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Facebook Mediated Professional Identity Development . # NASPATech : Student Affairs Technology Conference October 27, 2011 Sara Sandstrom Smith College Department of Residence Life Doctoral Candidate in Higher Education, University of Massachusetts Amherst. Background .
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Facebook Mediated Professional Identity Development #NASPATech: Student Affairs Technology Conference October 27, 2011 Sara Sandstrom Smith College Department of Residence Life Doctoral Candidate in Higher Education, University of Massachusetts Amherst
Background • Personal Experience • Dearth of research on professional identity development • New cohort of professionals • Professionalism is “the internal acceptance of a value system indicative of the newly accepted role” (Weidman et.al., 2001, p.49)
Conceptual Framework • Personal Experience • Theory of Organizational Socialization (VanMaanen & Schein, 1979) • Model of Socialization (Weidman, Toale, and Stein, 2001) • Literature • Undergraduate Facebook Use • Professionalism and Professional Behavior
Research Goals/Methods • How do participants decide how to use facebook? • Are there expectations for facebook use from external sources? If so, what are they? • “ground rules” of facebook use? • Ethnography • Population of Interest • Observation • Interviews • Coding
Participants • Male, 24, 2nd year masters student. Assistantship in Student Activities • Male, 24, 3rd year masters student. Assistantship as Sustainability Coordinator (turned full-time after one year) • Female, 25, 2nd year masters student. Assistant Residence Director • Male, 23, 2nd year masters student. Assistant Residence Director
Results/What I learned • Content Control • Very little guidance • No professional standards • Shift in facebook usage • Reputation • There is a need to think about professional behavior on facebook
Professional Identity Development? • Appropriate behavior • Boundaries • Managing impressions or perceptions • Identity establishment • Implicit expectations of professionalism, not much external guidance • Easier to say what is NOT professional, than what IS.
Discussion • What is professional behavior? • What is professional behavior on facebook? (and, if you like, on twitter) • How do we mentor and prepare our graduate students and new professionals? • How has social media changed professional identity development? How has it affected professional behavior? • What can we do now?
Selected References • Boehman, J. (2007). Affective commitment among student affairs professionals. NASPA Journal, 44(2), 307-326. • Carpenter, S., & Stimpson, M. (2007). Professionalism, Scholarly Practice, and Professional Development in Student Affairs. NASPA Journal, 44(2), 265-284. • Janosik, S. M. (2007). Common issues in professional behavior. NASPA Journal, 44(2), 285-306. • Jessup-Anger, E.R. & Renn, K.A. (2008). Preparing new professionals: Lessons for graduate preparation programs from a national study of new professionals in student affairs. Journal of College Student Development, 49(4), 319-335. • McEwen, M.K. & Taub, D.J. (2006). Decision to enter the profession of student affairs. Journal of College Student Development, 47(2), 206-216. • Van Maanen, J. & Schein, E.H. (1979). Toward a theory of organization socialization. Research in Organizational Behavior, 1, 209-264. • Weidman, J. C., Twale, D. J., Stein, E. L., ERIC Clearinghouse on, H. E., George Washington Univ, Washington, DC Graduate School of Education and,Human Development, & Association for the Study of,Higher Education. (2001). Socialization of graduate and professional students in higher education: A perilous passage? ASHE-ERIC higher education report, volume 28, number 3. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass higher and adult education series