#SMCEDU Chat: Converting Non-Technical Educators

Social Media Club Education Connection (aka #SMCEDU) is a national initiative whose goal is to unite educators, students, and professionals to further the development of social media curriculum in our schools, enabling a wider network of learning and workforce preparedness.

#SMCEDU is a part of Social Media Club, a nonprofit organization that is working to promote media literacy and connect people to share what they are learning about social media.

With today’s #SMCEDU chat, I wanted to brainstorm with our community on ways to encourage non-technical educators to explore and learn about technologies that can potentially improve the learning process.

I imagine it’s a sensitive subject: educators work hard, and many that have never used any form of technology have been teaching for years using a system that has helped numerous students achieve their goals in learning.

Yet we’re at a point in many industries, and in our culture, where some changes can’t be ignored. To better prepare students for this world and to enhance learning in all subjects, schools and instructors need to make the changes to both curriculum and teaching methods to:

a) keep students engaged and interested in learning

b) stay relevant against a constantly-evolving backdrop that’s created because of, and through, an increasingly technical society.

Educators that aren’t as technically adept need a reason to become more so; why and how they should start was the focus of our chat.

Maybe the reason social media gets such a bad rap in the educational world is misperception, and maybe teachers just don’t understand the effectiveness of using technology to teach.

The reasons why some educators haven’t applied technology to the classroom can go on. We tried to focus on the reasons they should.

So much of social media is driven by the practice of sharing. The act of teaching is one of giving, an act that fosters trust. It would seem the best way to increase interest among the skeptical is for trusted colleagues that have the experience to convince them of its upside.

One way to do this is through formal teaching in the form of workshops, although the willingness to invest time (if even for sheer curiosity) must be present in those that lack technical exposure.

PLNs (Personal Learning Networks) are another great resource to expand knowledge, but challenges exist there as well.

In fact, any sort of guidance that’s technically-based (such as PLNs) are part of the problem…the problem being that it takes some willingness to cross a digital divide that’s greater than some realize (for another example of why it’s wrong to assume techical ability, check out this post from ReadWriteWeb). PLNs and PLEs (Personal Learning Environments) are extremely effective, but there has to be a starting point.

But once again, I’m focusing on the reasons educators won’t migrate to using technology in the classroom, while instead I should be focusing on reasons why, and how, they should.

Another approach to persuade educators to adopt technology is to remind them of their primary responsibility: to teach. If students can present compelling ways they use social media to learn, then it’s a callous teacher that won’t listen to that argument.

In fact, it’s exactly these types of student-driven, multi-purpose projects that will be impossible for teachers to ignore and for students to forget.

Students aren’t alone in convincing their instructors. By connecting with businesses that use social media and creating projects that give them real-world experience, the dual-cry of requisite from educational institutions’ two most important customers (the students that populate their campuses, and the businesses/organizations that hire those students) will force change.

That change won’t happen overnight, but it will happen. Just remember this quote from retired U.S. Army Chief of Staff General Eric Shinseki:

“If you don’t like change, you’re going to like irrelevance even less.”

We’re very excited to have so many new participants each week, we’re grateful for all the shared thoughts and ideas. We look forward to more in the future, see you all again next Monday at 12:30pm EST!

For a complete transcript of today’s chat, click here.

Links to resources mentioned during today’s chat

• From Ana Adi (@ana_adi): U.S. Department of Education draft, National Educational Technology Plan 2010
• From Terry Eberhart (@digin4ed): The Educator’s PLN, #edchat on Twitter
• From Dana M. Nelson (@danamnelson): Steve Radick (@sradick) keynote speech at the University of Southern Indiana
• From Kristina Setzekorn (@ksetzekorn): #lrnchat on Twitter

#SMCEDU Chat: The Myth of Digital Natives

Social Media Club Education Connection (aka #SMCEDU) is a national initiative whose goal is to unite educators, students, and professionals to further the development of social media curriculum in our schools, enabling a wider network of learning and workforce preparedness.

