SMCEDU-RVA Hosts Social Media U: Fundamental Shifts in Learning, Sharing, and Collaboration

Richmond, VA, proved once again to be a leader in advancing social media in education as the SMCEDU-RVA organization hosted Social Media U on Tuesday evening at the University of Richmond.

Tuesday’s event, billed as an exploration of the “Fundamental Shift in Teaching, Learning, and Collaboration,” focused on the concerns of educators and the issues they face in incorporating social media into the classroom. Although education was at the center of the discussion, the audience was peppered with students and professionals seeking to grasp more understanding of social media as it affected both the academic and business worlds.

Before I relay some of the details, I’d like to first highlight the efforts of the SMCEDU-RVA team for their continued work and enthusiasm: Kendall Morris, Nhat Pham, Nathan Hughes, Tammy Berwanger, and Brittany Gordon all contributed in putting together an event that featured insightful speakers and engaging dialogue, and their continued push to advance the goals of SMCEDU are helping lead the way for other Social Media Club chapters and affiliate universities.

So thanks to their hard work, we were excited to have the following panel:

• Lon S. Safko
  • Author of “The Social Media Bible”
• Jonathan Becker, J.D., Ph. D
  • Assistant Professor at the Educational Leadership Department at Virginia Commonwealth University
• Jeff Nugent
  • Associate Director, The Center for Teaching Excellence
  • Over ten years experience in teaching at the college and secondary level

As I write this, I’m reflecting on a post from panelist Jeff Nugent. As he’s someone who has first-hand experience with the fundamental shifts occurring in the many areas that are touched by technological collaboration and social participation, I recommend you read his thoughtful analysis of Tuesday night’s Q&A.

There were so many points and opinions that illuminated the struggle in adopting social media practices in academic institutions that I feel remiss in not having video. We’re working on that, but for now, here are key points that caught my attention (the emphasis is my own):

Q: With trends coming and going so quickly, how do classes keep up?

• JN: Don’t focus on trends, focus on how the tools used in social media can enhance learning. What are these tools? What do you do with them? And what’s their value for teaching?
• JB: I’m more interested in helping educators understand the possibilities, helping them rethink entirely the institution of “school,” to rethink all the possibilities of learning that come from social media.
• JN: I would add that I’m more interested in things that persist…ideas like collaboration, interaction, exchange of information…the tools come in to play as a platform for participation. That’s what I’m interested in: how can we transform the ways students and learners can participate in the educational experience?
• LS: Social media is not a group of magic bullets…it’s just new technology we’re applying to traditional marketing. The rules of engagement have changed, but the reason why it works is never going to change. The thing to stress is that we’re not pushing the message anymore, we’re participating in a conversation.

Q: How is teaching with social media different than teaching traditionally?

• LS: The traditional means of pushing the message just don’t work anymore, it’s just not trusted. There’s a fundamental shift in power.
• JB: There’s a fundamental shift in power is absolutely right…a lot of professors need to understand that, too. We (professors) no longer need to be the solo expert in the classroom. (Speaking about an experiment where a class was broadcast on Ustream and others were invited to participate)…the walls of the classroom are broken down, and you can invite the whole world to learn with us at the same time. We need to rethink our notions of space, we need to rethink our notions of time…we have to rethink the aspects of teaching and learning that are based on the idea that information is scarce. Information is not scarce anymore, we no longer have to assign textbooks to our students because that is the sole source of information on a topic. It’s all out there, and we have to figure out how to arrange our set of tools to best access it.
• JN: It involves a change in practice. One of things we know about change in instructional practice is that it happens at a glacial pace. Jon is a unique case in that he’s willing to engage on the experimental fringe of what social media invites into the classroom, and not everybody is willing to do that…you have to give up control to the students so that they can be equal players in the co-creation of learning that occurs in that space. When you bring up these ideas (to the faculty), they become scared. (They) recognize the sense of potential and power, but aren’t sure what sense to make of it. However, the driver for this change is not the same in education as it is in business.

Q: How do you get students to produce good content (such as contributing to a wiki)?

