26 Copyright © 2013, IGI Global. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited. Chapter 2 1. INTRODUCTION In this chapter, we describe our approach to utilizing current and emerging social media to support Millennial learners, facilitate the for- mation of learning communities, foster student engagement, reflection, and enhance the overall learning experience for students in synchronous and asynchronous learning environments. The proliferation of old and new media, in- cluding the Internet and other emerging digital (and mobile) technologies, has changed the way Derek E. Baird Facebook for Educators, USA Mercedes Fisher Milwaukee Area Technical College, USA How Social Design Infuences Student Retention and Self-Motivation in Online Learning Environments ABSTRACT Investigating the social structure that works in online courses helps us design for and facilitate student collaboration. The integration of social technologies, and collaborative activities into the course design has a positive infuence on student retention in online courses. In this chapter, the authors present an exploratory study of computer-mediated groups that utilized this collaborative-based model to partici- pate in online and/or blended learning courses. Participants were put into groups and observed as they constructed new knowledge using both online dialogue (synchronous and asynchronous), and social media technologies (blogs, Facebook, Twitter, wiki) as tools to support and facilitate their learning in the program. DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-2851-9.ch002