#SMCEDU is a part of Social Media Club, a nonprofit organization that is working to promote media literacy and connect people to share what they are learning about social media.

Monday’s #SMCEDU chat topic centered around the myth of digital natives, the idea that younger generations are naturally gifted at using online resources.

I found this blog post that presented the argument that while younger people “blog, game, and network on a variety of platforms, often multi-tasking,” the idea that this sort of digital literacy is natural and ubiquitous is false. The post also linked to a series of papers that explore this idea, I found it interesting.

What did our community think of this? Here are the main points from our discussion:

• While younger generations are more comfortable using technology, they are not necessarily more capable
• Younger generations don’t have greater technical “know-how” because schools, especially at lower grade levels and into high school, aren’t teaching them
• Learning should be a lifelong experience, and one that will help individuals stay competitive in the work world

During the chat, many of our participants shared links to various resources; we ALWAYS appreciate the extra information!

Younger Generations More Comfortable with Technology, Not More Capable

While it’s true that devices like laptops and smartphones are ubiquitous among young students, that doesn’t automatically translate to digital mastery. In fact, instructors may may make assumptions about their students’ technical capability that aren’t always true. And while some students feel confident that they “get it,” the truth is that many don’t understand the full potential of the tools they use daily, and as a result, are almost as blind to potential and reach of technology as older generations that aren’t as immersed.

This isn’t to say that young people won’t learn faster, but the reason why has nothing to do with age-associated ability, but with their willingness to “play around” rather than look for a manual.

What this translates to is that personal needs are being met, but they’re missing both communication skills and business savvy. This, of course, is subject to change once they are given the lessons appropriate to the modern, digital culture in which they live.

Why Younger Generations Don’t Fully Grasp the Potential of the Technologies They Use

This is a subject that produced some insight from our educators: it seems there’s a sense of frustration that new college students will enter a classroom without basic skills…in some cases, really basic skills.

But how can students live in a digital world while blind to so many aspects of that world?

I asked this question, and it seems that our K-12 levels (especially high schools) are lacking when it come to teaching these skills. It’s not completely fair to blame educators, as students also have a responsibility to learn. But there are some issues that must be overcome, especially regarding changes to policy. Still, the most important factor is educating the educators, and would probably be the most beneficial way to tackle this problem.

If you’re an educator, check out both PROpen Mic and The Educator’s PLN (Personal Learning Network) on Ning for resources, networking, and other help. And of course, Social Media Club Education Connection is dedicated to improving social media in higher education.

Lifelong Learning

We’re people that are deeply involved in the business of education, and I believe that most of us would agree that learning doesn’t end with graduation. To stay competitive in a world that has seen so much change in the last two decades requires a sense of urgency, a need to stay relevant.

The motivation might come from looking over your shoulder to see who’s behind you, or it could come from knowing that whatever skills you acquire will not only benefit your current understanding, but inspire and enhance learning more in the future. Learning material is plentiful on the Web, the trick is knowing how to find it and what to do with it that will determine success.

While critical thinking skills might take time to develop, we can also re-think critical thinking and how it’s taught in such a way that our students arrive at the college level with both a firm technical foundation and grasp of how they, as individuals, learn and apply new information.

Join Us Again!

The issues we discuss each week always get me thinking, and I learn so much from all the input and feedback. During some chats (like this one), I find myself immersed in additional information that strongly supports our goal of improving social media in education. Keep spreading the word, the more participation we have, the more knowledge is shared.

Thanks again to all who participated for a great chat, we hope to see you next Monday at 12:30pm EST!

Links to resources mentioned during today’s chat

• From Robert French (@rdfrench): Pew PowerPoint presentation on the difference between digital natives and immigrants
• From All of E (@allofe_he): Blog post on digital natives and digital immigrants by Marc Prensky
• From All of E @allofe_he): Blog post on the digital natives/immigrants vs. digital residents/visitors
• From Michele Lorito-Chase (@ghostexecutive): Resources from SWFL Junior Camp, a BarCamp for elementary-high school students
• From Robert French (@rdfrench): PROpenMic
• From Robert French (@rdfrench): A project used to teach social media in the classroom at Auburn University
• From Robert French (@rdfrench): Another student project using social media at Auburn University
• From M Zayfert (@mzayfert): Teaching and learning with the Net Generation
• From Terry Eberhart (@digin4ed): The Educator’s PLN (Personal Learning Network) on Ning

#SMCEDU Chat: Grading — Is There a Better Way?

