On Wednesday 10th May 2016, New Directions Education was invited to speak with students at the University of South Wales (USW) about the pitfalls of social media. This is the third consecutive year the organisation has been invited to discuss the \u2018hot topic\u2019 with teachers and academics of the future.<\/p>\n
Carolyn Pearse, Communications and Marketing Officer for New Directions, and former student of USW explained why their business gets involved with such a topical subject:<\/p>\n
\u201cThe question that social media raises in 2017 is not \u2018if\u2019 you use it, but rather \u2018how\u2019 you use it. The most remote of villages in the least populated environments on earth have access to Facebook. For the students of USW, we want to talk to them about how they protect their professional reputations after the hard work they carry out in becoming teaching professionals\u201d.<\/p>\n
The session delivered by the recruitment and training group highlights the importance of maintaining integrity and professionalism online. Attended by over 400 students across South Wales in recent years \u2013 the lecture never fails to raise a chuckle and a few eyebrows, Ruth Dalton, Group Head of Communications and Marketing adds:<\/p>\n
\u201cThis topic always starts out as a light hearted discussion with the students, there is a soft dialogue about the pictures from the student union last Friday or the festival they attended last summer. Once we show them some pretty damning examples of how their behaviours can have such a detrimental impact on their careers \u2013 you can physically see the delegates setting their profiles to \u2018private\u2019 across the lecture halls\u201d.<\/p>\n