019, Brandwatch


Image by Gordon Johnson from Pixabay