• JB: We as professors used to be the sole determinants in what is good content, but one of the things social media allow us to do is have students judge what is good.
• JN: It (good content) becomes amplified. Good content is content that helps them, and others, learn. What gets them to produce good content? When they recognize that what they’re doing in the classroom extends beyond the classroom, and they generate stuff for an audience that’s much wider than the 25, 30 people that are in the course…that was transformative for my students.

Q: With the influence of social media, what is the classroom model of the future?

• JB: If we accept the position that social media allows learners to manage their own own learning, what are the conditions for that? For me, it’s getting people to be comfortable with sharing their ideas, and to understand that information is easily accessible…if we can get there, the possibilities are limitless. Are we going to see the dissolution of K-12 schools? Unlikely…it’s possible that we’re moving more toward a hybrid (online and lecture) model.
• JN: I can answer that question in two kinds of ways. One, in terms of trends that I see are coming together, that are combining and resulting in something that we don’t know what it is. The other is a kind of hope…I think some of the things we’re seeing with social media is creating a platform of participation…we have this kind of commenting culture that allows everyone to interact and exchange, and that has created a context for a really different kind of knowledge building and growth. Along with that, we have an emerging open education movement, where you have colleges and universities like the MIT Open Courseware Project, Yale open courses, Carnegie Melon open courses…producing this massive amount of sequenced, organized, high-quality learning content available to anyone, anywhere, anytime. What comes next? I think we have to wrestle with this, but there becomes a crisis of relevance for higher education. I don’t know, it’s anybody’s guess, but we have to come to terms with that somehow…but the “hope for piece” is that the power of social media will get students to connect in real space for action.
• JB: Learning institutions really need to think about how to maximize face time. If you’re in the business of delivering information, please don’t do that face-to-face anymore…it’s too easy to do that. I hold on to the concept that learning should be face-to-face, and educators need to figure out how to better use that time.
• LS: I don’t see it replacing K-12 classes. What social media does is enhance learning, it doesn’t replace the classroom. Look around at everyone in the room, they could be participating using Skype or GoToMeeting, but they’re not…there’s no replacement for face-to-face. One of the largest meetings I went to was a Social Media Club meeting. Social media tools are just tools to enhance the ability to communicate, especially within the classroom.

Q: How well are universities and colleges preparing students to enter the work force using social media tools?

• JB: I don’t teach undergrads, so it’s difficult for me to answer that. If there’s a problem we have in doing that is that we have too many silos and compartments so that the set of competencies gets pushed to different departments. I think universities need to think about what it means to all departments.
• JN: I would think that social media also needs to be understood in the context of a liberal education, and what does it mean to use these tools effectively for the social good? What does it mean to think critically in these types of environments? I see it not just as being pressed into the service of preparing students for a work force, but what does it mean to be a citizen in a digital age?

At this point, I’d like to suggest that it’s the type of insight gleaned from Tuesday night’s session, and from educators and thought leaders across the nation and the world that will shape the course of not only social media education, but the classroom dynamic itself. The vast scope of issues requires input from the many educators and students that grasp the potential for change and are willing to enact it.

We’ll continue to collect the lessons and examples that are being lived every day and share them with the SMCEDU community.

Thanks again to all the participants, panel, and organizers of Social Media U! The good people of SMCEDU-RVA are planning their next event for March 23, stay posted!

Social Media Camp SF Schedule ++

Big thanks to all the early participants who signed up on blind faith and to all the sponsors who are subsidizing our participation costs (especially for the lucky few who got one of the $5 tickets). We have been working hard to build a great single-track Social Media conference that will be the backbone of a strong ‘camp’. Each of the sessions below are designed to be 45 minutes with 15 minute breaks in between. Due to the layout of the building and proximity of the rooms to one another, we will be sticking to this schedule as best as possible.

In under a week, with the support of our Social Media Camp Gold Sponsors (Biz360, IDEA, SAP), social media leaders, community organizers, and many friends, I think we have something that  will be highly valuable – in fact, I would say its the equivalent of a much higher price conference, or better in some instances, but hey, I will let you decide for yourself. (there are only about 30 tickets left!)

8am – Registration, Breakfast, Networking

9am – Opening – Three 10 Minute Keynotes
Chris Heuer, Camp Director, will open the day and introduce what he believes are the most important things necessary for Social Media to continue to be relevant and to continue to grow.

