Georgetown University Hosts “Social Media in the Classroom: Implications for Teaching and Learning”

On Friday, Feb 19, I attended the Georgetown University-hosted event, “Social Media in the Classroom: Implications for Teaching and Learning.”

The event featured three esteemed speakers, each deeply involved in social media on their respective campuses:

• Gerry McCartney, Vice President for Information Technology and CIO and Oesterle Professor of Information Technology, Purdue University
• Ulises Mejias, Assistant Professor of New Media in the Communication Studies Department at the State University of New York at Oswego
• Edward Maloney, Director of Research and Learning Technologies at the Center for New Designs in Learning and Scholarship and Visiting Assistant Professor in the Department of English, Georgetown University

The full video of the event will be offered on iTunes U — Georgetown University within the next few weeks.

Quick highlights:

The first speaker, Dr. McCartney of Purdue University, described two technologies being used at his school:

• Signals is a system used in large classrooms to identify students academically at risk . According to Dr. McCartney, the students that have the highest risk of not succeeding in their first year are students that are used to performing well at high schools with lower standards. Upon entering a competitive classroom environment that demands higher performance, these students often perform poorly in their first exposure to university-level curriculum. Signals uses data mined from Blackboard Vista to place each student in a “risk group.” They are then given a stoplight rating that represents their performance and potential to succeed in the class.

  The feedback is real-time and given to students on their Blackboard homepage. Along with the rating system, instructor-written intervention emails and suggestions for study resources are given to provide the student with an early warning and aid to improve performance.

• Hotseat Collaboration is a technology that attempts to engage the student in the classroom using the methods and devices that students are already familiar with. This mobile Web application promotes “micro-discussion,” allowing students in a large class to interact by posting messages during class using their Facebook or Twitter accounts, sending text messages, or using the Hotseat Web site. The instructor will start a session by posing a question for discussion, and students respond to the question. In addition to these responses, students can vote on which topics and questions they’d like to see addressed.
  
  

The next speaker, Dr. Edward Maloney of Georgetown, spoke at length about two important questions:

• 1. What does it mean to take seriously the impact of social media on learning?
  Dr. Maloney brought up a concept that we’re trying to grasp with SMCEDU: learning environments can change, they don’t have to remain static.
  
  He related Web 1.0 (the static Web) as corresponding with traditional teaching practices; that is, delivering information through a central source to a wide audience. Web 2.0, he said, corresponds well to our real world practices outside of the classroom.
  
  As learning happens outside of the classroom (everywhere, really), social technologies encourage the ideas of community, collaboration, exploration, exchange, and communication. Further, it promotes learning in informal, real, participatory, dynamic, and ongoing ways…in other words, learning in a non-traditional sense. What does it ultimately mean to think about social media for learning? To put it succinctly, teaching and learning in a new way.

• 2. What is at stake in this question and the answers we may provide?
  This is a question that never ceases to fascinate. What’s at stake, in my mind, is how we distribute education. From expanding classrooms to empowering students with a new enthusiasm and means to learn, the true scope of what social technologies can do for learning is exciting to speculate, and beyond anyone’s current ability to realize.

Dr. Maloney described informal writing and blogging exercises that helped his students plainly express their understanding of the class. It also gave the instructor a constant evaluator of how each student was doing, along with providing a collaborative, ongoing document that could be used for reference by each student.

The final speaker of the day, Dr. Ulises Mejias, brought some interesting perspectives to social media, and the overall effectiveness of using social technologies.

He offered the network as episteme. As networks are not just metaphors, we use them to form templates and models of social orgnanization; indeed, we use them to shape social realities. But, he asked, what are the limits of networks as templates? What do they include and exclude, make possible or impossible?

Dr. Mejias shared some of the concepts presented in his class:

• Nodocentrism: The distance between a node and something outside the network. For all practical purposes, if something is not a node, it cannot be rendered in the network as a node can only see other nodes.

  I took this to mean that if a person is not included in the network, they don’t “exist” within the network, and the data gathered from network participants should take this into consideration.

• Paranodality: The outside of the network is not empty but inhabited by multitudes that do not conform to the organizing logic of the network. He described this as, “that which cannot be Googled.”

