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Students at UBC: Call for papers UBC Journal of Political Studies & UBC Journal of International Affairs

This year, students of mine are the Editors in Chief of both the UBC Journal of Political Studies AND the UBC Journal of International Affairs. In view of this, I’m hereby writing to promote both calls for papers. Note that deadlines are fast approaching.

UBC Journal of Political Studies

The UBC Journal of Political Studies is one of the premier undergraduate student research journals in the country and is now accepting submissions for its 2012 edition. This is an excellent opportunity for students to showcase their work and to be published.

The Journal attempts to publish papers from a wide variety of political science-related fields, and students are encouraged to submit papers from all the sub-fields of political science. Papers not written for course credit will also be accepted, provided they are still relevant to the discipline. All papers must be the author’s original, previously-unpublished work and each author is permitted to submit a maximum of two papers for consideration. All papers should be 1500-3000 words in length.

Students are strongly encouraged to review their papers before submitting them, and to use any feedback they may have received. Students should also contemporize their papers if necessary.

The deadline for submission is December 15th, 2011 at 5pm.
Papers should be submitted to the Editor-in-Chief at editor.ubcpssa@gmail.com.

UBC Journal of International Affairs

Founded in 1985, the Journal of International Affairs is a student-led, faculty-reviewed journal at the University of British Columbia that showcases UBC undergraduate essays of the highest caliber. UBC students get a chance to have their work circulated to numerous universities and institutions across Canada and the world, offering an incredible opportunity to have their work published and distributed early in their academic careers.

The JIA is also accepting undergraduate essays from an international network of 21 schools, whose work serves to broaden the journal’s perspectives.

We are looking for research papers or photo essays from a variety of disciplines written on Post-1945 topics related to global political issues.

Some suggested themes include:

Sustainability and climate change

Regime change

Financial turmoil

Civil liberties, humanitarian law.

Access to food and water

Gender issues

Arab spring

Please remember that essays are not restricted to these topics, and that students may submit papers that are related to any number of global concerns that they feel are relevant to the field of International Relations.

Requirements

Submitted papers must be roughly 1200-3500 words, written in English, be properly cited, have received a grade worth 80% or more, and must not have been previously published.

Deadline

The deadline for submissions is December 15th, 2011. Students should include their name, University, Faculty/Department, and year standing in their submission.

Possible Questions:

How many submissions do you get? We get on average 80 to 100 that we seriously consider. Last year we published 10.

What is the proccess like? You’ll submit your paper online. It will get reviewed and placed on a short list for publication. From there there will be several rounds of editing partnering you and other students experienced in the field. If the Editorial Board then decides to publish it, it will be reviewed by a faculty sponsor. The JIA is published in Mid-March.

We look forward to your papers! Please send them in Microsoft Word (.doc) format to Iana Messetchkova, JIA Director of Communications at irsa.prelations@gmail.com.

Posted in bridging academia and practice.

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By Raul Pacheco-Vega – November 25, 2011

On managing climate change financing (a new paper in Science by Donner, Kandlikar and Zerriffi)

Blue Skies Leaving Kota Kinabalu..

photo credit: thienzieyung

While climate change isn’t really very directly my area of expertise, most of the scholarly research I undertake has deals with public service delivery decisions, budget allocations and policy choices under multiple constraints. Determining where to allocate scarce funds within the domestic policy arena is hard enough, one can only imagine the multiple degrees and layers of complexity that addressing climate change brings along.

I just learned of a new Policy Forum paper by my colleagues at UBC Simon Donner, Milind Kandlikar and Hisham Zerriffi where they address these questions. Donner et al indicate that mechanisms should be implemented to ensure that the funding goes to critical areas to tackle the most pressing challenges.

