Teachers: 3 tips to help become a more culturally focused educator

To educators who want to improve and continue to be culturally competent teachers. Here are two articles from Geoff Master and Kathy Deady that establish easy steps towards a better classroom.

In his article “What is ‘equity’ in education?” Master shows that it is better for classrooms to be fair than to be equal. In a perfect world children are in conditions where they all have the same starting point, but there are going to be students who need extra resources. For students who have learning needs or unequal socioeconomic backgrounds, teachers recognize that students will need extra assistance and an equitable education is giving them the resources to make excellent progress in their learning. Students can’t choose their paths in life but educators can take steps to giving each student the opportunity to excel.

Photo from: https://www.profellow.com/fellowships/18-teaching-fellowships-abroad/

As more than 50 percent of public school students will be POC (People of color), Kathy Deady explores different tools to becoming a more culturally responsive teacher. Deady's 5 steps to becoming a culturally responsive teacher details the importance of being aware of the mindset you bring into the classroom and of the community. In the classroom it makes a big difference when you get to know students and create a space where students can become critical thinkers. Once you start thinking about the content you will teach its vital to involve multiple learning styles and cultures so that student can receive as much context as possible.

Based on these two articles and my own experiences as a student I have developed three action items you should consider…

·         Think Fairness- Recognize that being a good teacher means understanding which students need extra attention/ resources to attain a quality education.

·         Reflect on Identities- Examining and reflecting on how the identities you hold affect a classroom dynamic, is a big step towards becoming a better educator.

·         Vary your Content- Students have different learning styles, so being flexible provides your students the best chance to succeed.

The teaching landscape is quickly evolving and becoming a culturally competent teacher will give you the confidence to uplift the next generation of students.

Fredrick Bugyei is a Northwestern senior studying Radio/Television/Film. He enjoys building community through his work as an RA and is involved with improv and a Capella groups. He plans to be a teacher through Teach For America 

HigherEd Marketers: 3 Ways to Create a Lifelong Social Media Presence

According to a recent study by the Center for Marketing Research, nearly 100% of universities have a social media presence. That's good news. The bad news is that the majority of that social media presence is focused on Admissions and we're missing out on a lot of interaction, connection and engagement with students and parents.  As HigherEd marketers, it's critical for us to start extending our social media beyond admissions process because a consistent and strategic social media presence can keep our communities engaged and excited about the University from application to alumni. As a HigherEd professional and student Integrated Marketing Communications at Northwestern's Medill School, I have found two articles that can help you turn your social media presence into a lifelong social media strategy.

HigherEdWeb.org published an article on The State of Social Media In Higher Ed, which lists some important ways to think about social media as a University tool rather than an admissions tool. The author points out that even though pretty much every University has a social media presence, that having a presence doesn't mean we're adding value. The article goes on to provide the important big picture steps you need to take to transform your social media including creating a strategic plan, empowering departments and educating decision makers on the use of social media.

http://www.labnol.org/internet/masters-degree-in-social-media/8072/

Mashable's article 6 Best Practices for Universities Using Social Media, which has been shared over 6,200 times, gives concrete actions we can take to turn our big picture plans into an every day reality. The author, the Director of Young Alumni Engagement at Syracuse University, talks about the importance of setting goals, creating guidelines and choosing your platforms wisely.

Based on my examination of these two articles and my studies in the Northwestern IMC program, here are three steps you can take to get started:

1) Talk: Universities can move slow, so get it going. Talk to the Dean. Tell your staff. Check in with Faculty. Mention it at the next inter-departmental meeting. Get the official approval and the unofficial consensus needed to move forward.

2) Write: Establish your goal and your departmental strategy for achieving that goal. Put policies and procedures into place and into writing.

3) Start: And start small. Work with one staff member and one faculty member. Use that experience to update steps 1 and 2, then rinse and repeat.

To keep your students engaged for a lifetime, a University’s social media presence should be integrated into the entire Higher Education experience. This requires a dedicated, comprehensive, social media plan by the marketing department and there's no better time to start than now.

Arden Schuman is a M.S. Candidate in Integrated Marketing Communications at the Medill School at Northwestern University. Arden currently serves as the Assistant Director of Marketing and Recruitment for Northwestern Law School. @ArdenSchuman

Higher Ed Marketers: Spend your budget wisely, position your brand, and save your program from extinction

For a higher education marketer, a relevant and metrics based interactive marketing strategy is the only way to keep up in the quickly evolving field of online education. As the owner of a consulting firm built around implementing efficient and effective marketing and recruiting strategies within higher education, I have found two articles that provide a fantastic overview on best practices for education marketers.

Noel-Levitz, a mainstay in the higher education consulting field for over 40-years, released a blog post highlighting the effectiveness of landing pages on campaign efficiency and student recruitment. The author, Michael Lofstead, states: “Marketers are inviting someone who had the courtesy to take them up on their call-to-action to “learn more” or “request information today” to wander around the school’s Web site—unchaperoned and unguided”. While slightly sarcastic, this quote hits the nail on the head. Driving traffic through the use of a call-to-action to a landing page that matches the users initial intention is a must. These landing pages should be simple and straightforward, but still provide enough insight about your university program to excite the potential student and get them interested in taking the next step. While landing pages to a great drop of incentivizing traffic to take the next step down the conversion process, driving the right type of traffic can have a large effect of the overall effectiveness of your marketing campaigns.

 Source: Pros Inc - Internet Solutions

An article by EDUniverse takes a look at the main two sources of high quality traffic for online masters programs: PPC and SEO. Philippe Taza does a great job of explaining the pro’s and con’s of each, but makes a point in that the direction you go is dependent on the current situation of your program. If your program already has the foundations in place on the SEO side, then implementing an effective paid advertising campaign might be the best way to go, and vice versa. Having the pieces in place to accurately measure the effectiveness of your interactive marketing campaign is essential to understand what traffic sources should be invested in.

After reviewing these articles, the following action items are highly recommended as a best-practice within Higher Education marketing:

• Landing Pages are Key - Landing pages help to convert your traffic to lead or sale at a much higher rate, and are key from an ROI standpoint.
• Implement a Tracking Solution - Understanding the quality of various traffic sources through analyzing analytics data can provide insight into what campaigns are working.
• Introduce Both PPC & SEO - Both are proven high quality traffic sources within Higher Ed.

In Higher Education today, marketers must utilize up to date marketing techniques to reach, engage, and convert potential students. Implementing these best practices in order to more effectively spend and analyze your marketing budget could be the key to keeping your program alive.

Robert Lee is currently pursuing his master’s degree in Integrated Marketing Communications at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, and is the owner of Circa Interactive, a Higher Education interactive marketing firm. Follow Circa at @circaSEO and Robert at @frothinEduSEO.