  When considering who/what is excluded from a network, one can view social media as a sort of social slavery: who decides what’s included/excluded?

  Another consideration is that social media tools are largely controlled by private companies. As such, they might not always be in the best interest of learners despite being convenient and cheap. As services such as Youtube (the go-to service to upload videos) or Twitter (the go-to service for micro-blogging) strenghthen their positions, participation among users is increased, but so is the inequality among competing services. As everyone knows, competition is a crucial component in the success of an open market.

  As it stands now, using the popular social media services is easy and cheap, but the relationship between these companies and its users is not equal. The shift may not be from a one-to-many paradigm to a many-to-many paradigm as popularly touted; rather, it’s a shift from one-to-many to many-to-one.

  Dr. Mejias’s final point was one that struck home with Social Media Club Education Connection: What is the universities’ role in social media?

  It’s possible, and perhaps suitable, for the university to develop alternative social media tools that encompass a variety of services (blogging, micro-blogging, wikis, social networking, etc.) and release them as public goods. They could be promoted through their use in projects both within and outside the university, becoming refined and standardized as they evolve. There is a possibility (currently refuted) that Facebook won’t always be free; similarly, the guarantee of free doesn’t exist for other sites/services. Why not have universities work conjointly to offer an alternative?

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!

Are you safe online?

We spend an increasing amount of time online – most of us log countless hours on social media outlets alone.  We know our way around the Internet like our own home, so we’re lulled into thinking we’re as safe online. We’re not. Practicing good habits online should be as second nature as locking the door when you leave the house.  Unfortunately, we have a long way to go.

The National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA) is educating people to be safe online through several awareness programs.  This year marked the 8^th annual National Cyber Security Awareness Month (October) and the first campaign directly targeting 17– 25 year olds.  Our firm, Hastings & Pleadwell worked with NCSA to educate this age using the most relevant social media sites – Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and MySpace.

Perhaps the most interesting pieces of this campaign were two web videos produced to educate and entertain.  “Don’t be a Billy” is a spoof on a 1940s etiquette film that shows what not to do online.

“Cybercriminals” takes a much different approach.  The video profiles three seemingly innocent people who made simple mistakes online that caused serious consequences.  While you may never be subject to the harsh interrogation depicted in this web video, if you aren’t updating your security system, using complex passwords and using common sense online, you are at risk.

First things first, use security software and complex passwords.  Update your operating system often and think twice before clicking on any link or giving out too much personal information.

Connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and YouTube to get more tips, or visit us online.

Summer of Social Good

Social Media Club is proud to partner with the folks at Mashable and the Global Giving Foundation to support the Summer of Social Good Tweetup Tour. The Summer of Social Good is an online charitable campaign to raise funds by spreading awareness around four major organizations who affect policies that have profound impacts on the world. Those organizations are @WWF_Climate, @OxfamAmerica, @HumaneSociety and @LiveSTRONG.

The Summer of Social Good tour comes to six (6) cities; New York (NY), Chicago (IL), Denver (CO), Los Angeles (CA), Washington (DC) and Boston (MA) and ends with a Social Good Conference taking place in New York City, NY on August 28th.

Please try to join us at one of these other #Hyatt4Good Tweetup Tour Dates:

• Denver, Thursday, August 6th, 2009
• Los Angeles, Friday, August 7th, 2009
• Washington, Thursday, August 13th, 2009
  
• Boston, Friday August 21st, 2009

The tour has already taken place in New York and Chicago. If you cannot participate in person, you can still give online. Do it. Then buy yourself a cookie. You deserve it.

SMCEDU Kickoff Meeting

Tuesday morning saw the official beginning of the SMCEDU effort to create and standardize social media curriculum for university-level classrooms. Chris Heuer hosted the international affair, with educators and students from around the country (not to mention Sweden and Australia) getting together over the phone to share thoughts and ideas as we get things going.

A crucial element to the scope of the SMCEDU project is the formation of relationships among different teachers who already teach or have an interest in teaching some aspect of social media. The kickoff-conference call demonstrated how Social Media Club can help facilitate that partnership.

The given input was thought-provoking, and underlined the importance of continued collaboration. Teachers, if you haven’t added your information to our directory of social media educators, we’d love and need your help in creating this increasingly important and ever-evolving course of study.