You can read the Policy Forum abstract of Donner, Kandlikar and Zerriffi (2011) here:

At the 2010 Cancun Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the international community agreed in principle to one of the largest development programs in history. The developed nations pledged to mobilize U.S.$100 billion per year by the year 2020 to “address the needs of developing countries” in responding to climate change. The funds, which may apply to adaptation and mitigation, are proposed to flow through multiple channels, including existing development banks, official development assistance, bilateral programs, international private investment flows (e.g., carbon markets), and other public and private mechanisms. Recommendations provided by a transitional committee for the management and operation of the proposed climate change financing will be considered by the parties to the UNFCCC at the upcoming conference in Durban, South Africa

My own research has used integrated assessment (a set of heuristics to integrate multiple disciplines to provide policy-makers with robust suggestions on policy decisions) to address issues of industrial restructuring. One of the tenets of integrated assessment is to focus on where resources can be better spent so maximum effectiveness can be attained with the least investment.

In their paper, Donner, Kandlikar and Zerriffi have sought to spell out sound policy recommendations on how financing should occur. From the media release at UBC:

Donner, Kandlikar and Zerriffi provide specific recommendations for ensuring that countries meet the funding commitment, that waste and misappropriation are minimized and that money is directed to the most effective programs. These guidelines include instituting an “adaptive” regulatory system to close funding loopholes, employing a decentralized network of third-party auditors and adopting a scientific approach to evaluating program effectiveness.

It will be very interesting to see if policy-makers and participants in COP 17 in Durban will listen to the sound advice of these UBC scholars.

Posted in bridging academia and practice, environmental policy, policy instruments.

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By Raul Pacheco-Vega – November 17, 2011

World Toilet Day (Nov 19) and World Toilet Summit (Nov 22-24)

DSCN5623

photo credit: ya3hs3

A question I get asked rather frequently in scholarly (and laypeople’s) circles is why do you do research on the politics and governance of wastewater?” The notion of what happens to water after anthropogenic activities have changed its properties (read: after we have polluted it) seems foreign to many individuals, even scholars immersed in the social science of water. This is, as Jaimie Benidickson has mentioned, very much the ‘culture of flushing‘.

Wastewater has been a major focus of environmental engineering research. Studies that focus on impacts of industrial and urban effluent use on agriculture and the potential for waterborne diseases have also been relatively popular. Yet, social sciences’ scholars seem to think of water primarily in scarcity/access terms (e.g. drinking water) rather than in terms of water quality and use (i.e. wastewater). This isn’t a new phenomenon. Common-pool-resources (CPR) theory and neo-institutionalism are both apt bodies of literature that can be well used to explore questions of water scarcity. Yet few folks focus on the governance of wastewater as I do.

Much like talking about wastewater, talking about toilets is also rather taboo. The discomfort that “talking about shit” brings along is not foreign to me either. I was a young undergraduate chemical engineering student when I first started working on designing municipal wastewater treatment plants (at bench-scale and industrial scale). These aerobic, activated-sludge effluent treatment processes were very effective in processing (you guessed it) urban/residential wastewater. But in sampling urban wastewater to process, I was able to witness the broad-ranging variation in sanitation infrastructure within the urban area where I was living, and the negative impacts that inadequate sanitation facilities had on local, vulnerable communities. As I have moved forward to do research on the governance of wastewater, these images have stayed imprinted in me and have shaped my body of research work.

Yet the sanitation infrastructure we have in major urban centres (I live in Vancouver, British Columbia) is not by any stretch of the imagination equal to what others have in developing countries. According to the latest UNICEF-WHO WASH report 2.5 billion people do not use improved sanitation. The sad news is that even if we met the Millenium Development Goals (MDG), there will still be 1.7 billion people without access to basic sanitation. While the proportion of the world population that practises open defecation declined from 25% in 1990 to 17% in 2008, 1.1 billion people still defecate in the open. We do not have enough infrastructure for human waste disposal. In plain English, not enough toilets.

Thus the relevance of World Toilet Day. From their website:

World Toilet Organization created WTD to raise global awareness of the struggle 2.6 billion face every day without access to proper, clean sanitation.WTD also brings to the forefront the health, emotional and psychological consequences the poor endure as a result of inadequate sanitation.

While the activities planned by World Toilet Day are light-hearted in nature, I strongly believe that the main message is relevant. Consider how lucky we are to have improved sanitation facilities and almost-universal access to toilets in urban areas, and consider donating to charities that work to build sanitary facilities in developing nations. On November 19th, think about this.

Posted in bridging academia and practice, wastewater.