Social Media Club Education Connection (aka #SMCEDU) is a national initiative whose goal is to unite educators, students, and professionals to further the development of social media curriculum in our schools, enabling a wider network of learning and workforce preparedness.

#SMCEDU is a part of Social Media Club, a nonprofit organization that is working to promote media literacy and connect people to share what they are learning about social media.

I’ve had the opportunity to listen in on several events that cover social media in education, including two recent ones that I’ve attended (Social Media U in Richmond, VA and Friday’s Social Media event at Georgetown University). Recently, Melinda Gates wrote about the need for educational reform, and I listened as Daniel Pink (@danielpink, author of “Free Agent Nation” and “A Whole New Mind”) was interviewed about his new book on the new motivation required for today’s workforce.

The lessons I’ve collected from these resources bring two points to mind: the call for change in higher education institutions, and the potential to create it.

I felt that as long as we’re considering change, why not tackle one of the more frustrating aspects of the educational process: grading.

For as long as the need to determine students’ comprehension has existed, the current grading system (or one similar) has been used to assess students’ “success” or “failure.” While the current evaluation process may prove helpful in determining short-term comprehension, does it really give an accurate determination of a student’s aptitude to learn?

We opened Monday’s #SMCEDU chat with this question. While the subject of grading is a hefty topic, the opinions were plentiful and ideas were flowing among our participants.

There were a great many attitudes toward grading from both students and educators. Not all educators are fully supportive of the current grading system. Take for example this opinion from NY educator Terry Eberhart (@digin4ed), this reluctant acceptance from Purdue University professor Dr. V (@mihaela_v), and this observation from Marquette professor Gee Ekachai (@fvrythingpr).

Outside of educators and students, business professionals like Joshua Cyr (@jcyr) and technology-in-education advocates All of E (@allofe_he) agreed that grades shouldn’t be the primary focus of students.

But consider teaching how to use social media in the classroom. Where would you even start when it comes to evaluating?

Booz Allen Hamilton social media lead Steve Radick (@sradick) brought up this point about one of the challenges.

You’d have to set standards, and even those metrics are up for debate. You could start here, as Queens University of Charlotte professor John McArthur (@jamcarthur) suggested, or here, as suggested by Media Studies professor Danielle Stern (@daniellestern).

Like “the real world,” students should have an idea of what they want to accomplish using social media noted journalism student Evan Strange (@evanstrange).

I still think that studying social media (that is, how to use it), while valuable, doesn’t focus on its true impact on education. I mean, what’s the point of taking a class? Preparation for getting a job is a huge part of it, but that seems to extinguish a greater desire to learn that can go beyond professional training.

It’s true that many students focus solely on grades, but to be fair, many have a wider perspective.

And while some need the guidelines provided by a traditional grading structure, the joy of independent learning and the effort resulting from it should be rewarded equally.

What are some of the ways to recognize that?

Justin Herman of Tech Adventure DC (@justinherman) brought up alternative grading criteria, but what about a truely different approach?

Grades always felt to me like a cart-before-the-horse emphasis. I believe that if a student finds a subject or method for learning that really sticks, the grades will follow. Social media (the connections made through using it, not the technology itself) can be the stimulus that inspires learning without focusing so much on report cards.

This isn’t an easy argument, to be sure, and it’s not the first time it’s been suggested. But we now have the means to carry the discussion further, with a wider group of people, in a more convenient setting, than ever before.

I feel like we’re setting the table right now. Education is slow to change, and integration of new tools and practices will not happen overnight. But we’ve got an idea of what it could take to create improvements in education, and the right people to do it.

