Dos and don’ts of academic advising on dark social

The use of social messaging for academic advice (AA) has emerged as a result of students growing up with instant messaging, their natural desire to express agency, and the multi-fold propagation of digital e-learning during Covid-19. Despite this being a popular choice of communication for students, having value for coordinating large groups in student activities and events, and being arguably invaluable during the Covid-19 learning period, it is a challenging subject, given the most popular messaging Apps are also labelled “dark social” where it is not possible for a third party - such as school administrators, or parents - to monitor or mediate what happens across these channels.

As we emerge from the Covid-19 learning period, this is a prime opportunity to explore how these tools have evolved, and provide a forum to boost the agency, knowledge and skills of advisors and advisees. This presentation will provide an opportunity for this through sharing the functionality of some of the more popular messaging tools and how these may be used to benefit students. It is also hoped this will contribute to an emerging body of literature addressing this “underestimated” new mode of AA, which has been deemed a rich area for research.