Article in Full

Professors aren’t so different from the regular populace when it comes to their views on social media.

Just over 70 percent used social media in their personal lives, a survey released last week by Babson Survey Research Group andPearson found. This figure mirrors usage among the general population, according to the Pew Research Center.

Babson and Pearson surveyed 8,000 faculty members from all disciplines in higher education for their report, “Social Media for Teaching and Learning.”

Faculty personally choose to use Facebook more than any other type of social media outlet, according to the report, but were more likely to use blogs and wikis for classroom assignments.

Less than half of faculty — 41 percent — use social media as a tool in class, but that’s up from 33.8 percent in last year’s survey.

“Faculty are not only expanding their use of social media, but also becoming more sophisticated in their use,” Jeff Seaman, co-director of the Babson Survey Research Group, said in a statement. “We see steady growth in adoption year over year; however, there are still great concerns that we hear from every age group, and that holds educators back from full adoption in their teaching.”

Faculty cited “integrity of student submissions” and privacy as their main concerns with social media use. Privacy was a large concern among previous surveys of the general population as well.