• Keynote 1:  The Synaptic Web, Khris Loux, Echo
• Keynote 2: The Art of Tummeling, Kevin Marks, BT/Ribbit
• Keynote 3: Personal Voice, Personal Storytelling, Cathy Brooks

945am – Planning the Camp Sessions
F0r 30 minutes, participants will be able to offer up suggestions for an additional session that they will lead in one of the two other rooms we have set up. In total, we will have to collaboratively plan 10 sessions the day of the event.

1030am – Measuring What Matters: Social Media AND Metrics (Moraga/Main Room)

This discussion will be lead by Maria Ogneva from Biz360 and is geared towards social media professionals / marketers within their organizations, but is suitable for everyone working to prove the ROI of their investment in Social Media. The central premise is that we all need to better understand what matters most (and what doesn’t matter at all).

• Maria Ogneva, Biz360
• Rick Klau, Google
• Jaime Schiller
• Sudha Jamthe, PayPal (just added!)

1130am – Rethinking Communications: Social Media AND Marketing (Moraga/Main Room)

Tap into cutting edge thinking and insights from this group of experienced professionals. After their presentations, ample time will be provided for group discussions and a rigorous Q&A before heading to lunch.

• Kevin Barenblat, Context Optional
• Chris Heuer, AdHocnium

1215-130PM – LUNCH BREAK

Box lunches, with vegetarian options, will be served

130pm – Customer Service As Marketing

It’s been said that customer retention is the best form of customer acquisition. In this panel, we bring together people who know this first hand to discuss how and why customer support has transcended its traditional position as a cost to be minimized to become a valuable marketing investment.

• Chris Pitre, Idea
• Thor Muller, Get Satisfaction
• Kristie Wells, Ribbit/Social Media Club
• Bliss Dake, Mighty Leaf Tea

230pm – Rethinking Collaboration (a ‘fireside chat’)

I once heard an employee of a really big company say “you can have my email when you pry it from my cold dead fingers” referencing an initiative to bring Enterprise 2.0 tools into their company.  The fear of change often prevents people from adapting to new ways of working, making collaboration more of a human issue then a technical one.  As technologies, and our concepts of how we use them have changed in the face of ’streams’, what’s it going to take to not only rethink collaboration, but to make the new workflow a simple to use reality. As we move from static depositories of documents into work ’streams’ collaboration wont only be within one tool, but across many. What does that world look like and how will it come into being. [this is a deep, rich topic for us to explore, expect the conversation to move around a bit from this description]

• David Meyer, SAP
• Chris Heuer, AdHocnium

330pm – Facing the Reality of Real Time

Real Time is the new black. Its mentioned everywhere, and it seems straightforward enough, but what does it really mean. How are you supposed to manage a brand in the face of real time onslaught of customer complaints, market developments, events, news and everything else that is going on. In diving into the reality of real time, we will explore the topic from a technical, humanistic and organizational marketing perspective, with a lot of time devoted to group discussion with all participants.

• Jeremy Toeman, Stage Two Consulting
• Brian Zisk, Collecta
• Jolie O’Dell, Read/Write Web

430pm – Closing Remarks (15 minutes)

Chris Heuer will wrap up the day with a synthesis of the key themes and ideas presented across all of Social Media Camp and discuss his vision for future Social Media Camp’s that will be held across the country in 2010.  This is also a chance for all participants to share their big a-ha moments from the day and to discuss all the other great events happening during the rest of Social Media Week.

Some of the titles and speakers above may change slightly, but the focus is in place and we are confirming additional speakers each hour…

For those of you attending, who may see a topic that is just not interesting to you, remember, its not just a conference, its also a camp… soyou have a chance to help program 10 additional sessions that will be hosted throughout the day.  I will be writing a separate post on how we will run the camp shortly.