Our chat concluded without a final answer on whether or not social media can lead the way to a better system for interpeting student success. It doesn’t look like people were looking for an alternative to As and Bs, but rather, another form of curriculum that’s not based on lectures, tests, and quizzes.

Maybe grades won’t go away, but the connections made and the resulting action that’s facilitated by using social media will help shift the emphasis back to learning…the grades will follow.

We welcome the new participants to #SMCEDU chat, and as Jenna Langer (@jennalanger) tweeted, it’s a good place to exchange ideas. We hope you can join us next Monday at 12:30pm EST!

SMCEDU Needs a Grant + Our Purpose, Our Goals

First, thanks to the members of SMCEDU for creating a strong foundation for a real community, and a real global initiative to improve the quality of social media education in our school systems. We have some wonderful stories of on campus successes, some great resources have been pulled together and most importantly some wonderful connections have been made between teachers.

In short, for being an idea, staffed by a hard working but part time intern (big thanks to Yong C Lee for making this possible), SMCEDU is an early success. But there is much harder work to be done and there is a real need in the overall academic community for the type of support we are seeking to provide.

So today I am writing to seek your help in finding a volunteer grant writer and some foundations to get funding that will take this SMCEDU initiative to another level and help us hire Yong C Lee as a full time program manager. We need $250,000 so we can hire Yong, a “curriculum curator” and another part time program manager to work on developing specific initiatives with our teachers and administrators from around the world. We can start with something as small as $50,000 so we can at least hire Yong full time but we need to go for more so we can expand our efforts and do it right.

So that the vision is a bit more clear, here is a current draft of what I have set out for the program goals

• Develop a set of resources and links to resources that reside elsewhere which professors can use to help them get social media related classes approved in their schools and offer the best social media focused education possible – ie, case studies, syllabus, courses, suggestions for getting past no, etc…
• Build the most comprehensive directory of teachers offering social media globally and become the source for schools looking to see what people are offering. This requires building out additional resources on top of the Ning network, ie coding/programming
• Develop and encourage the development of Open Courseware programs that are Creative Commons licensed and available to other teachers to use and improve upon (using non-comercial share and share alike licenses)
• Create relationships between local Social Media Club chapters around the world and their local universities so that we can create a path to professionalism for those seeking to be a social media professional, or merely those seeking a chance to use social media as a part of their chosen career
• To encourage the on-campus development of Social Media Club chapters, empowering students to create their own local communities that can be connected and supported by our global network
• Offer internship and mentorship programs so as to develop real world professional experiences to supplement the classroom education
• Develop and offer training for those teachers seeking to offer Social Media classes at their school and/or using social media as part of teaching other subjects
• To identify and review other social media education offerings outside of our domain
• Support and increase awareness for other important initiatives of interest to social media professors including but not limited to Classroom 2.0 and Social Media Classroom. To expand this global web of support and partnerships so as to form a network of similarly oriented initiatives for mutual benefit and support.

My recollection from my very early youth is that an education is supposed to prepare you to enter the world and be a valuable contributing member to society. Is that still true? If it is, then the goal of SMCEDU is straight and true. My purpose for SMCEDU has never been more clear – it is to prepare students to be better critical thinkers when it comes to interacting with the world around them, especially focused on a broad set of skills I reference as media literacy. It is also focused on preparing them to enter the real world of work, to provide current workforce literacy which means an understanding of how to interact, create value and leverage social/web technology for the purpose of the organization as opposed to the individual. More broadly, I hope to imbue a sense of community in students so that they see the interconnectedness of the world around them and can take that education to make their world, and ours by extension, a better place.

We could really use your help in securing a grant (or grants) in order to fulfill this mission. Please let us know your thoughts and help us if you can.

