Postsecondary Play: The Role of Games and Social Media in Higher Education

4. From Communication to Community: How Games and Social Media Affect Postsecondary Stakeholders

zoë b. corwin Social media and games have begun to infiltrate most aspects of college life. From preparing for college to navigating freshman year to interacting with faculty , the postsecondary landscape is dramatically different from what it was a decade ago. Students now learn about colleges through social media, get to know their prospective roommates through Facebook, and quickly learn how to communicate with their professors through online tools such as Blackboard. Forstudentswhoenrollinonlinecourses,most—ifnotall—faculty-studentinteractions are mediated through technology. Games have also gained prevalence in postsecondary settings. Some games are more formal, with clearly articulated structures; others are informal and more organic in nature. Games might involve technology such as icebreaker activities in dorms; other games masquerade as business incentives such as reward programs offered by credit card companies. Students informally might convene in response to games such as an impromptu Wii tournament; at other times, games structure interactions such as the extended freshman orientation alternate reality game Tracy Fullertondescribesinchapter5 .Thischapterprovidesasnapshotofgamesandsocial media common in postsecondary educational settings. Examining how students , professors, administrators, and librarians engage with games and social media points to the changing ways in which individuals and groups are learning , communicating, interacting, and creating knowledge. Mostcollegestudentsare“digitalnatives,”bornafter1980intoanerawhere their lives have been mediated by digital technologies (Palfrey and Gasser 2008). Considering that a large percentage of professors are “digital immigrants ,”peoplebornbefore1980wholearnedhowtouseemail,socialnetworks, From Communication to Community How Games and Social Media Affect Postsecondary Stakeholders chapter four andonlinegameslateroninlife,apotentialschismexistswithhowbothgroups viewanduseonlinetechnologies.Todichotomizethetwogroupsisoversimpli- fied, of course, as individual’s interactions with media are highly personalized and are influenced by level and time of exposure to technology (Whitton 2010). The ways individuals engage with technology are affected by media ideologies —asetofbeliefsandperceptionsthatshapehowpeopleuseandexperience communication technologies (Gershon 2010). To be sure, a senior professor might exhibit a deep fluency in how to play massively multiplayer online games (MMOGs) in comparison to a freshman student with little experience in participatinginonlinegameenvironments.Inmostsituations,however,theadoptionofnewtechnologiestendstomanifestgenerationaldi fferences.Comparedto whendigitalimmigrantswerethesameage,digitalnativesexperiencefriendships differently, express creativity in different ways and mediums, and perceive informationandknowledgeinmore fluidways(PalfreyandGasser2008). As noted by Laura Perna in chapter 2, postsecondary education involves the investment of multifaceted stakeholder groups. Consequently, understanding the effects of games and social media on higher education entails examining various “players” and stages of the college process. Students anchor the group at all stages. K–12 teachers, college preparation practitioners, and guidance and college counselors play significant roles in the postsecondary landscape. College recruiters, college mentors, financial aid advisors, and lenders contribute to the critical moments leading up to college enrollment. Professors, academic advisers, residential life staff, coaches, religious leaders, and librarians— among others—have an impact on how students transition to college and navigate their postsecondary educational experience as well as their likelihood of completing college and successfully transitioning to careers. Family members or guardians tend to figure significantly in all phases of a student’s K–16 journey , university administrators play an indirect role in most facets of the postsecondary education, and peer groups figure strongly in college preparation and postsecondary experiences. Thischapterhighlightshowfourdifferentpostsecondarystakeholdergroups interface with social media and games and the related effects of each on learning . I suggest that new media are changing the way colleges and universities serve students. Neither do I argue for decreased or increased use of social media or games nor do I assume that the experiences of stakeholder groups are unique to each specific group. My aim, rather, is to highlight the experiences of students, professors, administrators, and librarians in relation to games and social media in order to turn attention to the changing nature of how we com104 what is the current landscape of higher education? from communication to community 105 municate, interact, learn, and create knowledge at the postsecondary level. Ultimately, I intend to illustrate that the way different stakeholder groups experience games and social media are intertwined and require those of us in the academy to reconceptualize the meaning of postsecondary learning. Students Communication and Social Interactions Before starting my freshman year in college, my new roommate and I spoke once. We compared notes on who would bring various items: a mini refrigerator , a popcorn machine, a cassette player. When we finally met in person, we basically started to get to know each other from scratch. Today, college roommates connect via Facebook, communicate frequently, and learn a tremendous amount about each other before meeting...