In this week's Ten with Ken, we sum up some recent higher ed social media trends and memes, from the #MannequinChallenge to MUN's reality TV webcast, "The New Class," and much more!
#MannequinChallenge:
After the Pokémon Go craze of July and August, the next viral sensation to hit the inter webs was the #MannequinChallenge. It was apparently started by high school students in Jacksonville FLA in early October. Within a month it was being replicated by college football teams, NFL teams, leading political candidates, pop music stars and the US First Lady. The first Canadian PSE campus to upload a #MannequinChallenge video to their official YouTube channel appears to be La Cité Collègiale. Their culinary students were featured in a video on Nov 9. MSVU students jumped on the bandwagon a day later. A Collège Boréal student association video followed a week later. But by far the biggest, most ambitious #MannequinChallenge we've seen involved 750 staff and students at Brock University.
The #Mannequin videos we featured in this episode are collected in this playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLodJ8ParJmYVSWaOnbWUbXGGD62QwQMp_
Let us know if there was another we should have seen, by commenting below!
#TBT:
St Lawrence College released a series of short alumni profiles in early November, explicitly leveraging the "Throwback Thursday" meme. We've made a playlist here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLodJ8ParJmYVWsDOh51Y0uMEYa4Rl2DSo
Global Oil Thigh:
Queen's University Advancement collected clips of alumni worldwide participating in a rendition of the school's gaelic fight song, the "Oil Thigh." Although low-res and uneven in quality, it does convey the school spirit of alumni, as a small celebration of Queen's 175th anniversary. https://youtu.be/DorpBgaxujU
MUN's "The New Class":
Memorial University of Newfoundland launched a really interesting experiment in student blogging: a weekly web series produced by and starring students. "The New Class" follows the experiences of 10 new students at MUN, from mental health challenges to exhilaration about the weather, outsized characters to more mundane accounts of school strengths. Check out the episodes here: https://youtu.be/vkDLQ-UFvEY?list=PLzixCJnFSSVgTTSLou7kxKLvC4HJoOICj
Cute Kids:
As part of their 50th anniversary communications program, Ontario's Colleges released a video this month featuring adorable kids talking about the future, their career plans, and their (limited) understandings of what college offers. https://youtu.be/Ja967dYPVvg
Women are Powerful:
Mount St Vincent University released a 2-min video this month to thank Hillary Clinton for her efforts on the campaign trail and in particular her concession speech empowering young women. It connected to MSVU's history as a women's college (from 1873-1967) and the honorary degree it awarded to a much younger Hillary Clinton in 1995. https://youtu.be/7VTKWBGKDyA
So in addition to our April Fool's special https://youtu.be/v-dSiWr3KHM and our Back to School episode https://youtu.be/Ci3YPzohbLM , this rounds out our coverage of social media this year.
Aside, of course, from our upcoming annual Holiday Special! Be sure to subscribe so you don't miss it, on YouTube, iTunes, or by email (for exclusive early access) at http://eduvation.ca/subscribe/