Social Media Week New York Panel: The Future of Social Media in Higher Education

On Friday, McGraw-Hill hosted a panel discussion on the future of social media in higher education. The panel included:

• Adam Ostrow Editor in Chief, Mashable.com

• Dr. Kathleen P. King Professor, Fordham University; Professor, Transformation Education, LLC

• Greg Verdino VP Strategy & Solutions, Powered; author of microMARKETING

• Mary Casey NYU Student and Founder of Jatched.com

• Vineet Madan VP Strategy & Business Development, McGraw-Hill Education

The panel was moderated by Yianni Garcia, a marketing specialist at GradeGuru.com. Tweets from the discussion can be found under #smwmcgraw.

Video 1

Video 2

The central topic of the discussion revolved around how how social media is affecting the classroom now, and how it will change the classroom of the future.

There is a growing recognition among universities to adopt social technologies to enrich the learning experience. Friday’s discussion revealed that educators and the tech community are acknowledging that concern, and George Washington University’s Andrea Genevieve gave a thoughtful perspective on the issue here.

Some of the points that really registered with me during Friday’s discussion:

• Two-year colleges are leading the way in advancing distance learning (in terms of both programs and adoption of new technology). This is due largely to the speed in which these schools can adapt to changes in demographic and economy, along with other student demands. Also, two-year institutions face fewer levels of bureaucracy than their four-year counterparts.
• Non-traditional students (students not in the 18-21 age group) are outnumbering traditional students. This is relevant to the growth of social media in education because the fastest growing demographic for popular social media tools (such as Facebook and Twitter) are part of the non-traditional set.
• There is a large debate over how to monetize the use of social media in academic institutions, just as in business. While many believe that intellectual property should be protected, others believe that in education, knowledge should be shared. This is a very high-level observation of the argument, but it’s obvious that copyright issues are a concern that will grow.
• One of the great things about social media is that it promotes engagement. Of all the students that enter a college or university today, only about half of them will earn a degree within six years. The biggest reason has nothing to do with the ability to do the coursework, but rather, lack of engagement in their studies. As panelist Veneet Madan stated, “Lack of engagment is one of the biggest problems we have in getting students through the college and university system…if we don’t tackle the engagement problem, collectively, we’re not going to get more people through the system. If we don’t get more people through the system, we’re not going to have a more educated workforce, we’re not going to have economic growth, then we have all the other problems and issues that ends up raising.” (17:00 min mark of the first video)
• The best question from the audience was the final one (at the 35:05 mark of the second video): “I keep hearing tech is the reduction of friction. How are we going to align the incentives of both the teachers AND students to adopt it?” I recommend you listen to the exchange, it was an enlightening piece.

The fact that more discussion is starting to take the tone of not only “What if we did take on these technologies,” and are leaning toward “Why haven’t we done it already?” speaks to a level of increasing acceptance and hopefully, realized potential.

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!

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!

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!

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!

SMCEDU Chat: Wrapping Up 2009, Looking Ahead to 2010

We had a great #SMCEDU chat today, headed by Social Media Club founder Chris Heuer. Joined by many who have shown early interest and contribution to the project, we tackled the subject of the top three priorities for social media education as we head into the new year:

1. Community Identification and Engagement

This is something that we’ve been working on and have accomplished, although greater awareness can always be achieved and wider participation will increase the breadth and depth of shared knowledge

2. Create a program/plan document for Social Media Club chapters or local SMCEDU supporters to follow in starting a program

With the help of Booz Allen Hamilton social media lead Steve Radick in the DC area and Social Media Club-Richmond in the central VA area, collaboration between SMC chapters and universities is continuing. We’ll keep you posted as progress is made and share documentation on how to cultivate formal relationships between schools and businesses

3. Open coursework development to provide resources to educators looking to start teaching social media

According to members of the social media education community like Alex de Carvalho and Mashable’s Brett Petersel, this would be a valuable resource. Many others have also expressed interest in seeing this happen.

There were other great ideas, like this suggestion from Ana Adi and this observation from Susan Beebe. Also, this point brought up by Alex de Carvalho sums up one of the major challenges in defining social media education.

The scope of the project is and always has been ambitious, but we’ve got an experienced, knowledgeable community that cares about the quality of these lessons. With their continued help we can address and implement many ideas, starting with the plan above.

