Competition to find the top ten social media superstars in FE

A UK-wide competition is looking to find the top ten social media superstars in further education.

The contest, run by the sector’s technology solutions not-for-profit Jisc, will celebrate the excellent use of social media by sector professionals, and will showcase the most interesting, innovative and inspiring examples of where it’s being used to add value to teaching.

Among the judges will be Jisc’s digital communications manager Rich Tatnall, and head of FE and skills, Paul McKean, plus two FE journalists.

Those who make the top ten list will win a visit for their class from Jisc’s Digi Lab – complete with virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), a Emotiv Insight EEG Brain Reader and a robot.

Jisc knows that social media has an essential part to play in informing the sector and is an advocate for using it in teaching. Be it Twitter, Facebook, or another platform, social is a great way to share information, start conversations, break down barriers and get your voice heard. And it makes it easy to communicate with sector professionals from around the globe, and key influencers that you wouldn’t otherwise get the chance to meet in person.

How has your use of social improved your teaching practice? Has it helped you overcome a particular challenge? Has it made it easier for students to communicate, and are they more likely to engage when social is part of the learning package?

Perhaps you engage learners by running a social account specifically for your syllabus. Or you encourage them to interact with a wider community to increase their knowledge on a particular topic.

Twitter is often used to share good practice with colleagues and others in the sector, so maybe you’ve created a hashtag to kick off a discussion and it’s really taken off, or perhaps you’ve created an entirely new collaborative online movement. Whatever it is, Jisc wants to hear from you!

A similar competition ran last year for the higher education sector, with lots of great entries, including a chemistry lecturer who encourages students to make their own YouTube videos and a software developer who’s created a private social media app for quizzes, surveys, text and more. Then, there is Pablo the penguin, whose antics help build engagement between students and the library services.

All you need to do to enter the competition is fill out this short form before the closing date at midnight on Thursday, March 29, 2018.  The judging will take place early in April, with the winners announced on the Jisc website shortly afterwards.

A few years ago, Jisc published a top 50 list of social media users in the education sector. Take a look at the line-up and, if you’re already on the list, why not enter again?

Follow Jisc on Twitter and join in with #JiscTop10.