We have a great day planned out, with a ton of great people, in a nice venue.  While the Presidio Officer’s Club is not the Ritz Carlton or a Class A Conference Center, it suits our purposes of getting together, learning from each other and making valuable new connections. We have a great caterer bringing in a continental breakfast, an array of boxed lunch choices and sodas, waters, and coffee throughout the day.  We also have very limited WiFi it would seem in this building, so I have to ask you in advance to expect we will have some wifi problems – in fact, if anyone has some Mifi hotspots or something they could bring, that would probably help a little bit.  As a camp goes, this will be a great, high energy event with a ton of great speakers, ideas and insights.

So bring an open mind, tough questions and big challenges to Social Media Camp next Monday and help us kick off our first Social Media Week in San Francisco with this great unconference hybrid. If you haven’t registered yet, you can still do so now, but get it soon, there are only a few tickets left.

See you on Monday!

SMCEDU Chat – Innovation, Choosing The Right Tools, FERPA, Participation…Yes, We Can!

As we held another weekly #SMCEDU chat on Monday, we saw old and new faces (avatars?) join in the discussion, and were able to hit a wide range of topics that deserve deeper analysis. For now, raising awareness and discussing these ideas in short bursts allows for ideas to flow, and we’re all for exploring and progressing ideas. To that end, it was another great, timely conversation, and I apologize for the untimely-late summary post!

We covered a wide range of topics today, and finding a common thread proved to be challenging. Instead, I’ll cover the major topics.

Innovation

I’m writing this as I watch a video stream of Apple’s announcement of the iPad, and it’s a reminder of the level of attention that’s paid to anything related to technological advancements (especially from Cupertino).

We started the chat on Monday with an inquiry into innovation within the classroom. Although technology (in terms of hardware, software, and use) is advancing rapidly, we don’t want to miss the forest for the trees by focusing on the “what” rather than the “why” in regard to the communication channels we use. However, as we continue to look for and share examples of how social media is changing the classroom dynamic, we can’t leave out some of the tools that encourage the interaction that puts the “social” in social media. We heard some great suggestions, including this, this, this, and this.

Amid the talk of different tools, it became evident that we shouldn’t focus so much on which services to use, but form a better understanding of the tools themselves.

The Right Tool for the Right Job

As Dr. V of Purdue noted, the end dictates the means. With so many existing options, it becomes imperative for educators to have a strong foundational understanding of what to use. Dr. V succinctly stated the issue here and here.

But who has the time to ramp up on the best tools to use? This is another service I’d like to explore: educators, show us an example of what you’re using in your classroom (links would be great!), and we can all share the lessons in what worked and what could be tweaked. Not all educators have the same level of experience with different technologies, and developing a “User Guide” of sorts to help teachers navigate through the sea of services could prove useful to many…kind of like this one, but focusing more as a case study/user’s manual. Let me know your thoughts on that!

With different tools come different concerns, and we hit two of the main concerns on Monday.

FERPA

The privacy issue is one of the key arguments when discussing the open Web. It affects universities just as much as the rest of the online world, and Bill Handy of Oklahoma State brought up this relevant point. FERPA regulations seem to be a concern for many teachers that use social media within the classroom, and it doesn’t seem like the issue regarding the use of student content/information has been resolved yet. As we navigate these uncharted waters, it would be helpful to keep other educators informed of the rules and restrictions as they evolve.

Participation/Grading

There are different levels of participation in online communities, but in a classroom environment where each student needs to have a voice, how does an educator evaluate the variety of personalities?

One would think that online interaction might lend itself to the student less likely to speak up in class, but that may not always be the case. Should those that don’t choose to interact be graded negatively?

There are different opinions on why students wouldn’t participate, and it continues to perplex some (wouldn’t you want to take advantage of something like this in school?)

Encouraging students to participate and create quality content leads me back to one of the hopes for Social Media Club: to unite and build a community of good citizens that know how to connect and collaborate online and create positive change in the real world.

Next week, Social Media Club will host Social Media Week in San Francisco. Monday is the kickoff event, Social Media Camp, with an great list of speakers. If you’re in the Bay Area, swing through and meet others within the community! We’re branching out, and the SF/SV area is a target location!

Thanks to all who participated for your valuable input, we look forward to growing and learning more with you!

