About

I’m Rey Junco, a college professor and researcher who studies how social media use affects college students. I’m particularly interested in using quantitative methods to assess the effects of social media on student development, engagement, and success. Social Media in Higher Education is a place where I’ll blog about the research I’m conducting and provide commentary on using technology in educationally-relevant ways.

I became interested in the power of technology to help engage college students during the first class I taught after graduate school. In the syllabus, I listed my AOL Instant Messenger (IM) screen name as one of the ways students could contact me. I observed that introverted students were much more likely to be engaged during class discussions if they communicated with me via IM outside of class. Since then, I have been fascinated by the connective potential of emerging communication technologies and their ability to assist educators.

I conducted the first large, multi-institution survey of student technology use, which I wrote about in my book, Connecting to the Net.Generation: What Higher Education Professionals Need to Know about Today’s Students. In my second book, Using Emerging Technologies to Enhance Student Engagement my colleagues and I provided a comprehensive analysis of social media’s role in student engagement, technology’s potential to improve retention, and blogs’ potential to improve students’ writing and marketing skills. I’m currently working on my third book, a textbook for first-year seminars.

I have given talks, workshops, and lectures at almost 50 national and international conferences, universities, and organizations. I enjoy talking about how technology impacts colleges students, using social media in educationally-relevant ways, teaching students about privacy, marketing university programs and services through social media, and developing effective first year seminars.

My current research projects include: the first experimental study of the effects of educationally-relevant uses of Twitter on student engagement and grades; an examination of the relationship between Facebook use and grades; considering the implications of using social media on civil discourse; calling attention to digital inequalities in technology ownership and use; and a semiotic analysis of Twitter profile pictures.

I earned my doctorate in education in counselor education and my master’s in clinical psychology from Penn State University. I hold a bachelor’s degree in psychology from The University of Florida. I am currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Academic Development and Counseling and the Director of Disability Services at Lock Haven University. My complete CV can be accessed here.