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By Raul Pacheco-Vega – November 15, 2011

Policy choices, budgetary constraints and the Conservative government move to decline continued funding of the Canadian Environmental Network (@RCEN)

Protest against the proposed KeystoneXL tar sands pipeline

photo credit: Fibonacci Blue

While as a scholar of policy analysis I’m fond of governmental budget cuts that are justified (e.g. in the case of bulging government spending on non-priority issues). But I can’t help but find Environment Canada’s non-renewal of a long-standing funding partnership with the Canadian Environmental Network (RCEN) rather perplexing. I can’t see the justification to cut funding to organizations aimed at building stronger networks of activists, scholars and that aims to reach out to the general public.

That this Canadian government is not making the best choices to protect Canada’s environment is neither a surprise nor an unknown issue. Environment Canada (and Stephen Harper himself) have been heavily criticized by numerous Canadian environmental policy scholars (myself included). Environmental policy decisions in Canada at this time are not smart. Let’s just remember the specific case of asbestos and Canada’s active lobbying to have chrysotile asbestos not included in the Rotterdam Convention) for just but one example.

My research has found that environmental non-governmental organizations (ENGOs) can have very positive impact in domestic and global environmental policy making. All reservations made of course, but at least the ENGOs I have studied have had some very positive effects. The Canadian Environmental Network facilitates networking and coalition building across some 600 non-profit organizations aimed at protecting the environment. If a democratic government’s policy objectives (as per Theodore Lowi and Guy Peters) are to provide public services in the best interest of their constituency, one would think that the Federal government would want to continue or even increase RCEN’s funding.

Cutting travel expenses of high-level government officials and bureaucrats? I’m all for it. Cutting unnecessary expenses? Absolutely. Cutting funding to the Canadian Environmental Network does not rank high in my policy priorities for this country (and possibly for nobody else with 2 cents of common sense).

As an academic, I find myself almost always torn. When I see stupid policy decisions, I feel the need to become more of an activist. My research informs the decisions of policy makers at the local and global scales. Yet, sometimes even when the evidence points out to specific, smarter policy choices, governments still take a different policy trajectory. Political considerations, budgetary constraints, and a myriad other elements factor in how governments decide and implement policy. Yet I can’t stop myself when I foresee that a particular decision will have negative effects, particularly in the environmental field.

In a democratic society, the public demands to have a voice in policy decisions that affect their welfare. If we consider that civil society (ENGOs) work towards protecting the public’s best interest, one would think the government would consider continuing funding of an organization such as RCEN, which helps build these networks of activists. Apparently, that’s not an important issue in this government’s environmental policy agenda. And that’s disappointing.

There is a petition circulating in several list-serves (including a number of academic forums) to ask the Canadian government to continue funding RCEN. Only time will tell if said petition will be successful.

Posted in bridging academia and practice, public participation.

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By Raul Pacheco-Vega – October 17, 2011

Real-life policy discussions on Canadian and British Columbia post-secondary education with Minister @NaomiYamamoto #POLI350A #bcpse #cdnpse #bcpoli

There are a number of reasons why I teach Public Policy (350A the Canadian version and 352A the comparative, cross-national version when I am asked to teach it). First, because I believe my students deserve to learn practical skills for when they go out on the workforce. My course Public Policy (POLI350A) is designed to provide them with policy-analytical, collaborative, team-building and research/writing skills.

Second, because I believe that the theoretical and empirical lessons learned in a Public Policy Analysis course can be applicable in real life situations. So I designed my course to be an applied, theoretically-founded and empirically-informed course. My students undertake a 72 hour, under-pressure policy-analytical exercise. And they learn a lot from it.

Extremely honored to have The Hon. @NaomiYamamoto , Minister of Advanced Education of British Columbia guest lecture on my Public Policy class #UBC

This week I had the pleasure to host The Honorable Naomi Yamamoto, MLA for Lonsdale North Vancouver and Minister of Advanced Education of the province of British Columbia. Minister Yamamoto spent an hour guest-lecturing and interacting with my 3rd and 4th year undergraduate Political Science students. I was extremely pleased at the depth of respectful, engaged intellectual discussions my students had with Minister Yamamoto.