Social Media Camp: San Francisco

It’s been a hectic start to 2010, but I couldn’t be happier where things are heading this year. Today it became apparent that we had the sponsor support we needed to sign the contract for Social Media Camp, so it’s time to open registration, sign-up volunteers (who get a free pass), and get the word out.

We will kick off Social Media Week in San Francisco with a full day conference called Social Media Camp on Monday February 1, 2010 from 9am-530pm. This will be the marquee event of the week locally, providing a great opportunity for leading Social Media professionals to come together as a community. With all the great ‘influencers’ and professionals living here in San Francisco, it’s also a great opportunity to showcase our region as a global leader in this space.

Social Media Camp is perfect for communications professionals, marketing executives, technology startups, social media consultants, journalists, bloggers and anyone else interested in learning how to apply Social Media to your organization.

Social Media Camp was originally envisioned as a Job Skills Retraining event for the underemployed and unemployed. While we will still serve this purpose by offering a great day of Social Media education at a great price, our vision for taking Social Media Camp around the country in 2010 is much bigger and we will be discussing this further at Social Media Camp on Monday February 1st.

What we are doing is a hybrid conference – one part traditional conference and one part barcamp. We are co-producing a series of panels, talks and keynotes with our sponsors, bringing in some of the smartest people we know on the most important topics such as Social Media and Metrics, Local Search, Community Management and more. In fact, we will start announcing the speakers and sessions on Monday. In the meantime, if you have been to a BarCamp, you know that you have an opportunity to offer up a session on the morning of the event, during the Social Media Camp kickoff, which will then be given a room and a time slot during the conference during which you can host a conversation about what matters most to you.

While we are offsetting some of the costs with the sponsorship dollars, we aren’t able to offer this event for free at this time. We can however offer it at the very reasonable price of $100, with pre-registration offered at a discount levels starting at $5. Yes, that’s right…$5!!! Get your ticket quick!

There is a lot more going on throughout the week, and we have more information to distribute, including formal thanks to Social Media Week San Francisco
local sponsors GoGrid and LinkedIn for being an early sponsor in this process with us. We will be announcing other sponsors over the weekend and into early next week.

Now that we have a contract, a plan, sponsor support and you reading this, lots of exciting things will start falling into place.

Get your ticket now!!

About Social Media Week San Francisco

Running from February 1 – February 5, 2010 (MON-FRI) we are expecting to host around a dozen events in and around San Francisco in support of the global efforts. The SFAMA, Citizen Space, Mashable, Context Optional, Stage Two Consulting, LiveWorld and Social Media Club already have events scheduled, with many more being published in the coming days. You can stay up to date via the main Web site at http://socialmediaweek.org/

Social Media Week: San Francisco

The global Social Media Week conference will launch simultaneously in six cities in a little more than two weeks, and we’re very excited to be both hosting and participating the conference here in San Francisco!

We have received a large response in regards to our call for participation (sponsors/volunteers), and are still building the conference’s full schedule (several confirmed events are in there now). Here’s a quick overview of some of the week’s events:

• Social Media Breakfast (East Bay)
• The Future of Geo-location
• Unpresenting (use the code “b00tstrap” for $150 off!)
• Lunch 2.0
• Social Media Camp
• Innovation Through Real-Time Feedback Loops
• And more…

To register for events, simply visit the San Francisco website, select Schedule from the top navigation and RSVP for the events you wish to attend. We will be adding more events over the next couple of days, so please check back often for both edits and updates.

*PLEASE NOTE THAT YOU MUST RSVP FOR EVENTS INDIVIDUALLY.  REGISTERING THROUGH SCHED.ORG DOES NOT ADMIT ENTRY.*

BECOME A SPONSOR OF SOCIAL MEDIA WEEK!

In addition, there are a number of ways to become more involved with Social Media Week, including limited speaking opportunities available through the available sponsorships below. Contact Chris Heuer and Brett Petersel for more information.

$1,000

• Social Media Week sponsorship
• Mentions, links, blog posts, tweets and incl. in SMC newsletters, website(s), Tweets, Facebook

$2,000

• Gold Sponsor of Social Media Camp (kick-off event in SF on Monday, Feb. 1st)
• Incl. time slot for ‘your’ panel (no keynotes)
• Currently working w/ Mission Bay Conf. Center

$2,500

• Incl. the two above packages ($500 savings!)
  