As was mentioned by Bill Handy of Oklahoma State University, the focus of any social media curriculum will be based largely on need, but we believe that a repository of core resources can be gathered and shared…that’s another important facet of our project.

Kathy Gill of the University of Washington expressed an interest in seeing standard course materials, such as syllabi, exercises, and examples as part of the resource repository. We’re compiling such resources under our SMCEDU wiki repository, to be added to and shared under Creative Commons licensing by all within the social media education community. The recent announcement of a Creative Commons education search engine echoes the growing demand for an organized collection of teaching material and information.

We also heard from the students’ side of things as Jenna Langer stressed the importance of media literacy among students. As Chris mentioned in the Community Proposal, there are many people who utilize social media tools, but not to their full potential. Bill Handy put it succinctly: there’s a difference between the tech side of social media (i.e., setting up a Twitter profile or Ning group) and the strategic use of this technology. Let’s explore the best ways to educate people in how to leverage what we all know to be a powerful mechanism for creating, connecting, and sharing.

We’ve got much to do, but today was an important first step in connecting the talented and passionate people behind this idea: namely, the people who joined us this morning and the many more that have a stake in seeing social media education become formalized and implemented.

My name is Yong, and I look forward to hearing the input, feedback, and ideas behind this exciting and quite possibly monumental undertaking. We’ve got a great visionary and leader in Chris, and a great community of educators and students that want to take part in shaping the effort to improve social media education in schools.

Thanks to all for a great start!

#SMCQ19 Paying social media forward

As SMC moves forward with our education initiative, we’re thinking hard on how to teach, share and encourage media literacy. It’s hard to imagine now, the more immersed we become in social networking, but thinking about  newcomers, as well as the next generation of social media users, it’s clear there’s both a large knowledge base and a lot to learn. What about social media would be best to take with us and what can we leave behind? This week’s question of the week looks at how to pay the best of Social Media forward.

#SMCQ19 What are the best qualities of social media you want to insure never get lost as both the media form and media user evolves?

How to join the Social Media Clubs Question of the Week discussion: Our goal with the Question of the Week initiative is to create a truly collaborative conversation within and around the most up-to-the-minute issues affecting Social Media. Each week, the Social Media Club editorial board looks at trends, topics and news affecting social media during a Blogtalk Radio broadcast. During the call, the editorial board forms the question. This is where YOU come in: we’d love for you to post your thoughts on your blog, via Twitter or by commenting on the Social Media Club site. Please tag your blogs and posts with a hash tag, ‘#’, so we can track the conversation. For example, if you wrote a response to Social Media Club Question of the Week 13, please tag your post ‘#SMCQ13’ and we’ll be able to find it, track back, and link the post to the original post. Your answers will all be included in the weekly Conversation post & Blogtalk Radio broadcast review of the answers we received. We also invite you to call in to the shows to share your viewpoint. Instructions about how to call in will be given on this site by the end of each week. Thanks for joining the club!

#SMCQ18 Whose making change happen

Earlier this week, we called out for thoughts on “Who do you think is best using their social media influence to affect change for the benefit of others?”

Having kept one eye on the Tour de France all week, drawn in by the comeback of Lance Armstrong who returned to competition more to use his platform to advance the fight against cancer as much as win the race, Livestrong remains change-making. Hip to Social Media, Lance folded in tributes and discussions about cancer survivors during his video posts and  regularly made tweets to his 1,549,562 @lancearmstrong followers.

Other ways to do good online:

Kimberly Turner wrote a fine wrap up of other help efforts on her Regator Blog “10 Ways to Make the World a Better Place Without Leaving Your Computer Chair,” July 23, 2009, focusing on how you can make a difference right now. She highlighted five missions, including Mashable’s Summer of Social Good, and VolunteerMatch but points out:

“There are hundreds of fantastic sites devoted to connecting volunteers with projects, bringing awareness to issues, helping people find and donate to nonprofits, and making the world a better place.”

