When these university staff utilised Facebook for an entire year - no one expected what happened next

With social media integrating itself into every facet of university life, four staff members took the reigns of Facebook to see if they could bring about a difference to how students interacted with opportunities, self development, project work and course identity. Steered clear of, for many potential negative factors, Facebook can often be seen as a double edged sword when used as a tool for interacting with university students. It’s social aspect makes it a difficult tool to utilise professionally within the context of the University ethos. However, after a year of using it to guide group project work (Anne Doncaster), encourage and develop Placement Year success (Arnett Powell), develop concept artwork skills (Martin Jones) and manage four years worth of course students (Melvyn Ternan) the results are not what you might think. See first hand examples and findings on how Facebook has made a difference to both students and staff through a naturally developed ‘best practice’ of this social networking beast.