Jim Disrude

When Jim Disrude visited our class March 16, I was intrigued to hear about what kind of original research he had done.

The first thing I learned from him is that when you are trying to come up with a topic for original research, you must first come up with a question. That is the most important part. The question Jim came up with his research is how much does appearance and openness on Facebook go toward developing a perception of a person.

He decided he was going to show students across the campus, from the age ranges of 18-26, two different people's Facebook profiles, and have them decide which person would make a better professor.

The results he found were very surprising to me at first. He found that participants thought that the professor who disclosed more on social media sites and seemed more "fun" was more trusted and respected as a professor than the person who didn't disclose as much on social media sites.

At first I thought it was surprising because many of the professors I normally see are the kind who would have the Facebook profile of the boring and uninteresting guy. In fact, most of the professors I've had here at UW-Whitewater don't even have Facebook profiles.

The question comes down to, and this is what research participants had to ask themselves, do you want a professor is formal or informal? I'll answer that question and say that I would rather have a professor who is very disclosing on social media sites. It builds the trust I would have in them. Instead of being a person who is very guarded, they are a person who puts themselves out there. I feel as though they are willing to get to know their students on Facebook and outside of the classroom if they are willing to put information about their personal lives on display for everyone to see.