Barnes & Noble College Bookstores Set Up Shop on Facebook and Hope Students Will 'Like' It Source: The Chronicle of Higher Education By: Ben Wieder Barnes & Noble is looking to make it easier for students to “like” their class reading. Using a new social-commerce platform, the more than 500 Barnes & Noble college bookstores across the country will be able to sell books and other merchandise through their Facebook pages, and allow students to “like” books and other merchandise available at the bookstore. Free Resource: Uncovering Social Media Opportunities for Higher Education Source: Academic Impressions This recent edition of Academic Impressions' Higher Ed Impact: Monthly Diagnostic reviews current research on social media use and interviews thought leaders on social media in higher education to identify where colleges can find opportunities to apply social media tools to recruitment, student engagement, and fundraising objectives. Infographic: Five Myths About Facebook Source: Statcounter Global stats By: Effective Student Marketing This tongue-in-cheek infographic promoting use of Facebook for recruiting college students offers a few relevant and timely statistics on Facebook use. Western New England College To Become University Source: Boston Herald School officials say the transition to a university will add prestige and help attract more foreign students. But the school’s president, Anthony Caprio says it won’t change the character of the small institution. Colleges Rehab Their Web Sites for Major PayoffsSource: The Chronicle of Higher Education By: Josh Keller A number of institutions are now turning to Web analytics. Going far beyond superficial measures like counting visitors or hits on their Web sites, they track who their visitors are, what they are looking for, why they fail to find it, and - a crucial measure to gauge advertising spending - how much a successful Web visit is worth. Many of the techniques, such as closely monitoring prospects, are standard practice on e-commerce Web sites and among for-profit colleges, but they are just gaining a foothold in most of higher education. Online Education and Disruptive InnovationSource: US News - Education By: Brian Burnsed This article offers a quick summary, at a basic level, of some of the opportunities and challenges cited by experts in planning and growing online initiatives. Preparing faculty to teach online is cited as a major challenge. One core challenge the article leaves out: planning strategically for online growth rather than relying on ad hoc efforts.
