Twitter part of major at UW-Oshkosh

OSHKOSH - Business, education, nursing all have their place, but University of Wisconsin Oshkosh is looking in a new direction in targeting the bachelor's degree of the future.

"A working title has been Interactive Web Technology Management, but we're not quite happy with that," said Jakob Iversen, a professor of Information Systems at UW-Oshkosh.

Iversen is part of a three-member team looking to incorporate the soaring popularity of interactive technology such as Twitter and Facebook, and their workings and possible applications, into an actual 4-year degree.

"In our students they use a lot of these technologies but not to the extent probably we'd like them to. They may be on Facebook, but don't see how Facebook may be advantageous to a business," said Iversen.

The reason for coming up with the new major has to do with enrollment here at UW-Oshkosh. They wanted a course of study that would attract new students. And they hope to offer classes by next spring. And the university's intent in all this is to fill those classes with students who might not have otherwise chosen UW-Oshkosh.

"I think it's absolutely necessary maybe even a few years too late. The business world is in need you have problem solving, communication, collaboration, those skills need to be taught explicitly at the college level so we as students graduate and can take those skills with us," said graduate student Michael McCabe.

Marketing professor Sarah Stanley sees not only growing interest in such a social media major, but also employment opportunities.

"All over the place companies are realizing the importance of these new medias and they're trying to take advantage and we just want to make sure the students are equipped to really deal and work in this new environment," said Stanley, who is part of the committee formulating the new degree.

The university is finalizing a curriculum even as the industry continues to develop new technology. Making the time right for UW-Oshkosh to show students what they enjoy in their off time can also be the basis for a career.

More and more colleges and universities are using social media to contact prospective students, and many even offer classes incorporating the subject. But going online we found very few worldwide that offer a 4-year degree in social media.