More Notes on Influence

Our SMC Question of the past two weeks, #SMCQ16 How do you measure social media influencers and/or influential online communities? yielded the following responses:

@schmediachick: Measuring influence in social networks demand quant & qual elements. Most important is being part of conversation

@enicholson: #SMCQ16 We need some sort of “influence” cookie that can follow ideas rather than people. a “meme tag” that follows key words, actions

@Rickbischoff: How do I measure influence? By the evident passion they have for the subject they are delivering

The SMC Editorial Board will be reviewing the responses and talking more about measuring influence, this Friday 10am PST on BlogTalk Radio Social Media Club. We welcome your participation. Please join in!

More quotables on influence from the blogosphere:

“Authenticity, Blogs, & Spencer Pratt,” Punk Rock HR, June 18, 2009

“Here are some questions you may want to ask yourself if you’re concerned about following the advice of career gurus and business leaders on the internet.

• Do you trust that the blogger is operating beyond his self-interest? If not, does that matter if you still learn something?
• Does the blogger respond to your questions or care about you as part of his community? If not, are you visiting the site because the blogger’s posts fill other needs in your life?
• Are you following the blogger because of his popularity or because he has a perspective that you can’t find anywhere else?”

“Spinning the Web: P.R. In Silicon Valley,” New York Times, July 6, 2009

“Gone are the days when snaring attention for start-ups in the Valley meant mentions in print and on television, or even spotlights on technology Web sites and blogs. Now P.R. gurus court influential voices on the social Web to endorse new companies, Web sites or gadgets — a transformation that analysts and practitioners say is likely to permanently change the role of P.R. in the business world, and particularly in Silicon Valley. …Instead of calculating the impressions an article gets by estimating a publication’s circulation and pass-along rate, [Brian] Solis counts the number of people who tweeted about a company and their combined following, the number of retweets or clicks on links, as well as traffic from Facebook and other social networks”

#SMCQ16 On Measuring Influence

Earlier this week, the SMC Editorial Board posed the question “How do you measure influencers and/or influential social media platforms?” having wondered aloud which combination of measurement and know-how equaled influence. As the community response demonstrated, influence is equal parts quantitative and qualitative. From ‘listening platforms’ such as Radian6, eCairn and ScoutLabs which track and calculate conversation volume, page rank, comments and frequency as well as a host of other data garnered from Sales Force and CRM tools, to  good old intuition, influence is subject to the eye of the beholder. Some notes from the online response field:

“I look for the number of followers and the number of participants who add comments. Equally important is the quality of the content and the comments. They should be well-written, intelligent, supported by references to sources, focus on the positive, succinct, and not reflect a strongly biased opinion.” — James O’Connor, Owner, Clutter Control, O’Connor Communications,

“So effective, efficient messages are key.  Regularly is another.  Transparent, non-promotional communications essential.  Self-effacing humor is nice.  But the most important aspect is just to be a part of the conversation and thought stream.  One person with one comment at the exact right moment in time who we never hear from again can be a profound influencer.” —How Do You Measure Influencers,” by Bob Stewart,

@the_sophist: #SMCQ16 The act of measuriing influence, influences. Especially in the state of social consciousness. u can’t measure u can only approximate

Suggested Reading:

“How to Measure Influence Online,” Mashable, by Micah Baldwin, March 2, 2009

“Do You Know Jack About Social Media Measurement,” MetricsMan, June 15, 2009

“Is PageRank the Ultimate Measure of Online Influence?” Nine By Blue, October 8, 2008

“Social Media Metrics Superlist,” Interactive Insights Group,  by Robin Broitman, February 2nd, 2009

The SMC Editorial Board will be reviewing the responses and talking more about measuring influence, this Friday 10am PST on BlogTalk Radio Social Media Club. We welcome your participation.

SMCQ14 Media overload? Consequences of the stream

At the same time social media has created a wealth of opportunities to create, consume, interact and react to information, the diversity of media can be staggering as quantity and immediacy often overshadow quality. The Social Media Editorial board discussed how this ‘web of now’ is trumping deeper context and how exposure to a constant stream of information may be shaping our behavior for better or for worse.

We’d love to hear how you are making meaning in an increasingly shallow media landscape. What have we lost, if anything, and what are we gaining? Do you have any strategies for negotiating media overload? We’d love your comments on our 14th Question of the week:

SMCQ14 What are the consequences of exposure to a constant, high-volume stream of media and information?