$250

• Participating sponsor of Social Media Camp (a la BarCamp strategy)
• Participation with schwag table(s)

We appreciate everyone’s excitement and support in what is sure to be a great week of learning, mingling and entertainment.

A Discussion on Case Studies – Old Meets New

Happy Martin Luther King Day to everyone! The holiday saw new participants interested in social media education in our weekly #SMCEDU chats — another week, another great exchange of ideas! To all that joined for the first time, welcome! I hope we can continue to learn from each other in the future!

Our chat this week revolved around case studies, but what caught my attention more than the need for examples of such was a late conversation that seemed to represent (at least in my mind) what’s happening in social media at the university level.

First, let me say this — one of our main goals this year is to open up coursework for educators looking to incorporate or teach social media. A main factor for those that are struggling with the “should” question is proof of efficacy, and case studies are a proven way to see examples. With that in mind, our chat participants struck gold with these suggestions:

• Corinne Weisgerber brought up this excellent point about finding industry-specific information by creating and maintaining networks related to your field. She also provided this link to a wiki of social media marketing case studies, which looks to be a valuable reference.
• If you’re a part of the pharmaceutical/healthcare industry, James Walker shared this link to a related wiki of social media case studies.
• Booz Allen Hamilton social media lead and SMCEDU-DC authority Steve Radick posted this link to the OpenGov wiki. This effort struck a chord with me as it is something I envision the Social Media Club Education Connection wiki could be — a living collection of lessons, information, and references available in an easily-navigated interface.

After seeing the OpenGov wiki, I’m inspired to spruce up our SMCEDU wiki, and I’ll start by pulling information from the suggested links above and any other suggestions you’d like to send my way. In the very near future, I hope to feature it again as a resource that makes SMCEDU valuable to the education community.

The sharing of different case studies was great, but things got interesting with this tweet from Rowena Briones of College Park, MD. It led the way to some opinions that represent a new approach to how to deal with social media in the classroom.

Nathan Hughes of SMCEDU-RVA summed up that “new approach” sentiment eloquently in less than 140 characters with this tweet. The spirit of the message, that in many ways we’re dealing with a lump of unmolded clay, was echoed through numerous re-tweets.

Chris Heuer, founder of Social Media Club, also started SMCEDU and maintains the same vision for the project as when it first started.

We’re certainly facing something new — the hesitancy among faculty members to adopt new technologies/methods, the degree of student participation and interaction (the “hands-on” lessons alluded to so often during today’s chats), and the many opinions of social media itself are evidence of that. We can’t ignore traditional tools like case studies, but we also can’t rely completely on traditional methods (textbooks, lectures) to encompass social media education. After all, participation and innovation are key components of whatever you want to call the merge of technology and social interaction.

Our chat was also covered today by Andrea Genevieve of George Washington University, stay posted for her writeup of today’s chat later this week on her blog.

We’re moving forward, and doing it quickly. SMCEDU-RVA is hosting an event next week that’s catering to educators, and I look forward to the reactions and reception from professors. We’re also re-booting our advisory board, more on that to come. Our wiki is my focus for this week, and as always, we’ll have another Twitter chat next Monday at 12:30pm EST.

Again, thanks for all the great input today, we look forward to it again next Monday!

Social Media Club SFSV: 2010 – A Social Media Odyssey

In 2009 Social Media crossed the chasm and became an important element of integrated marketing and PR. Today, while many consumers expect Twitter to be an always on customer service channel, there are still many more who don’t yet ‘get’ Twitter or understand why Social Media is important.

So what advancements will 2010 bring? How will consumer expectations evolve? How will brands adapt to the changing needs of a market empowered by Social Media? Will we see the democratization of the net or the birth of more 800 pound gorrillas? Is it getting easier to use or will it be more challenging? What will suprize and delight? What will fizzle and fail? Will 2010 be the year of Social Media or will people be so overwhelmed by the amount of information that they tune out and turn off?