The holidays are a busy time for everyone, so we’ll resume SMCEDU chat again on Monday, January 04 at 12:30pm EST. This link should provide you with a way to add a reminder to Google Calendar, let me know if you have any problems/questions with it.

So, Happy Holidays to all, and thank you for a great first (half) year for Social Media Club Education Connection! Just a reminder: if you know of any teachers involved in or interested in social media education, let them know about our Ning group to stay connected with the community! We constantly post updates to our efforts and this is the best way to provide feedback or ask questions.

Thanks to all who have helped, we’re looking forward to big things in 2010!

SMCEDU: Richmond’s Panel Kicks Off a New Chapter

On Monday night, SMCEDU-RVA held its kickoff event at Virginia Commonwealth University with a great panel discussion. Kendall Morris and Nathan Hughes of the Richmond chapter of SMC deserve credit for organizing an engaging forum that should result in greater interest for the academic community in central Virginia.

What struck me most was the diversity of both the panel and the audience. The range of questions and answers demonstrated the breadth of social media — it touches many fields and serves many uses.

VCU journalism professor Marcus Messner served as the mediator for a panel that included 21-year-old journalistic wunderkind Trevor Dickerson, ReadWriteWeb blogger Jolie O’Dell, Ironworks Consulting recruiter Candace Nicolls, and University of Richmond graduate
Generra Peck. The four fielded questions from both students and teachers, young and older, and helped many form a better understanding of what social media is and what it’s being used for.

Many questions centered around how social media affects potential employment. The consensus among the experts was to be genunine, but to use common sense. Although it seems straight-forward, there remains some ambiguity when it comes to guidelines; much of how you choose to express yourself depends on what industry you’re entering, the company culture of the potential employer, and the personal taste of each individual.

Although there are plenty of students that are concerned with the keg party photos that are consistently brought up as evidence against Facebooking, it seems that many employers and teachers are understanding of a few “events.” What undermines an applicant’s chances for being hired is evidence of irresponsibility, false representation, or other character weaknesses.

All the panelists shared great insight:

• Trevor Dickerson advised the audience to learn the dos and don’ts of communicating, and to reach out to several online communities
• Candace Nicolls spoke on the need for applicants to distinguish writing skills for both Web and print mediums
• Generra Peck expressed the need for students to learn what tools exist, and how to use each
• Jolie O’Dell shared, and later wrote about the need to be an early adopter, to focus your learning efforts, and to expand your digital toolbelt by keeping up with the constant evolution of technologies

I was happy to speak to a few teachers that are enthusiastically embracing technology in their classrooms, and their presence and interest at the event was a welcome complement to the many students in attendence. Teachers, especially those in the marketing, public relations, journalism, and communications disciplines are already aware of the impact technology is having. Events such as VCU’s Tweet That discussion will hopefully create a bridge for those that are curious, but haven’t had the opportunity to seek answers from people that are utilizing these practices every day.

And that’s exactly what we’re trying to create with SMCEDU — an opportunity to learn.

SMCEDU: A Mashable Opinion

I had the opportunity to chat with Brett Petersel of Mashable on Monday. Brett, the events director for the world’s largest social networking blog, is a former K-12 teacher and still teaches classes and seminars on eBusiness and social networking for a college in New York.

It was great speaking with an educator and someone who’s got his finger on the pulse of the tech/information movement. He shared some surprising stories that involved the reluctance of many teachers to recognize the usefulness of social media tools in the classroom.

I thought about these points after our conversation:

1. There are teachers, many of whom are have been teaching for decades, that are dragging their heels when it comes to either implementing social media/digital collaboration into their teaching methods, or even addressing the topic in their curriculum.
2. Students should be more vocal about their interest in using these technologies in the classroom. This will, of course, mean that they have to see the value of these technologies beyond Facebook.
3. Social media will affect a number of degree programs. A bigger point of interest for educators may be how they use it to teach, rather than teaching the subject itself. Social media as a degree program may or may not work yet. What is certain is that it can be used by teachers to reach out to students in a more engaging way.