How to join the Social Media Clubs Question of the Week discussion: Our goal with the Question of the Week initiative is to create a truly collaborative conversation within and around the most up-to-the-minute issues affecting Social Media. Each week, the Social Media Club editorial board looks at trends, topics and news affecting social media during a Blogtalk Radio broadcast. During the call, the editorial board forms the question. This is where YOU come in: we’d love for you to post your thoughts on your blog, via Twitter or by commenting on the Social Media Club site. Please tag your blogs and posts with a hash tag, ‘#’, so we can track the conversation. For example, if you wrote a response to Social Media Club Question of the Week 13, please tag your post ‘#SMCQ13’ and we’ll be able to find it, track back, and link the post to the original post. Your answers will all be included in the weekly Conversation post & Blogtalk Radio broadcast review of the answers we received. We also invite you to call in to the shows to share your viewpoint. Instructions about how to call in will be given on this site by the end of each week. Thanks for joining the club!

#SMCQ13 Is social media the new socialism?

“Just like the ant-communist Red Scares of the early part of the century,  Republicans today are throwing about ’socialism’ as the great ‘Blue Scare,’” noted Chris Heuer, during the Social Media Club Editorial Board’s weekly discussion.
The comment was inspired by one of the more compelling surveys of Social Media published in the most recent issue of Wired, called “The New Socialism: Global Collectivist Society is Coming Online,” by Kevin Kelly, May 22, 2009. Given the heavy baggage that the term holds, we wonder if such a tag will help or hinder all that social media has to offer society. That said, if Social Media — with its distributed power, collaborative, communal aspects  — isn’t socialism, what is it? And if it is the new socialism, how do we leave the worst of socialism’s reputation behind?

So we’re curious to know how you answer this weeks Question of the Week:

#SMCQ13 Is social media the new socialism?

We welcome your comments, posts & tweets. Tag: #SMCQ13

How to join the Social Media Clubs Question of the Week discussion: Our goal with the Question of the Week initiative is to create a truly collaborative conversation within and around the most up-to-the-minute issues affecting Social Media. Each week, the Social Media Club editorial board looks at trends, topics and news affecting social media during a Blogtalk Radio broadcast. During the call, the editorial board forms the question. This is where YOU come in: we’d love for you to post your thoughts on your blog, via Twitter or by commenting on the Social Media Club site. Please tag your blogs and posts with a hash tag, ‘#’, so we can track the conversation. For example, if you wrote a response to Social Media Club Question of the Week 13, please tag your post ‘#SMCQ13’ and we’ll be able to find it, track back, and link the post to the original post. Your answers will all be included in the weekly Conversation post & Blogtalk Radio broadcast review of the answers we received. We also invite you to call in to the shows to share your viewpoint. Instructions about how to call in will be given on this site by the end of each week. Thanks for joining the club!

SMCNYC Meeting on ROI for Social Media 6/17/09

Title: SMC New York
Location: PR Newswire, 350 Hudson, NYC
Link out: Click here
Description: Social Media Return on Investment
Start Time: 18:00
Date: 2009-06-17
End Time: 20:30

Social Media’s Return On Investment – When will we get buy-in?

On June 17^th, members of the Social Media Club of NYC will take on the thorny question of how and when companies and brands are going to monetize their investment in Social Media.

Our meeting will be guided by the insights of presenters Josh Chasin, Chief Research Officer, comScore, Inc. and David Binkowski, Director of Word of Mouth Marketing at MS&L.

Binkowski will weigh in from the practitioners POV, and Chasin from the analytical.

We’ll explore the most current definitions and metrics. Look forward to a lively discussion on adapting current standards (driving targeted traffic) and making a case for new ones (level of audience engagement).

The evening event will be moderated by Donald Schwartz, Technology Writer Imagelink Productions & Technology Coordinator for Fast Company.com.

Agenda:

6:00-6:30 Registration and Networking

6:30-6:45 Welcome and introductions

6:45-7:00 Open discussion:  members pressing Social Media questions

7:00-7:45 Featured presentation: When and How the Buy-In Will Come for Social Media’s Return On Investment with Josh Chasin, Chief Research Officer, comScore, Inc. and David Binkowski, Director of Word of Mouth Marketing at MS&L

7:45-8:00 Wrap: Closing thoughts from members. Suggested new social media tools from club members. Upcoming event announcements. Then networking

Registration required for entry to the building. Photo ID may be required to enter the building.

