Research on Social Media & College Access

As part of research funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, my research team and I have been exploring the potential for social media to help ameliorate college access patterns in the US by helping first generation and low-income students access informational and social support resources in their extended social networks.

The papers we have published in this area to date include:

• Jeon, G. Y., Ellison, N., Hogan, B., and Greenhow, C. (2016). “First-generation students and college: The role of Facebook networks as information sources.” In Proceedings of the ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing (CSCW ’16). San Francisco, CA. Feb 27-Mar 2, 2016.
  
  
• Morioka, T., Ellison, N. B., and Brown, M. (2016). “Identity work on social network sites: Disadvantaged students’ college transition processes.” In Proceedings of the ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing (CSCW ’16). San Francisco, CA. Feb 27-Mar 2, 2016.
  
  
• Brown, M.G., Wohn, D.Y., & Ellison, N. (2016, January–February). Without a Map: College Access and the Online Practices of Youth from Low-income Communities. Computers & Education 92–93, 104–116. DOI:10.1016/j.compedu.2015.10.001
  
  
• Ellison, N., Wohn, D. Y. & Greenhow, C. (2014). Adolescents’ visions of their future careers, educational plans and life pathways: The role of bridging and bonding social capital experiences. Journal of Personal and Social Relationships 31 (4), 516-534. 
  
  
• Wohn, D. Y., Ellison, N. B., Khan, M. L., Fewins-Bliss, R., & Gray, R. (2013). The role of social media in shaping first-generation high school students' college aspirations: A social capital lens. Computers & Education, 63, 424-436. [Email me for paginated copy]

• Gray, R., Vitak, J., Ellison, N., & Easton, E. (2013). Examining social adjustment to college in the age of social media: Factors influencing successful transitions and persistence. Computers & Education, 67, 193-207. dpi: 10.1016/j.compedu.2013.02.02 

• Ellison, N. B., Wohn, D.Y., Khan, M. L. & Fewins-Bliss, R. (2012). Reshaping access: An overview of research on access to higher education, social media and social capital [White paper]
  
  
• See also: Ellison, N.B., Wohn, D. Y., & Brown, M. (2014, July-August). Social Media and College Access. In Interactions vol. XXI.4, pp. 62-65. IEEE. Online at: http://mags.acm.org/interactions/july_august_2014/?pg=64#pg64

  I am also excited to be working with Bernie Hogan and Christine Greenhow on College Connect, a Facebook app designed to help adolescents, especially those who are first-generation college goers, locate and take advantage of social resources in their Facebook Friends network. College Connect development was funded by a College Knowledge Challenge grant. We plan to launch sometime late summer. Rey Junco and I are working together to study some of the apps, games, and websites created as part of the College Knowledge Challenge.

  Students and faculty currently involved in this project include Michael Brown (UM), D. Yvette Wohn (Northwestern), Rey Junco (Iowa), Rebecca Ping Yu (UM), and Christine Greenhow (MSU).