Social media has been in classrooms for a number of years: I remember using Blackboard as a student, and more importantly, that we as students didn’t really use it to our full advantage.

There are numerous reasons for this, but I recognized that a number of teachers probably didn’t understand how to use it themselves. Tools such as Classroom 2.0 and Social Media Classroom are available, but how many “old-school” teachers would be interested in learning a now-school way of doing things?

Brett used the term “education reformat” — instead of teaching by the book (i.e, teaching at the students), why not embrace new ways of communicating?

This isn’t an attack on teachers that haven’t adopted, but it is a recognition that things are changing.

I know it’s a perspective that’s held by other educators that are familiar with newer ways of sharing information. Just ask Bill Handy, and take a look at what his journalism students at Oklahoma State have done in just one session.

SMCEDU: Social Media Principles Can’t Be Ignored

Social media is gaining more acceptance in both the business world — both as a tool to connect with customers and for co-workers to connect with each other — and the academic world, where more educators are using social media tools such as Classroom 2.0 and Social Media Classroom to teach and engage.

But WHAT is being taught? I saw an interesting article this week about a class being taught at Parsons New School for Design in NYC called “Internet Famous.” It focuses on the how to use social media tools to gain fame on the Internet. It sounds like a fun class, and teaches useful metrics on measuring your impact in the online world.

I think the class highlights the possibility of delivering whatever message you want, whether it’s for personal acclaim or corporate visibility. The tools for saying what you want and finding out who’s listening exist, and are being taught. But I think there exists another component to social media education that doesn’t receive enough attention, and that’s the social part of the equation.

A big part of this project, in my mind, is not only to collect and share a curriculum, but also to advocate a set of principles that can help people relate to each other in a text-driven, somewhat-faceless world. Chris Heuer’s Social Media Principles provide a great summary:

Be Human

Dont Just Be Human, Be Yourself

Be Aware

Don’t Just Be Aware, Be Smart

Be Honest

Don’t Just Be Honest, Have Integrity

Be Respectful

Don’t Just Be Respectful, Live By the Golden Rule

Be a Participant

Don’t Just Be a Participant, Contribute Value

Be Open

Don’t Just Be Open, Be an Agent of Change

Be Courageous

Don’t Just Be Courageous, Be Willing to Fail

What we’re witnessing and participating in isn’t just another way to launch a marketing campaign, but a change in how marketing works. We’ve all heard that it’s about listening to your customers/audience, but it’s also been said (and often lost) that it shouldn’t be an act — it should be how you do things in life, how you interact with everyone.

I had a great conversation with Susan Beebe, founder of SMC-Rochester and the newly-formed SMCEDU-Roc this week. One of the important points that we discussed was the establishment of standards in social media education. As of today,I don’t know of an institution that currently accredits social media classes.

Since so much of social media is collaboration, perhaps that should fall, for now, to the teachers of social media. Although there isn’t a large number of teachers that head a Social Media class, there are many that use it, and in some way teach it.

We want to hear from those teachers. I’d like to propose another conference call on the week of October 12. As I’d like to get as many teachers participating as possible, I’ll contact as many of you as I can to see what days/times will work best. The purpose of the call will be to re-connect, and also discuss topics which will include the establishment of standards.

SMCEDU: Start-up Meeting in Sydney

According to Jenna Langer, the #SMCEDU start-up meeting in Sydney was attended by a group that included SMC-Sydney board member Doug Chapman and others excited about getting the social media education initiative going in Australia’s largest city.

It will be groups like these, started informally (this one was publicized using our Ning group site and Twitter) and publicized viraly, that will help spark interest in various locations that lead to organized collaboration.

The more groups we have from locations all over the map, the greater the collection of educators and students, and the result will be a higher quality effort. If you have any thoughts on getting a group started in your area, please share!

We’re trying to teach social media by USING social media: by gathering, communicating, sharing, and collaborating, we have the opportunity to make this project into something sustainable and valuable to many academic institutions, businesses, and most importantly, PEOPLE.