Minister @NaomiYamamoto speaking to #POLI350A students on #cdnpse policy #bcpoli

Theoretically-grounded and empirically-informed intellectual discourse is the foundation of good policy design. My students and Minister Yamamoto engaged in a very productive conversation on the future of Canadian and BC post-secondary education. Minister Yamamoto challenged my students to come up with the #1 barrier to access to postsecondary education, and ways to overcome these barriers.

I have conducted theoretical and applied research on policy analysis. I have also undertaken consultancy policy-analytical projects. Because of my experience both in industry, and advising governments, I firmly believe that inviting guest lecturers who are working in the actual policy field is a substantially productive exercise, and I publicly wanted to thank Minister Yamamoto for taking the time to have this conversation with my students, for helping me educate them on the challenges and opportunities for British Columbia’s post-secondary education policy and for opening the forum to an engaged, civilized conversation on something all of my students have a stake on (as well as me): their future.

Posted in bridging academia and practice, policy analysis, teaching.

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By Raul Pacheco-Vega – October 15, 2011

A brief overview of my research trajectory and future plans

Every scholar is required at some point to lay out a research plan and to showcase their research agenda. Given the broad variety of topics and issue areas that I have worked on (call it intellectual curiosity), I sometimes struggle to answer the kind of questions that for other scholars may sound easy. I sometimes read my colleagues’ websites and I find it amazing that they can articulate what their research interests are in such a brief, concise way. So this blog post (a work in progress) aims to articulate my research trajectory to date.

My research is motivated by a keen interest in cooperation amongst agents. Why do people cooperate to manage common pool resources (CPR) and can we look at a wasted resource (wastewater) through the lenses of CPR theories? What drives firms to co-locate in the same geographical region even when they are potential competitors and how do clusters of allied (coupled/interconnected) industries respond to a multiplicity of stressors? What strategies do environmental non-governmental organizations (ENGOs) use to put pressure on governments to reduce their pollutant emissions and what are the underlying reasons why these ENGOs build transnational coalitions? Under what circumstances do business use cooperative approaches to pollution control?

My research explores questions of multilevel and networked governance through cooperative approaches. Using a multidisciplinary analytical approach that borrows from the sociological, urban studies, planning, anthropological and policy sciences’ literatures, I examine case studies from the environmental field (specifically water, solid waste and hazardous/toxic waste), thus exploring new models of governing.

At the very core, my research (and teaching) are driven by a keen interest in narrowing the gap between the rich and the poor, in reducing overall poverty worldwide. I use my understanding of cross-national comparative public policy (and in particular my work in environmental policy) to provide research outputs that policy makers at the global (intergovernmental secretariats) and local (federal, provincial, regional and municipal) scale can use to improve human welfare.

My empirical research has found, amongst other things, that:

  • River basin councils have proven innovative institutional reforms to govern water, yet they are ineffective in improving wastewater management at the municipal, provincial and federal levels.
  • Environmental non-governmental organizations (ENGOs) can successfully use coalition-building strategies to effectively put pressure on national governments to improve their pollution-control performance policy under specific circumstances that include campaigning for issues that have a direct effect on human health.
  • Small cities with mono-industry structures will engage in countervailing strategies if faced with multiple stressors, whereas cities where there is potential for industrial diversification will broaden their repertoire of industries.

MY CURRENT RESEARCH AGENDA

7 years ago I decided to refocus my research to examining water through the social sciences lenses. I find it really hard to let go of the field of environmental economic geography and I am still interested in issues of industrial restructuring. Finally I am working again in the field of solid waste management, specifically looking at the politics of garbage. Much of my field research has been in Mexico.

Posted in research.

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By Raul Pacheco-Vega – October 13, 2011

An undergraduate student’s guide to Twitter in higher education

While my research blog was primarily designed to write my thoughts about policy issues that are of interest to me (and discuss my current research agenda), I’ve also found that my students needed a lot more guidance on how they can use Twitter. I encourage (read: quasi-force) my undergraduate (3rd, 4th year for the most part) Political Science students to use social media, and I figured I should write a guide on how to use Twitter in higher education. Primarily, because I do believe in the power of social media to advance academic pursuits. And of course, you can follow me on Twitter here (@raulpacheco).