Special Acknowledgement: The Social Media Club of New York City wishes to express their gratitude to PR Newswire for their support of this meeting.

NOTE: This event will be recorded. By purchasing a ticket or attending, you agree to be captured via video, audio, and photo. All media will be released under a (CC)Attribute-Non-commercial-share-Alike license.

Snacks, Drinks, Wine and Beer will be served.

SMCQ12 How are companies using social media to empower their workforce

Last week, the SMC Editorial board focused on how to best provide education toward preparing for the workplace of the future. This week, we realized, much of that future workplace is happening NOW. And many companies, comprised of employees representing several different generations of the education system, are slow to embrace (or are simply having a hard time getting their arms around) social media tools. At the same time some companies are stymied by fear of the new, weariness about getting too much information or concern that the use of social media at work will cut into productivity, others can’t imagine a desktop without several browser tabs opened displaying common social media URLs.  Is there a sweet spot for using social media at work?  If so, we’d love for you to share your tips. Which leads to our Social Media Question of the week #12:

#SMCQ12 Find examples of how organizations are empowering their workforce with [using] social media?

Please tag your posts, Tweets & comments #SMCQ12. On Friday, the board will reconvene to review your responses.

SMCQ11 Preparing for the workplace of the future

SMC members and readers had far ranging responses to the topic of educating toward a future workplace we can only begin to imagine. From teamwork to new media tools, online training to new models of socializing youth, its clearly a topic ripe for discussion and innovation. One common denominator among our respondents: a need to listen to the student as much as instruct.

Notes from the field:

On what we need to to:

“What do we need to teach kids? How to solve problems, work in teams, and access information to succeed. At present, that’s not what schools teach.” — Francine Hardaway

“…the real question is to ask how can we get the younger generation to teach educators and businesses about using social media” — Peter Williams

“We need to shift managerial thinking from a “sage on the stage” mentality to a “guide on the side” where we actively learn from our newest employees and find ways to incorporate their communication styles and approaches into “older” ways of thinking.” — Amy Smith

“Only by identifying what products and services will be in demand in the future, can we anticipate the type of goods that will need to be produced and the type of employee that will be needed to supply businesses who will produce things to meet society’s needs going forward. — David Ligon , http://etoolkit.org/etoolkit/

What some are already doing:

“At Laguna Playhouse, I use college interns and empower them with the responsibility of monitoring and updating all of our social media (Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Myspace, etc), so they have first hand experience of how to incorporate social media into the workplace.” — Christopher Trela

“Has anyone heard of Skoodat? It’s a brand new application using Salesforce.com and their software which will allow schools to provide leadership training to staff and monitor individual students skill sets before stepping foot in the classroom.” — Jessica Murray

More than one Twitter respondent pointed out a recent post on Business Week by  Jim Goodnight and Keith Krueger that took a deeper look at the issue as well as government involvement and support:

“Why Obama Can’t Ignore Education Tech“ Business Week, 12/25/2008

“School technology investments enable 21st-century learning and provide our current and future workforce with the tools they need to compete and succeed in our globally integrated world. To accomplish this goal, Obama’s reported $850 billion Economic Recovery Plan should include two critical components: 1. Investments in school technology and broadband; and 2. Investments in home-to-school technology targeted at low-income families. Specifically, the federal stimulus package should cover expenses for schools to install or upgrade Internet connections to broadband; hire technical and instructional technology support; and purchase or upgrade hardware, software, and services.”

Social Media Coverage Opportunity in Amsterdam

I am curently seeking two online content creators (blogging, video, audio, photo) to cover an event in Amsterdam. Locals only, and two tickets are provided for two people to cover the event utilizing as many coverage tools as possible to include:

• interviews with panelists
• photos of the event and the expo
• live blogging
• video coverage of as much as possible

Not requirements above need to be met, but candidates that can provide as many of those mentioned will be considered first.

The event is June 2nd, WiMAX Forum Global Congress 2009

Send your information HERE for consideration. Please include equipment you have to cover the event, availability, and links to blogs and other content you’ve created that highlight the work you’ve done.

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