How To Utilize Pinterest for Educational Purposes?

Like Twitter and Facebook, Pinterest has fast become an essential social media tool for colleges. Scores of schools use the site for marketing and recruiting, or just sharing fun pictures and information with students. Yet Pinterest has begun to play another, perhaps more important role in higher education. Some colleges and universities are starting to use the site as an educational tool, bringing it into the classroom or offering up boards focused on academic resources at the school. Here are just a few of the schools that are leading the way for Pinterest to become another great social media tool for higher education.

• Yale University:

While it only has a few pins so far, the educational board "The Treasures of Yale" is an amazing way to help connect students with the impressive collections of arts, sciences, and humanities artifacts the school owns. Students can learn all about the items from the videos, get a chance to see some of the faculty at the school, and may even get inspired to head out to a campus museum to learn even when they’re not in class.

• Queens University of Charlotte:

Pinterest is making its way into the classroom at Queens University of Charlotte’s Knight School of Communication in North Carolina. During the Democratic National Convention, students could attend a two-day learning conference that helped them to take advantage of opportunities of all kinds to participate in the convention. Some served on committees, others helped with the press, and still others helped out with production for news broadcasts. All, however, had to chronicle the experience on Pinterest, creating a visual record of the role all the school’s students played in making the convention run smoothly.

• University of Minnesota:

At the University of Minnesota, using social sites like Twitter, Reddit, and Pinterest can actually help improve the grades of some students. That’s because professors like Leslie Plesser are making using the site a part of their classes. While students in Plesser’s basic media graphics class aren’t graded for what they pin, they are required to put in a certain amount of daily effort into the site to earn a high grade for participation in the course. Plesser has said that Pinterest has turned into a valuable tool in her classes as it helps her to monitor student progress and get a firsthand look at their process of inspiration, which she considers in awarding grades on student work.

• Louisiana State University:

Assistant professor of English Education Steven Bickmore uses Pinterest to teach his students in his literature and lanaguage classes at LSU. On his Pinterest account, students can find boards for specific classes or focus groups. These boards are places where students can go to find supplemental reading material, keep up with class work, or even explore larger literary theories.

• Texas State University:

Professor Cindy Royal at TXST is showing students how Pinterest can be an incredibly useful tool for producing web content through activities in her digital and online media courses. Earlier this year, she had new media students create a series of boards on Pinterest that were designed to provide visitors to Austin with guides on what to eat, who to see, and what to expect at the well-known SXSW festival. The project was successful, and Royal is considering making Pinterest a part of her courses going forward.

• University of Virginia:

While most students at the University of Virginia know that their professors are some of the best in their respective fields, they might not think to seek out work that their professors have published. That’s why this board from the school is such an amazing academic resource. It makes it simple for students to find books and other publications from UVA faculty, so they can read, learn, and find accessible experts right on campus who can enrich their learning experience.