There are a number of social networking sites, but I find the microblogging platform Twitter the most useful of them all (I am also on Google Plus, LinkedIn and Facebook). This past week, I found at least 3 different ways in which you (my undergraduate students) can use Twitter:

a) As a source of information. Depending on who you follow on Twitter, you will see that there are many people who share informational tidbits that can be of (a) general interest or (b) specific use to your academic pursuits. I follow many academic colleagues, both from UBC and outside, and I spend some time online reading news tidbits that are of general interest to me. I also have set up a monitoring board for anything that is related to issues of Canadian post-secondary education (#cndpse) and politics in British Columbia (#bcpoli). Other useful hashtags include #UBC of course, anything related to the University of British Columbia, and #canpoli or #cdnpoli(Canadian politics).

add research and network

b) As a means of communication with me. Throughout the years I’ve been using Twitter, I have found that my participation on Twitter helps my students talk to me fast, either privately (via Direct Message) or publicly. The advantage of having public conversations with me is that another student follows me and other students/classmates, they can easily track my conversation and either contribute or ask me a question. You can see the kind of conversations I have with my students (and colleagues) by searching @raulpacheco.

conversing with my students

c) As a virtual, instantaneous sounding board. This past week, I assigned a 72 hour policy analysis so that my Public Policy students could see the realities of being a policy analyst and learned how to do quick, on-the-spot policy research. Several of my students had conversations amongst themselves that enabled them to learn from each other, bounce ideas off-of-each-other and provide moral support.

students share information

Or simply to discuss a particular issue that is of relevancy to everyone:

conversation with students

d) As a networking tool. I am connected with many sustainability- and ecologically-minded individuals in British Columbia, Canada and worldwide. Having a List column on my Twitter management system (I use HootSuite) for all of my students (current and former) enables me to keep tabs on them, see what they are up to, update them on what *I* am up working on and doing research about, and for them to connect with other former and current students of mine. This particular instance is helpful as I have a number of former students in key policy positions in the US, Canada and Europe. For example, one of my students (pictured below) works for the United Nations Environment Programme (I have plenty of other bright former students studying their graduate degrees at Carleton, London School of Economics, Columbia, or working for government agencies like the UN, CIDA, IDRC, etc.)

simon

I was able to connect with the British Columbia Minister of Advanced Education (The Hon. Naomi Yamamoto) through Twiter, and she attended two of my lectures. I would have not been able to connect with Minister Yamamoto in the same way were it not for Twitter.

networking

These are just four basic points. One more innovative element that I have found interesting is the use of location-based applications such as Foursquare, cross-posted to Twitter. I saw a couple of my students use it indicating that they were sitting at the library and that they were available to chat or study together. This would prove useful particularly for group projects (both my courses this term have these) and for sharing notes and comparing ideas.

Posted in social media for teaching.

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By Raul Pacheco-Vega – October 3, 2011

Suggestions for undergraduate students seeking professors’ letters of reference

I'm done reading my magazine, I quit. magazine & eyeglasses

photo credit: photosteve101

One of the reasons why I ask my students in my syllabus to provide me with a photograph and a brief summary of their background and why they are taking my courses is because I am a firm believer in mentorship. I work hard at encouraging my students to grow, and if they so choose, undertake graduate studies or further their education. At some point, most of my hard-working students will come back and ask me “Dr. Pacheco-Vega, would you please write a letter of reference for me?”. And for the most part, I say yes.

Most of the students who approach me always ask me if I remember them (or hope I do). In all cases I would NEVER write a letter of reference for a student whom I don’t have a basis to support (e.g. didn’t work hard in my classes, never interacted with me, etc.) There have been a few instances where a student who really didn’t work hard in my classes has asked me for a letter of reference and I politely decline.

This short post is a quick list of things ANY professor will need if they are writing a reference letter for you, and these suggestions are geared mostly to the student.