To an extent, we’re learning as we grow. We have talented people, both educators and students, who want this effort to develop into something that can be adopted nationally and globally.

The goals of #SMCEDU haven’t been attempted before, but that’s part of what’s so exciting. The scope of this effort is something that’s in our hands — it’s up to anyone who makes the time to attend a meeting or tell someone else about what we’re trying to do. THAT’S what will turn a small gathering in a coffee shop into a contributor to an ambitious, groundbreaking project.

The SMC-Sydney Education group will meet again on October 12; if you’re in Sydney, come join the group and see what’s going on. If you can’t make it, maybe you can help by telling a teacher about it. Teachers involved in marketing, communications, journalism, and any discipline that incorporates aspects of social media have a stake in this. Let them know!

On the other side of the world in Richmond, VA, SMCEDU-RVA plans to have their launch event on October 12 at Virginia Commonwealth University.

The event’s featured panel discussion includes perspectives from a student, recent graduate, professor, recruiter, and tech blogger — key perspectives for any in the academic world interested in how social media affects them now and will affect them in the future. VCU Journalism and Communications professor Marcus Messner will be moderating.

I’ll write more about this event as details develop — tickets become available on Tuesday, September 22 and are limited, so be sure to reserve your seat!

SMCEDU: Two Great Conversations in DC and Sydney

Last Thursday, I met with Social Media Club founder Chris Heuer during the Gov 2.0 Summit in Washington, D.C. We had a lively conversation about social media in general, and #SMCEDU in particular.

What is it that we’re trying to teach in a formalized SM curriculum? Conceptually, we discussed the importance of teaching people that they are members of a community. In keeping, there are ways to participate within that community that will reflect the responsibility and conscientiousness that allow participants to contribute in a way that adds value.

From an applied level, one of the mission statements of Social Media Club is to expand media literacy. Media literacy, as it relates to social media, has three key components:

Consumption

There is an overwhelming amount of information available, and knowing what to listen to is difficult. Earlier this week, I saw the quote: “It’s not information overload, it’s filter failure.” A media-literate consumer of information will think critically about both the content and source of that information. As a new model of news distribution takes hold, this will be more crucial than ever before.

Production

Adding to the community, supplying your own voice, is what separates social media from other forms of information distribution. There are many ways to do this, whether it’s through words, images, audio, or video. Knowing how to “produce your voice” and share it with others requires technical know-how, and an understanding of what medium would best serve a purpose.

Search

It’s not just about adding, but using what’s already there. Search is not only thoughtful consumption, but knowing where/what to use to find specific information quickly and accurately.

There will be MANY aspects to the #SMCEDU curriculum, and there are teachers out there that teach some aspect of media literacy but don’t categorize themselves as social media teachers.

This is a new initiative and an emerging discipline that touches on many subjects that already exist — we would appreciate the help of any teachers that can cover one of the above topics. If you are, or know of, any teachers that fall in this group, please let them know about what we’re doing!

I can’t stress enough the importance of teacher contribution to this effort. One program we’d like to start is a regular online lecture series that features different educators doing what they do best. A collection of knowledge that’s available to all that want to learn would be a tremendous resource, and would help shape future classes in social media.

I also had the pleasure of speaking with Jenna Langer, an expat living in Sydney, Australia, who has a passion and enthusiasm for life in general and social media technology in particular. While in the U.S., she was a member of Social Media Club-Sacramento, and has been the key to starting a #SMCEDU group in Sydney. By the way, here are SMC-Sacramento’s and SMC-Sydney’s Facebook pages if you live in either area.

The way things get going in Sydney will be the same way things get started in many locations — through people with an interest in social media education getting together and forming groups of their own. I’ll share any progress made by the #SMCEDU-Sydney group, and I look forward to hearing the ideas coming from that area!

By connecting with the national/global effort online, we can help each other stay in touch and add to/share from the formidable collective brain power of those involved.

I look forward to speaking with more teachers!

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