Join us as we take a journey into the future with some of the brightest minds in the valley for 2010: A Social Media Odyssey. Panel portions of the program will be moderated by Jennifer Lindsay of The A-List podcast. We will allow plenty of time for Q&A, so please come with questions! [Read more]

Reality Check: How Are You Really Using Mobile Video?

Mobile video is here to stay, and the Social Media Club San Francisco / Silicon Valley chapter met in October to discuss how mobile video is being created, deployed, and consumed. As part of the Reality Check series sponsored by Real Player SP, the event was designed to examine how the technology is really being used.

The first segment focused on the technology of mobile video, featuring panelists Rishi Mallik from Qik, Justin Kan from Justin.tv, and Lacey Kemp from RealNetworks. Chris Heuer drove the conversation as moderator, prompting questions and answers from both the panelists and audience.

How do you want to access mobile video? How do you best engage an audience? What are real people using mobile video for? What would you like to see?

• Engagement
  Engaging in meaningful conversations when there is a large audience is a concern. This is acknowledged as a problem by technology providers, and one of the issues they are trying to address says Kan.
• Access
  Users want to have access to video content on the go, but they want a smooth, consistent experience. Spotty coverage from service providers, combined with small screens on mobile devices, make for less than ideal conditions. In a perfect world, live video conversations could take place on mobile devices seamlessly.
• Ease of Production
  “What video do you have on your mobile device right now?”

Heuer poses this question, point-blank, to various members of the audience. The answers are somewhat surprising. They all include user-generated content. Friends and family, car accidents, sales videos, awards presentations and product demonstrations.

JD Lasica mentions that recently, at Blogworld Expo, Leo Laporte declared that podcasting is dead. What does that mean for mobile video? It means that it needs to be simple for people to edit and share content, and it must be delivered in a way that makes it easy to consume in any format.

After a short break, Moderator Jennifer Lindsay shifted the focus to storytelling with mobile content, discussing an innovative user-generated video project with videographer Eddie Codel.

Codel, a pioneering vlogger and producer for Geek Entertainment TV, was one of five people chosen from around the world to work on an innovative film project with Spike Lee, entirely shot on mobile phone video cameras.

His advice for aspiring videographers?

• Use the best tools available. Align your goals with the quality of your equipment.
• Professional cameras are nice, but mobile devices are perfect for capturing real-action events.

Eddie shows a brief interview that they were able to do with Spike Lee. Lee confesses that the main advantage of going to film school, was to gain access to equipment. This equipment is available everywhere now, so his message is: “Just shoot.” Lee claims to be a fan of social media, but when asked about posting content on YouTube, he says that he wouldn’t put any ‘good ideas’ on the site.

As evidence of the power of video, there were over 1,000 viewers of the live video stream of tonight’s event on Justin.tv.

The Challenges of Social Media Education Can Be Overcome

Our weekly #SMCEDU Twitter chat proved once again to be an exciting forum, quick to address the challenges facing the Social Media Club Education Connection (aka SMCEDU) and consistent in providing a wide range of perspectives.

As I wrote in an earlier post, I’d like to focus on key challenges for social media education this year. One of the slippery questions we face is actually defining what a social media education encompasses. In a micro-text/minimum-contextual format such as Twitter, 140 characters just aren’t enough.

Despite that, we got great input from teachers, students, and professionals today.

I opened with a question that always gets different responses, and it deals with the challenges that face educators interested in social media.

I read this post recently regarding why social media marketing receives resistance, and I believe some of the same challenges are faced in the education world.

Anna West of VCU brought up this and this point, with the lack of a strategic approach being a complaint I’ve heard numerous times.

Ana Adi in Scotland brought up something that challenges many schools, deficiencies in infrastructure.

James Walker, an associate at APCO Worldwide and a student of social media, brought up the point that teaching social media may require a new educational paradigm. He cited his favorite professor as being someone who taught “off the cuff” and was able to adapt quickly to new changes.

Brett Petersel of Mashable and Susan Beebe of SMCEDU-Rochester, NY both mentioned the rapidly changing landscape of technology as hurdles in formalizing social media education.

At this point in the conversation, I became a bit flustered. You see, we HAVE the resources — the people, the technology — to overcome these obstacles. We CAN create a better social media education (which, in turn, can produce smarter people that understand the impact of sharing and spreading information).