  • Make sure you actually know your professor. It’s amazing how many students don’t feel like they can interact and approach professors. All my undergraduate and graduate career I had amazing mentors and that’s also why that’s my own philosophy. I’m very approachable. You can reach me by email or Twitter or Facebook, or heck, dropping by my office hours. For a student who is seeking a letter of reference, it is important to me to know the student, and I thus suggest that you make an active effort to get to know your professors.
  • Make sure you provide ALL background information. What program are you seeking to get into? What is your specialty? What did you write when you were my student? What have you been up to in the past few years that I can put into the letter of reference?
  • Provide polite reminders within 4, 2 and 1 week. We are busy academics, any of your professors will have between 10 and 20 different things to attend to. Even if I insert it into my Google Calendar, it’s possible that I’ll forget. REMIND ME. And remind your professors (politely).
  • Be respectful in your communication. You may no longer be my student but I will always be your professor (or ex-professor). So, be courteous, respectful and direct without being blunt
  • Provide easy schematics of when you need letters of reference and for what. I ask my students to build a table telling me: name of the school, program, deadline for letter of reference, and special details.
  • Tell your professor the format of the application, well in advance. University of Toronto, and London School of Economics, for example, require online applications. If that’s the case, I can treat the application differently than if I need to search my archives for any kind of work you’ve sent me
  • Provide ALL contact details of EACH university you are applying to. Provide them in the table I mentioned above, and if need be, add them again in the text of an email reminder. The reality is, it takes way longer for me to write a letter if I need to be searching on Google for the contact details of each university and whom I need to address the reference letter.
  • Be grateful! You don’t necessarily need to buy a gift for a professor, but a handwritten note or a thank you card goes a long way. Trust me, the amount of time we spend writing letters of reference for students is not insignificant!

Posted in teaching.

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By Raul Pacheco-Vega – September 14, 2011

Using social media to advance your academic research goals

Having taught a few seminars on how to use social media to advance academic research, I know the kinds of objections that academics pose to the use of social media. “I don’t have the time”. “I have nothing to say”. “I’m already overworked – why would I want to add something to my list of To-Do’s”, are amongst the phrases I have heard most commonly when teaching these workshops.

Admittedly, I’m what some scholars would call an “early career/young scholar”. But I have also seen senior faculty members and academics of all walks of life adopt and embrace social media. Here are 4 ways in which I have enhanced my own research agenda using social media.

  1. Build a network of like-minded scholars: When I was a graduate student, during my PhD, I e-mailed just about every Canadian environmental policy scholar. I dropped by their offices to introduce myself, chat about our scholarly research, etc. That is how I built a network of academics who work in the environmental policy field, worldwide. Mostly, through list-serves, one-on-one meetings and e-mails. With social media, building a network doesn’t necessitate you dropping by someone’s office. All you need to do is follow each other on Twitter, share tips, ideas, have a conversation, etc. On Twitter, I have met some of the nicest (and brightest) scholars, both at the graduate-student level and graduated PhDs (and non-PhDs) who are working in specific policy fields where I have scholarly interests.
  2. Follow specific research themes and topics: I have built a social media monitoring dashboard (much like my friend Alexandra Samuel has proposed on her site – Alexandra is also a political scientist and a social media expert, whose opinion I do trust). Through that monitoring dashboard I make sure that I keep my fingers on specific research themes (water governance being one of the major ones).
  3. Provide service to the scholarly community: As a graduate student, my former PhD advisor’s mentorship meant the world to me. He shepherded my PhD process and helped me succeed by ultimately getting my doctorate. But I owe mentorship not only to him. I was advised and helped by many senior scholars who took the time to read my drafts, critique my thoughts, share their expertise. So I do the same, through a specific community: the #PhDChat network. While #PhDChat in itself is just a hashtag created by graduate students to have discussions on the PhD process (and support each other while doing it). I participate on the #PhDChat discussions providing mentorship and helpful suggestions on how students can make the best of the process. I do this because I believe in contributing to the scholarly community, particularly the young, up-and-coming scholars.
  4. Share my scholarly expertise and build credibility online: I learned (the hard way) about how important it is to build a brand (YOUR brand) online. Many people who read my personal blog would forget that I am first and foremost an academic. So I began writing a research blog (this one) where I share small snippets of my research. I also cross-post a link to my research blog entries to my professional Twitter account and my professional Facebook page. A number of scholars have contacted me in the past couple of years because I blog about my research interests and activities. Having a blog also enables me to discuss scholarship that I am interested in digesting, by sharing my preliminary results and/or research questions that come to my mind.

Posted in environmental policy.

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By Raul Pacheco-Vega – September 11, 2011

Best practices using Twitter and Facebook in teaching & higher education

Last week I found myself speaking to (and trying to convince) a small group of what some folks would consider VERY traditional academics. Our conversation centered around using social media to advance their research goals. One of them, the one who invited me, is a full professor whose work I respect a lot. Contrary to the situation of many academics I know who are now delving into social media, I have almost 6 years of experience using online tools. So what for them is somewhat frightening (“where in the world will I find the time to tweet/blog”, “what will I blog or tweet about”) for me is like riding a bike. It does help that I have a personal account, and a personal blog where I have tested the tools, and then applied to my work in higher education, research, teaching and learning.

In the past two years, I’ve taught a few seminars on how to use social media in academic settings. I find it extremely hard to convince scientists and professors to use social media (and I have to tell them: remember, I’m one of you, folks – not one of THEM, e.g. not one of the social media experts we find all the time). The question that I get asked the most when I give talks to professors on how to use social media is “what are your best practices on using Twitter and Facebook with your students?”

I would summarize my experience (and best practices) as follows:

  • I make it a requirement for my students (e.g. I grade their performance) to participate in discussions, online or offline. Participating online means (amongst other things, but not limited to) commenting on blog posts, sharing relevant news and information on Twitter or my Facebook Page wall.
  • I make it explicit to my students that a quick Twitter mention to my @raulpacheco account or a short comment on my Facebook page wall may get responded faster than using email to communicate with me. The brevity of Twitter enables them (and me) to learn how to synthesize large pieces of information in 140 character snippets.
  • I follow back EVERY SINGLE ONE of my students on Twitter. There is a level of privacy that I want them to have that I understand doesn’t apply with the @ reply mention or a Facebook wall comment. If they choose to send me a quick Direct Message, I always respond through the same channel.
  • I don’t add my students to my personal Facebook account, but I communicate through my Facebook page. There are various schools of thought on whether one should ‘Friend’ students or not. I find the Facebook page useful enough, because as I tell my students on my syllabus, I’m not your friend, I’m not your colleague. I’m your professor.
  • I have created specific hashtags for each of my courses: Public Policy (#POLI350A) and Global Environmental Politics (#POLI375A) and Environmental Politics and Policy (#POLI351). That way, my students can track whatever information I have shared or can indicate to me something that they think I need to pay attention to.
  • I share the Twitter ID of my colleagues when they are coming to a lecture. The best example is Dr. Janni Aragon from the University of Victoria, a good friend of mine who guest lectures often on topics of gender, global environmental politics and public policy in my courses. Her Twitter ID is @janniaragon, and I mention her whenever she is about to come to my class to guest-lecture. Coincidentally, we have co-presented at least once on our experiences Teaching with Social Media, this year at Social Media Camp Victoria 2011.
  • I have created Twitter lists for my students, for colleagues, for research topics, and monitor these lists. In particular, I monitor my My Students’ Twitter list because that way I can keep tabs on what my former and current students are doing. It’s a great way also for my own students to build a network of friends online as they are all graduates who have taken my courses.

These are just a few of the best practices I have implemented throughout the years I’ve been teaching at the university level. Hopefully they will be useful to other colleagues seeking to implement social media (specifically Twitter and Facebook) in the classroom.

For me, the underlying philosophy of why and how I use social media in teaching & higher education is pretty much the same philosophy that underlies my teaching: I seek to inspire my students, to connect them with real policy issues that need to be tackled and thought out, to build their skills and to provide them with a platform from where to launch their careers. Enabling them to be fluent in social media and gain confidence in their social media skills is just one of the ways in which I try to strengthen my student’s experience and educational outcomes.

I find it extremely rewarding when a former student of mine shares news about their current job or scholarly activities, when they find a nice read on global environmental politics that I must check out and when they simply just indicate how my work enables them or inspires them. It’s one of the best rewards of encouraging my students to use social media.

Posted in social media for teaching, teaching.

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By Raul Pacheco-Vega – September 11, 2011