Before I go on, let me tie in a few thoughts on one of the main objectives of smcedu: opening coursework development to all educators and creating a repository of social media curriculum.

This, I believe, is what needs to be done first in working toward that obective:

• From our collection of professors, define what they’re teaching as part of “Social Media Education.”
  • This includes an intro to what social media is, integration of social media into different disciplines, measurement of success, and any other touch points that are concerns
  • From there, create lessons on each

• From our collection of students, define what they want to learn as part of a “Social Media Education.”
  • Skills specific to different career paths
  • Lessons learned from those that have done it

• From our collection of business leaders, define what they want potential employees to know as part of a “Social Media Education.”

Despite the challenges of teaching social media, there are ways to integrate lessons into traditional programs.

I’ll work to gather this information from various professors, but would love to see a live collaboration between the educators that are currently teaching social media as a class or component. Any suggestions?

Thanks to all again for a great chat, please join us again next Monday at 12:30pm EST on Twitter…click on the button below for a reminder!

Lenovo Live @ CES 2010

Social Media Club members are invited to join Lenovo along with other leading journalists and bloggers for Blogger Nights @ CES. Tonight’s event is sold out, BUT if you are a card carrying member of Social Media Club, a registered member of the gdgt community or an attendee of Social Media Jungle, all you need to do is show your credentials to enter. We will be at AquaKnox in the Venetian from 9:30PM to 1:00AM.

If you missed last year’s Ultimate Blogger Dinner, you don’t want to miss Lenovo’s Blogger Nights @ CES 2010. We have incredible food from one of the best restaurants in Las Vegas (according to last year’s reviews), and an open bar with premium wines, cocktails and beer.

Lenovo’s Blogger Nights is a chance to relax and unwind at the end of the day with your colleagues, to share stories and to create some new ones for your readers/viewers/listeners (and some that will stay in Vegas). This is one CES event you won’t want to miss.

Lenovo’s Blogger Nights is co-hosted by Social Media Club, gdgt and Social Media Jungle. During Blogger Nights, Mitch Ratcliffe will be live streaming each night, interviewing attendees to discuss the most interesting news from each day. If you would like to pre-schedule an interview, please email mitch@ratcliffe.com.

Be sure to check out Lenovo Social, a great portal to find recent news on Lenovo and things happening here at CES.

SMCEDU is Getting 2010 Started

As we enter a new year and a new decade, we’re realizing with less frequency the impact and ubiquity of social media. Less, you say? Let’s put it this way: The past few years have been the “growth” years, a time when people began to realize the percussive scope of using social media and participating in social networks. But it’s not about hearing the drum beat anymore, now it’s about moving to the tempo.

In 2010, it isn’t likely that you’ll have to convince anyone that social media is useful; rather, you’ll have more people asking for best practices. Students in many fields realize the impact social media will have in their future careers. Today’s lessons shouldn’t be limited to introduction or mere mention of social media, but should focus on how to leverage its usefulness.

With so many participating in social media, the question becomes: “How do we know if we’re getting what we want out of it?”

Kendall Morris of SMCEDU-Richmond had this to say, and I’d have to agree. In 2010, it’s about measuring impact.

This includes impact within the classroom. What’s the best way to reach out to students, to give them lessons that they’ll listen to? Andrea Genevieve of George Washington University believes it’s about breaking up the lectures with the visual elements that we’re used to interacting with on the Web. We’re VERY interested in building a collection of video lessons from a range of academic disciplines and would love to hear from any teachers willing to contribute!

And while intriguing graduate programs with social media arches are being offered, is it too much too soon?

I’m still finding mixed opinions on that one (here and here for example). What’s agreed upon by many (like Mike Johansson and Nhat Pham) is that while a degree program might not be essential now, integration into current coursework is.

At one point in the chat, Mike Johansson offered this question, and Susan Beebe and Andrea Genevieve echoed what we hope will be a major contribution of SMCEDU.

So with that, we’ll continue what we started in 2009. I enjoyed the dialogue and range of responses we got in our chat today…seeing continued contribution would be benefit all!

Hope to chat with you all again next Monday at 12:30pm EST!